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FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
nurseryman may know that this is the 
best method and wish to do so in order 
that his customer may get best results. 
Unless he can explain it thoroughly, he is 
sometimes reluctant to do so for this rea¬ 
son. The planter, particularly if new in 
the business, associates in his mind, “trees 
and branches.” When he gets a shipment 
of branched trees; planted, and looks down 
the row it appears to him that he has a 
grove “right now.” But if he receives 
trees cut back to stubs, he may look over 
the planting and wonder what's missing 
and if a mistake has been made. He may 
not know that at the end of a year he will 
have a much finer headed tree, a thriftier, 
and a better tree for its entire life. So, 
instruct your nurseryman to prune for 
planting—sixteen-inch tops. 
The conclusions outlined are the result 
of the observation of not a few or a few 
hundred, but literally of hundreds of 
thousands of trees pruned for planting 
and treated in every conceivable manner. 
As is often the case, we work from the 
complex to the simple and you will find 
that this simple method of pruning young 
trees before and after planting will pro¬ 
duce the best results. 
-: In my grove, in January, I 
rubbed off branches on young trees. 
Should I have let them grow? 
Cornell: Let them grow until the next 
December and then follow the method I 
have suggested. On young fruit trees 
generally cut them to six or eight inches 
length and that helps the trees get started. 
I would not remove them. 
Hart: That meets my approval thor¬ 
oughly. I might suggest, in setting the 
trees that the roots be pruned smoothly, it 
is well to cut from the underside. That 
has a tendency to send the roots down. 
About fertilizing the ground before the 
trees are planted, if the tree is planted in 
the winter, do not fertilize it at time of 
planting. When spring comes top dress 
with one-half pound to the tree. If plant¬ 
ed after February ist, the fertilizer should 
be put on at time of planting. Where top 
dressed, put in or mix with the soil. 
Lord: The number of branches is an 
important factor in the foundation of the 
trees. 
Cornell: With the trees as I have de¬ 
scribed, at the end of growing season, 
there will not be five branches but mostly 
four or three branches. The question is if 
you want to head your trees with three, 
four or five branches. 
