PRUNING THE DIFFERENT TREE FRUITS 239 



others. In fact it will not be wise to attempt to make all 

 varieties conform to one ideal in shape. One can work to- 

 ward the ideal in a general way with all varieties, but to be 

 exacting might cause so much pruning as to be uneconomical. 



Very often corrective pruning can improve the shape of 

 the tree (Fig. 81). 



(d) In Training and Pruning Young Trees, Do as Little 

 Cutting as Possible Consistent with Building a Strong, WelU 

 Formed Tree. It is apparent from the preceding paragraphs 

 that any pruning given the young tree will cause dwarfing 



Tig. 83. (a) Lightly pruned five-year-old Stayman Winesap orchard in 

 West Virginia bearing a crop of fruit. (6) A six-year-old Mcintosh tree 

 which has been pruned heavily each year since planting. Such pruning 

 dwarfs the tree, reduces fruit spur formation, and seriously delays 



bearing. 



and will delay and decrease production (Fig. 83) . How- 

 ever, a certain amount of pruning is necessary in order to 

 insure a strong and well-formed tree, even if some dwarfing 

 does occur. Thus in forming the main head of the tree, 

 branches which will always be undesirable should be removed 

 at once. Limbs coming out below the head should be re- 

 moved. Two limbs should not be allowed to parallel each other 

 closely, since each will partly shade the other. The least 

 desirable should be removed, at least before too much crowd- 



