WINTER PRUNING EXPERIMENTS WITH APPLE TREES. 141 
a terminal fruit bud. The " spurring " refers, of course, only to the 
first cut of a newly formed lateral. Subsequent treatment depends 
largely on the result obtained. If a definite fruit bud has been 
formed as a result of the first cut, the spur is cut right back to this 
fruit bud ; if not, or if there is any doubt, any shoots formed from 
the remaining piece of the original lateral are shortened to about 
three-fourths of an inch (fig. 26). 
The application of the methods has been by no means easy, since 
several members of the staff have been concerned in the work. It 
has been found necessary to do everything possible by strict rule of 
thumb, instead of leaving much to the individual pruner's judgment, 
as is usual in commercial practice. It cannot be pretended that all 
variation in application of the methods has been eliminated ; but it 
has been reduced to a minimum, and on the average (eight trees in 
each group) should be negligible. 
A full list of the varieties represented in the experiment has been 
given above. Eight trees of each variety are devoted to each method, 
making thirty- two trees in all ; and of five varieties, ' Worcester/ 
' Grieve/ ' Gladstone/ ' Grenadier/ and ' Early Victoria/ trees on 
both ' Crab ' and ' Paradise ' were planted, making a total of sixty- 
four trees of each of these varieties. The large number of varieties, 
and the considerable number of trees of each, make this experiment, 
we believe, one of the most extensive ever undertaken on pruning. 
It should be said further that none of the varieties are planted 
in solid blocks, but all are interplanted diagonally, two varieties 
together. This should largely eliminate errors that might arise in 
the pollination of self-sterile varieties. 
Effects of Tipping and Spurring. 
In discussing this part of the subject it will be convenient at first 
to regard the " unpruned " trees as a " control " for purposes of 
comparison, and to compare with them only the " long-spur pruned " 
trees. Later on, a few notes will be given on the relatively slight 
difference between the " unpruned " and the " open centre " trees 
on the one hand, and the " long-spur pruned " and " short-spur 
pruned " trees on. the other. 
1. Effect on Production of Blossom. 
When the blossom is open, it is obvious at a glance that the tipping 
and spurring has in almost every case reduced the number of blossoms 
to a very large extent. Exceptions have now begun to appear, owing 
to the " biennial bearing " of some of the unpruned trees, but it is 
certainly safe to say that tipping and spurring have in every case 
both delayed and reduced blossoming (figs. 28 and 29). Definite 
figures are available for a few of the unpruned trees, and for all 
the long-spur pruned trees. Table I. gives such averages as can 
be obtained from the figures available. It will be observed that the 
