8 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
lowed in pruning the peach, although, as a rule, it should be hardly 
as severe. The young tree is a strong grower and must be put 
through about the same course of training as the young peach. 
This strengthens or stiffens the frame work and develops a broad, 
low-headed tree. Normally the tree does not grow as much new 
wood as the peach, and it is often possible to do the majority of 
pruning by simply heading in the strong growth. The pruning 
should be sufficient to keep the fruiting wood growing thriftily and 
the tree well within bounds. While to a certain extent pruning re¬ 
duces the labor of hand thinning, it will not take its place entirely. 
If properly thinned, the apricot will stand much neglect as regards 
pruning, but proper pruning is a matter of economy. As the tree 
grows older it will need more severe pruning to force new fruiting 
wood in the center. The absence of fruiting wood in the center of 
the carelessly pruned apricot tree is even more pronounced than in 
the neglected peach tree. The top should be well spread and the 
fruiting area of the head maintained near the ground. 
While the season for pruning the apricot in Colorado generally 
extends through February and March, summer pruning is quite 
extensively practiced on the Pacific coast, where the trees are 
headed in as soon as the crop is harvested. This starts the smaller 
laterals into stronger growth and they develop an abundance of 
fruit buds. Limited observations of the same system employed in 
our climate suggest that it may not be without merit here. While 
this late growth is inclined to be immature and may suffer from se¬ 
vere winter freezing, it is more desirable from the standpoint of 
late blooming. Fruit buds on this immature wood open from four 
to five days later than those on mature wood. This may frequently 
be an advantage in localities where late spring frosts are not un¬ 
common. The advisability of such a practice has not been fully 
demonstrated and is given only as a suggestion. 
THE CHERRY. 
The man who objects to pruning, vowing homage to nature, 
should grow cherries, for there is no fruit tree of which it may be said 
that nature is a more efficient pruner. In fact, it is a common im¬ 
pression among fruit growers that the mature cherry tree needs 
no pruning. This condition of affairs, however, is more largely 
due to indifference on the part of the markets than to an inability 
to get results from pruning. When competition becomes more 
keen, fancy grades of cherries will gain in popularity and, as in the 
growing of other fancy fruits, pruning will be found expedient. 
With the cherry the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood and 
mostly on short growths, or spurs. An examination of the spurs 
will show that they differ from those of the apple in that they carry 
