18 BULLETIN 1477, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
anese varieties, except immediately below the point where a branch has been cut 
off. Along a portion of the branch just below where it was headed back a few 
spurs sometimes increase in length by a few inches, while those farther down 
respond but little to the pruning. If very severe heading back is practiced 
each year, so that only a few inches of the 1-year-old shoots remain, the long 
twiglike spurs constitute the main supply of fruiting wood. However, the 
building of the framework branches will be slow, and many years may be 
required to develop a tree of desirable size (pi. 9, B). 
Where no pruning is done, spurs form at almost all terminals; and in this 
case the annual growth is short and the length growth of lateral spurs less 
than on pruned branches (pi. 9, C). 
If open trees are left without pruning for a few years, the upper portions of 
the long slender branches often lose some of their vigor; and any new shoots 
which appear are along the main framework branches, indicating a propor- 
tionately lower vegetative vigor in the outer, unpruned branches. 
Although the thrifty bearing tree is inclined to branch only when pruned 
and not to produce side twigs or branches, the persistence of fruiting spurs 
and their tendency to lengthen from year to year make fewer fruiting branches 
necessary than are found on most varieties, as each main branch becomes a 
large cylinder of fruiting wood (pi. 9, D). When conditions change to en- 
courage wood growth, the resulting growth, in the case of trees not -recently 
pruned, is more or less uniform on the terminals of spurs throughout the tree. 
The new growth here is rarely more than a very few inches in length. 
If trees have been well irrigated and headed back, heavy rampant shoots, 
usually from two to four on each vigorous cut-back branch, appear immediately 
below the point of pruning; or, if the entire branches are removed, they ap- 
pear along the remaining branch. These shoots produce large, spreading leaves, 
and if the headed-back branches are numerous a compact tree results (pi. 9, E). 
Here the spurs in the interior of the tree soon die, leaving only barren 
branches. In unirrigated orchards the new shoots are few in number and 
their growth short, and excessive shading is unlikely. Severe cutting back, 
however, is usually necessary to provide sufficient vegetative vigor for un- 
irrigated trees. 
Fruit is borne on spurs throughout the tree and on the smaller 1-year 
branches but rarely on the heavier 1-year-old wood. It is almost always at 
leafless nodes on both branch and spur, leaving these nodes barren after the 
fruit ripens. 
The long, unbranched growth made by branches of young trees of this 
variety makes the problem of shaping the young tree an important one. 
Many framework branches with their proportionate slenderness soon result in 
the need for props after the tree comes to bearing ; and the fruit is in danger 
of sunburning, on account of the bending of branches. By selecting a few 
well-spaced branches to form the main framework of the tree and cutting 
these back to induce branching at the desired points, a well-shaped tree may 
easily be developed. 
Tree vigorous and upright spreading, inclined to make but few secondary 
branches, but produces many fruiting branches, twigs, and spurs (pi. 10, A). 
It differs from other varieties in the Pacific States in that it is more inclined to 
produce spurs at all nodes on the new wood, including those near the base of 
large 1-year-old shoots, and to produce twigs by the outgrowth of spurs, and 
is less inclined to form large shoots at the expense of twigs or to bear fruit on 
leafless wood. 
When the tree is heavily cut back in pruning, vigorous new shoots grow from 
the point of pruning and from the older branches in any part of the tree, al- 
though but few of these shoots make a long heavy growth. The tendency to 
produce new shoots in all parts of the tree is more pronounced in this than in 
most other varieties. When slightly headed back but few long shoots develop, 
although under good growing conditions many short and medium-length ones 
appear. If not pruned, only occasional, vigorous, new shoots are produced; 
and these are usually on the older framework branches, although new twigs 
may appear here and there throughout the tree. Twigs form freely at nodes 
of 1-year-old shoots and smaller branches. These fruiting twigs make but 
little growth in length after their first season, but they produce many spurs 
and are the principal fruit-bearing wood of the variety, remaining productive 
for many years. 
