6 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
saw can generally be bought for three dollars. The blades are not 
so frail as they look and seldom break, if properly handled; they 
can be replaced at a cost of fifty cents. It is really the best type of 
pruning saw and should be more universally used. 
A good type of hand shears is indispensable for light work. 
Various makes are on the market; buy the one that appeals to you. 
A pair of heavy shears is almost as essential; they take the place of 
the saw in many cases and will do the work in less time. They are 
used in heading in limbs where the saw can hardly be used; the 
peach pruner finds good use for them. They work well on limbs 
up to one and one-half inches in diameter. The only objection the 
writer has to this tool is that the pruner sometimes gets careless and 
leaves stubs. There is a type of heavy shears on the market that 
has two cutting edges instead of one, but it seems to do no better 
work. The pruner finds very little use for a knife in pruning ma¬ 
ture trees and seldom carries a special pruning knife. Several types 
of the long-handled tree-pruners are on the market, but they are of 
little value in the orchard. The pruner should be close to his work, 
and with a good ladder and short-handled tools he will do better 
work. 
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRUNING AS APPLIED TO SPECIFIC PLANTS 
THE APPLE. 
With the young orchard well grown, the pruner has probably 
solved the most difficult problem in the pruning of the apple or¬ 
chard ; the principles involved* in the pruning of the old Or¬ 
chard are not complicated. Nearly all of our standard commercial 
varieties of apple tend to overbear in Colorado, and one of the first 
objects of the pruner should be to overcome this tendency; the more 
prolific the variety the heavier the pruning. To be an intelligent 
pruner one must also acquaint himself with the habits of growth of 
the different varieties, as well as habits of fruit bearing. Upright- 
growers will require pruning to spread them, and straggling-grow¬ 
ers such heading in as will make them grow more upright. The 
head should be kept reasonably open and well supplied with fruiting 
wood throughout. The idea of the open head, however, can be 
overdone. (Eig. i.) Limbs that interfere or are liable to form 
bad crotches should be removed and the main branches headed in as 
the tree indicates the need by overbearing or by weak growth. Mod¬ 
erate annual primings are always to be preferred to heavy pruning 
at irregular intervals; these heavy primings tend to upset a regular 
bearing habit and may bring on an “off-year.” However, if it should 
become necessary to employ drastic measures in pruning the neg¬ 
lected orchard, do not be afraid to do it, but do not make the mis¬ 
take of selecting an “off-year” in which to do the heavy pruning. 
