16 FRUIT GROWING FOR HOME USE IN THE GREAT PLAINS. 
Yearbook Papers.—No. 50, Pear Blight: Its Cause and Prevention; No. 386, The 
Principal Insect Enemies of the Peach; No. 433, Lime-Sulphur Washes for the San 
Jose Scale; No. 460, The Codling Moth or Apple Worm; No. 480, Information about 
Spraying for Orchard Insects. 
These publications are all for free distribution and may be secured 
upon application to the Secretary of Agriculture. 
PRUNING. 
A great many of the fruit trees now growing in the region in ques- 
tion are in serious need of judicious pruning. The chief fault at 
present is that too many branches have been allowed to grow and 
the tops of the trees have become too brushy. They have not been 
kept sufficiently open for the best results. 
Of course the other extreme is also accompanied by serious results. 
The top must not be too open. If large limbs, and especially the 
trunks, are exposed to the direct rays of the sun, ‘‘sun scald,” as the 
sphtting of the bark in the spring is usually called, will often occur. 
This will greatly injure the tree. 
It is difficult to give specific directions for pruning, as every tree 
presents its own problems and difficulties. But with the objects of 
pruning and the dire results of both extremes fully in mind, a desir- 
able mean should not be difficult to reach. 
The aim should be to cut out all branches that cross or in any way 
interfere with others that are more important and to thin out the tops 
enough to keep them comparatively open for the admission of air and 
sunlight. Where a vigorously growing tree is allowed to go year after 
year with no pruning, the limbs that compose the top become much 
crowded. The struggle for existence grows so intense that only weak, 
poorly nourished buds develop. 
If the orchard is looked over every year during the winter or early 
spring and such branches removed as may be necessary to meet the 
ends in view, very little pruning will need to be done in any one year. 
Only rarely will there be occasion to remove large limbs. 
In pruning the first year to form the head of the tree it will often 
be possible to leave branches which will effectively shade the trunk 
from the sun, especially if the tree is headed quite near the ground. 
This will make possible the development of an open-headed tree 
without danger of any serious secondary results. Leaning the tree 
toward ‘“‘the afternoon sun” when it is set out, as previously sug- 
gested, will also reduce the danger of injury which might result if the 
tops were made too open at any time. 
Another reason for thinning out the tree tops as much as is consist- 
ent with their healthfulness and crop-producing capacity is its rela- 
tion to the soil moisture. This feature is generally overlooked in this 
semiarid region. Within certain limits the more branches there are 
[Cir. 51] 
