January, 1917 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
77 
more dense or matted trees. 
Such trees bear their fruit on the 
spurs which arise from the sec- 
ond-year wood. These spurs 
usually produce few vegetative 
buds and as the plum fruit bud 
develops only blossoms and fruit, 
the spurs perish after fruiting. 
Even wh’en the end bud on the 
spur is a shoot bud, it has little 
chance to make much growth 
because of the many blossoms 
which are being produced on the 
same short spur. As a result of 
this habit very few plums are 
borne on wood more than two 
years old. 
From these facts, it is appar- 
ent that plum trees should be 
pruned heavily to produce strong 
new wood which bears fruit buds 
or at least strong new spurs. 
The aim in pruning should be 
to cut heavily enough to produce 
a long new growth of at least two 
feet which would require heading 
back. Then each annual cutting 
gives strong fruiting wood and 
prepares for the next year’s re- 
newal. 
The cherry has a less vigorous 
fruiting habit Hum the plum, al- 
though its buds belong to the 
same classes. Generally not over 
half of the lateral buds on the 
new limb growth are fruit buds. 
The fruit spurs have a terminal 
shoot bud and may persist and 
fruit for several years. They 
seldom live longer than three 
years, however, so practically no 
fruit is borne on wood which is 
more than four years old. Con- 
sequently on old trees that 
make a small annual growth of 
but three to four inches, the total 
fruiting area is a layer approxi- 
mately a foot deep about the 
outside of the tree. 
A lighter pruning will keep the 
fruiting wood of the cherry in a 
stronger, more vigorous condi- 
tion than with the plum, because 
of the cherry’s better spur habit 
and its tendency to produce 
belter annual growths. Its 
stronger growing habit is prob- 
ably due to the fewer fruit buds 
on the new wood, which would 
have a lesser tendency to check 
subsequent growths by excessive 
fruit production. 
The apple is the most difficult 
of the tree fruits to keep in 
regular bearing. Its blossom 
buds are formed as terminal 
spur buds and in some instances 
as terminal and lateral buds on 
limbs. The apple fruit spur, 
which normally arises from two- 
year-wood, has a biennial fruit- 
ing habit instead of being annual 
as with the cherry. The spurs 
are, however, much longer lived 
as it is very common to find them 
to be fifteen to twenty years old. 
The apple fruit bud, which is 
usually a terminal bud on a spur, 
produces both blossoms and a 
vegetative growth. This growth, 
which is produced at the same 
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