16 Thk CoIvOrado Experiment Station. 
more barren appearance; and, although some varieties develop 
axillary fruit buds quite freely, the majority of the fruit buds are 
terminal on these short spurs. The different varieties vary some¬ 
what in their fruiting habits, and a study of this character will, to 
a certain extent, indicate how much pruning each will require. 
Apparently the grower accepts the upright-growing habit of 
the pear as the inevitable, with hardly so much as an effort to train 
it otherwise. With proper training there is no reason why the pear 
tree may not be grown with a moderately broad and low head. 
Pears that grow in the tops of high trees are too often scarred, if 
not whipped off by wind, before they are mature and, besides, it is 
too expensive to pick them. The forming of the tree belongs more to 
the province of pruning the young tree; but a little judicious head¬ 
ing-in practiced on the old tree, taking care to cut to outside buds 
or branches, will improve on an undesirable form. Too often the 
tree is allowed to grow at will until it is out of reach, and then, 
in a fit of desperation, the grower resorts to a system of heading-in 
shown in Figure 14. This system may be all right for the lawn 
hedge, but it is not well adapted to the pear, as is shown by Figure 
15, the same tree one year later. By the time the pruner gets through 
with this tree he will have decided that it is poor policy to head-in 
pear trees. Had the pear tree been properly headed-in from the be¬ 
ginning, the result would have been different. It is only reasonable 
to suppose that leaving stubs of large limbs which bear numerous 
fruit spurs will result in rank growth from these spurs, especially 
during an “off-year” when the spurs carry a large proportion of 
branch buds. When it becomes necessary to head-in the large pear 
trees, always cut to side limbs and do not make the mistake of 
choosing an “off-year” to do this severe pruning; a heavy crop 
tends to check rampant growth encouraged by rigorous pruning. 
While some growers really believe that the pear tree will not 
stand pruning, we know of no variety to which moderate pruning is 
detrimental. On the other hand, there are varieties which require 
severe pruning. In spite of the fact that the Anjou pear is a fa¬ 
vorite on the market, many growers will not consider the planting 
of this variety. Yet a few of its more forbearing admirers have 
I demonstrated that its one bad fault (tardy bearing) may be over- ' 
come by proper pruning. The young tree blooms freely and ap¬ 
parently sets very well, but before the fruits reach any size the 
crop thins itself to almost nothing; even the old tree carries a very 
small proportion of its bloom to maturity. Heavy pruning during 
the dormant season will stop this shedding and insure a good crop 
of fruit. The practice of the most successful growers is to cut the 
tree back each year and remove some of the new wood that may have 
been forced by the last pruning. When once the tree begins to bear 
