FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
105 
The trees should be set slightly higher 
than they stood in the ground before re¬ 
moval. Subsequent cultivation will work 
the soil up to them somewhat and if set 
too low might cover the union of bud and 
stock. 
Cut back to a stub, when the tree starts 
to grow it will put out shoots from all or 
most of the buds on the trunk. These 
buds are larger, more fully developed and 
put out much more vigorous shoots than 
those on the branches of a branched tree. 
They are, as it were right on the main line 
and near the source of supply. The com¬ 
mon method once was to assiduously rub 
off as soon as they started, everyone of 
these tiny branches except a few near the 
top which were intended to become the 
permanent head. It was thought that all 
growth which went into branches not to 
be left, was wasted. This is a serious mis¬ 
take. Don’t rub any of them off. Leave 
them strictly alone to grow at will. These 
little sprouts all up and down the trunk 
will not of course all be left as permanent 
branches, but they serve a very useful pur¬ 
pose. They are of great use in helping 
the tree get started. They shade the trunk 
and prevent the bark from becoming hard 
or burned by the sun. They act as tiny 
pumps, transpiring moisture and helping 
to get the flow of sap freely established. 
For the entire growing season keep 
right on letting the trees strictly alone. 
Pursue the usual practices of watering, 
cultivation and fertilization, but do no 
pruning. Of course if on an occasional 
tree a sprout from the root-stock below 
the bud appears, this should be cut off. 
After the tree has been growing a year, 
it will be found that nature has practically 
selected the permanent head without any 
assistance or interference. Most of the 
little branches which shoved out when the 
tree first started will have made the one 
growth and no more. But nature will 
have selected several as the easiest and 
most natural sap channels and these 
branches will have put out several vigor¬ 
ous upward growths and developed into 
sturdy thrifty limbs. This is the perma¬ 
nent head of the tree. Take the shears 
and prune out the small twigs. The orig¬ 
inal trunk may have died back or become 
hard down from the top a few inches. Cut 
this off down to the topmost thrifty 
branch. You now have a clean tree, 
branching strongly upward and growing 
from the ground instead of lopping, weak 
growth downward toward it. The tree 
established in this manner will be free 
growing and lusty and given good care in 
other ways, will not be subject to french- 
ing and withertip. 
Having followed this method, your 
pruning for the second year and every 
year up to the bearing age, will be ex¬ 
tremely light. All sprouts which appear 
below the main branches should be re¬ 
moved promptly. It is well to keep the 
center of the tree from becoming congest¬ 
ed. Keep all sprouts off the main branch¬ 
es up to a height of from two to three 
feet. This with the occasional cutting out 
of a water sprout, a sprout below the bud 
or a broken branch should constitute all 
the pruning necessary. 
You may wonder why all nurseries do 
not send out trees cut back to stubs instead 
of at times shipping branched trees. The 
