400 
head it. Have never less than four or 
more than six leaders. Have the leaders 
spaced up and down on the trunk so as 
not to form bad crotches. Have the lead- 
ers spaced around the tree so that no 
leader is directly under another, but let 
each have a position of its own, so that 
when you look directly down on the tree 
the leaders look like the spokes of a 
wheel. When the leaders have grown to 
be about five and a half to six feet high 
cut them back to about four and one-half 
to five feet high. The next year after 
this is done, the first series of permanent 
fruit bearing laterals will come out with- 
in a foot or eighteen inches of the top 
of the leader. Select two to four of the 
best laterals in a permanent position 
and cut the others off. Leave some of 
the low laterals for temporary bearing. 
These can be cut off after they have 
borne four or five years. The strong 
inside shoots that come inside the tree 
opposite the first series of permanent lat- 
erals should be wrapped together to grow 
into living braces where needed. Cut the 
leader two or three feet above the first 
series according to the variety and the 
next year bring out a second series of 
permanent laterals. The idea is to have 
a permanent tree, with the fruit-bearing 
laterals in a permanent position, thus the 
tree has the maximum amount of fruit- 
bearing wood, a very important point for 
the fruit growers in a country where the 
trees bear so heavily. If this method 
is carried out it will not be necessary to 
cut large limbs out of the trees when they 
get older. 
Summer Pruning 
Tardy varieties and varieties that are 
slow to come into bearing should be sum- 
mer pruned. The principal varieties in 
our district which require summer prun- 
ing are Spitzenburgs, Yellow Newtowns, 
Arkansas Blacks, Delicious and Stayman 
Winesaps. Most of the summer pruning 
is done when the trees are from three 
to seven years old, and is continued long- 
er if necessary. The summer pruning 
should be done when the terminal buds 
swell. This varies with the varieties from 
the 20th of July to the last of August. At 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
summer pruning time four things should 
be done. 
First: Make the cross ties or living 
braces if the tree is the right age, anq 
the braces are necessary. 
Second: Give the tree a normal thin- 
ning out or pruning. 
Third: Make all the fruit spurs pos. 
sible by forcing all the fruit spurs that 
have grown into shoots (leaving a cluster 
of leaves where the little shoot grew out): 
and all small whip growth in the bearing 
area of the tree, back into fruit spurs. 
Cut the fruit spurs that have grown on 
into shoots back just beyond the leaf 
cluster, leaving the leaf cluster to form 
the spur. Cut the little shoots that have 
no leaf clusters back to about four or five 
inches in length. About 75 per cent of 
these cuts will change back into fruit 
spurs the first year; those that do not 
should be cut again. 
Fourth: Cut out the water suckers. 
Proper summer pruning does not in- 
jure the tree. But by this one should 
direct some of the energy from growing 
into bearing. There is, however, much 
damage done by unwise and improper 
summer pruning. Unless the summer 
pruning is very accurately done and at 
the right time it is better not to attempt 
it at all. But when properly done the 
yield of some varieties may be doubled 
the first five years of bearing, and a 
better bearing habit for the future be 
given them. 
Irrigating Young Trees 
Too many growers irrigate young trees 
in the same manner as old bearing trees; 
they delay the early irrigations more or 
less and irrigate heavily later on. This 
is alright with old trees that have many 
roots and a large amount of moist soil 
to draw from; with the young trees, 
especially the newly planted tree, the 
roots are in contact with a very small 
quantity of soil. For this reason the 
ground should be irrigated often. Give 
the heavy irrigations early and frequent- 
ly so that the young trees will get a 
quick early start. Cut the water down 
early enough in the fall so that they will 
