32 
PRUNING 
off with a knife at the end of the growing season. Howevor, our expe- 
rience has shown that it is best to let all the leaves grow during the 
first season. The tree is given a severe shock when it is transplanted, and 
the more leaves it has the sooner it will establish itself in its new place. 
Experience in the nursery and in orchard planting shows that 
the more leaves the trees put out the better the growth will be, and that 
it is better to let the tree make all the growth it can the first summer 
without trying to prune it into shape. This point was demonstrated by 
Herbert Chase of Delta, Colorado, who says: 
"Any leaves that are removed from the trunk of a newly planted tree 
weaken that tree. The idea of rubbing the leaves off to throw strength 
to the upper branches is wrong, for that tree has no strength to throw 
anywhere. 
"All the strength that the tree has is what Nature stored in its body 
when it stood in the nursery row. If you rub the leaves off, it may not 
kill the tree, but if the leaves are left on, more trees will live, and they 
will make sturdier, stronger growth." 
Mr. Chase made a number of experiments on 
different kinds of soil and under different condi- 
tions. The same kind of trees were used in each 
case. Half of them had the leaves rubbed off the 
lower part of the body, and half did not. They 
received the same attention, and in every case 
the trees that were not rubbed made the strong- 
est, heaviest growth. 
Pruning the First Season's Growth After 
Planting. The pruning of a two-year-old tree 
from the nursery and the pruning of a one-year- 
old tree that has grown in the orchard for a sea- 
son are practically the same. Where the orchard- 
ist plants a two-year-old nursery tree, he gets a 
tree with a top already started, and he has 
gained a season in pruning. As a rule, the two- 
year-old nursery tree will not make as strong a 
growth as the one-year. The one-year seems to 
stand transplanting better, and after several 
years' growth is as far along as the two-year-old 
nursery tree, and usually comes into bearing 
just as soon, and for that reason most Western 
growers, and in late years a great many Eastern 
growers, are planting the one-year-old nursery 
tree in preference to the two-year-old. 
Pruning the Second Season's Growth. When 
the side branches are cut back as described on 
page 30, usually two or more branches will start 
near the cut end, and some of the buds lower 
down on the branches will also develop into 
shoots. The usual practice is to allow two of 
these new shoots to grow on each branch. They 
should be some distance apart, one at the end 
and then one further back and so placed that 
the formation of crotches will be impossible. 
These new side branches are cut back in the spring one-fourth to 
two-thirds of their growth. All of the other small side branches are out 
back to a single bud, so they may later develop fruit spurs, and shade 
the branches with their clusters of leaves. 
(1) Pruning one-y«ar 
tree at planting. 
/ 
(J) The way that a two- 
year-old tree from the 
nuriery or a one-year-old 
tree that has made one 
fleason'B growth In the or- 
chard should appear after 
pruning. 
