708 



Pruning Fruit Trees. 



[march, 



spring from the buds left when they have completed a season's 

 growth. Some growers who do not hesitate to prune back a 

 maiden are reluctant to shorten a two-year-old. Anxious to get 

 a large tree as quickly as possible, they regard shortening as a 

 waste of time. It is certainly not so, because it conduces to 

 securing that habit of growth which renders the pruning of 

 the matured tree a quick and easy process. Not only should 

 shortening be practised, but it should be severe, only stumps 

 a few inches long being left (Fig. 2), and the shoots breaking 

 from the buds thinned to two on each stump, or six in all. 

 This procedure means that the tree can concentrate its energies 

 on a limited number of well-placed branches, growing at about 

 equal distances apart, and away from the centre. 



The third stage is the shortening of the six branches the 

 following winter. Frequently this is not done. Nurserymen 

 sell a great many trees in the stage when they are known as 

 two-year-olds, and if they are precocious varieties, like the 

 apples Stirling Castle and Bismarck, they may already have 

 fruit buds on them. Purchasers of healthy young trees, with or 

 without buds, are notoriously averse to shortening them, but the 

 trees certainly ought to be shortened again. This priming need 

 not be so severe as the two previous ones ; indeed, it will suffice 

 if the branches are cut back about one-third their length (Fig. 3) . 



This line of action leads to a tree carrying about a dozen 

 main branches, all evenly disposed, and growing in the right 

 direction. There is no waste of space, but on the other hand 

 there is no crowding. These twelve branches form the frame- 

 work of the tree. They are either the fruiting wood itself or 

 (as in young wood bearers) the support for the fruiting wood. 

 Apples, pears, plums and cherries may all be developed on the 

 lines indicated, and in every instance the labour of subsequent 

 pruning will be materially reduced. It will be open to rapid 

 accomplishment with knife or secateurs ; there will be no slow 

 and tedious labour with the saw. 



All the wood in these young trees should be clean and 

 healthy. This is helped if care is taken to prune close to the 

 bud. If the implement used is passed through the shoot 

 half an inch or more above a bud, the stump so left, which is 

 called by gardeners a " snag," will decay. A young tree full 

 of dead snags does not present a neat and healthy appearance, 



