57 



Mr. Gould. It is in a section that suffers from severe frosts, 

 but this year, although they had only a partial crop, that orchard 

 had more fruit than most of the neighboring orchards had. Its lo- 

 cation, however, is a favorable one. 



Mr. Anderson. I think it best to begin when the tree is young 

 and keep at it. 



Mr. Frazer. If Figure 4 had been forced to bearing early 

 would it have become so thick? 

 Mr. Gould. Probably not. 



Mr.. Frazer. If the soil had been impoverished the top would 

 probably never have become so dense. Is it not a question of 

 locality? Should this man, being located on excessively rich soil, 

 be growing fruit, or should he be growing forest trees? 



Mr. Gould. In pruning young peach trees, more or less head- 

 ing back is generally practiced. This makes the limbs stocky and 

 thus better able to hold up heavy loads of fruit. If no heading 

 back is done, the limbs become long and "leggy" and are easily 

 broken down with a heavy crop of fruit — to say nothing of the dif- 

 ficulties of gathering the fruit from trees that have been allowed 

 to grow up into the air at will. I have a photograph here which 

 shows a row of trees in one of the most successful West Virginia 

 peach orchards. Trees were pruned in the spring and illustrate 

 the point in regard to pruning where thinning of fruit is needed. 

 It must be remembered that in the case of peach the fruit is borne 

 on wood of last year's growth. In such pruning as suggested here 

 it certainly does thin the fruit. 



Mr. Frazer. Would you prune that way the first season and 

 would you prune every year? 



Mr. Gould. I would as a general proposition. There are a 

 great number of conditions which are liable to arise from year to 

 year which would make it advisable to omit a year. In this par- 

 ticular orchard owing to amount of pruning they have to do they 

 must begin early in order to finish in time. If a very cold spell 

 occurs while they are pruning the crews are taken out of the or- 

 chard until weather moderates and danger of kilHng buds is past. 



Mr. Black. What part of last year's growth would you re- 

 move ? 



Mr. Gould. That depends on the vigor and amount of growth. 

 It is not an infrequent practice to cut off half of it. 



Robert Garretson. Would you thin out much in addition to 

 cutting back? 



Mr. Gould. These trees have been kept well thinned out. 

 Keep a comparatively open head in order to give a chance for the 

 sunlight and air to get in. 



C. J. Tyson. I know that objections are raised many times 

 to heading back, but what is the result if you do not head back? 



Mr. Gould. By the time the peach tree is 10 years old it will 

 be so slender that a light crop will pull it down. That is the way 

 they develop in a great many cases. 



Mr. Cohill. Would it be best to head back every year? 



