WINTER PRUNING EXPERIMENTS WITH APPLE TREES. 151 
more rapidly than the long-spur pruned trees. Of the four varieties 
whose leaders are tipped one-third on the tipped and spurred trees (the 
trees of ' Annie Elizabeth ' were planted three years later and cannot 
be included), two, ' Newton Wonder ' and ' Norfolk Beauty/ appear to 
be increasing in size of head more rapidly where tipped and spurred, 
and the other two, ' Beauty of Bath ' and ' Lord Derby,' show the 
opposite effect. Since one of each of these pairs has cropped well and 
the other badly, it seems likely that the effect of pruning on the size 
of the tree, at least up to the eighth year, differs with different varieties, 
and^that no general rule can be laid down. 
6. Effect on Production of Laterals and Furnishing of the Branches. 
The effect of " tipping " on the production of lateral shoots is 
again a matter of varietal idiosyncrasy. One might naturally expect 
that those varieties which " furnish " their branches badly when not 
tipped would produce fewer laterals when tipped than other varieties. 
' Lord Derby ' makes the smallest number of laterals, yet it " furnishes" 
its branches as well as any variety, whether tipped or not. 
' Bismarck/ again, which " furnishes " its branches very badly, makes 
a considerable number of laterals. 
No counts of laterals have yet been made, and the number produced 
is not usually of any great importance, at least to the grower ; but in 
one case, that of ' AUington/ it affects pruning methods very closely. 
Here the tipping has led, as it has done wherever the writer has seen 
' AUington ' closely tipped, to an enormous formation of lateral 
growths, not only from the wood of the previous year, but from the 
spurs and from adventitious buds on the older wood. The pruning 
of ' AUington/ indeed, is one of the grower's problems. One cannot 
leave a bush ' AUington ' without any tipping at all, for the natural 
habit is so spreading and the branches are so slender (when not tipped) 
that the first heavy crop of fruit brings them right down on to the 
ground ; and further, the fruit soon becomes very smaU if no tipping 
is done. Yet when the leaders are tipped one-half, as ours have been, 
the result is a hedge (fig. 35). Some growers have actually top- 
worked bush ' Allingtons ' because of the hopeless result of tipping. 
Yet the problem, I believe, is easUy solved. Tipping must be done 
for some years after planting to keep the branches up off the ground ; 
but when the tree is due to come into bearing, say about the sixth or 
seventh year, the tipping should almost, if not entirely, cease, until 
the crops of fruit are heavy enough to keep the growth in check. 
Then a moderate tipping may begin again, and may increase in 
proportion to the crop. 
The " furnishing " of the branches by tipping is a matter of less 
importance, and concerns relatively few varieties. In pur conditions 
only three of our fifteen varieties furnish their branches badly enough 
naturaUy to need tipping for this reason alone. Of these the worst 
is 'Bismarck ' (fig. 39), and the other two, ' Worcester ' and ' Newton/ 
