18 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
system of priming would suit all. In their habits of fruit bearing 
the majority of the plums resemble the apricot very much. Still 
many of them, like the cherry, show more of an inclination to bear 
only branch buds on the thriftier new wood. Like the apricot, the 
plums, with possibly a few exceptions, develop no true terminal 
buds. Except on weak spurs, the last axillary bud is generally a 
branch bud which continues the growth of the branch or spur the 
following season. The fruit buds are developed in the axils of the 
leaves on both spurs and the ranker growing new wood, the differ¬ 
ent varieties showing considerable variation in this respect. 
The body of the plum tree is subject to injury from sun-scald, and it 
goes without saying that the tree should be headed low. The young, trees 
of most varieties will need cutting back, and the tops thinning out, to de¬ 
velop them into desirable shaped trees. Some varieties will require pruning 
to spread them, and others of a more straggling habit, will need cutting 
back to inside buds or branches to make them grow more upright. As 
mentioned before, the bearing plum tree, according to local custom, re¬ 
ceives at most only moderate pruning. As a rule, the Domestica plums, 
locally represented by the various prunes, are pruned very little after they 
reach the bearing age. There are certain varieties which tend to overbear, 
however, and a certain amount of thinning out of the fruiting wood would 
greatly facilitate hand-thinning, promote more regular bearing, and im- 
provq the quality of the fruit. The pruning of the native plums is left 
largely to nature, although there is no reason why moderate pruning might 
not improve the quality of the fruit and lessen the difficulty of picking. 
There is little doubt but that such varieties as the Burbank, Abundance, 
Satsuma, Red June, and others of the Japanese group, respond satsfac- 
torily to rather severe pruning. In fact, they are more like the apricot in 
their fruiting habit and thrive under the same system of pruning. When 
neglected they tend to overbear alternate years. They should receive an 
annual 'heading-in and thinning out to force strong new growth, which 
makes very desirable fruiting wood. While pruning as a means of thinning 
the fruit is not without merit in the case of the plums, it does not seem to 
give results comparable with those obtained in pruning the peach. The 
grower of fancy plums must supplement moderate pruning with hand¬ 
thinning. 
PRUNING THE QUINCE. 
While the importance of the quince industry in Colorado might not 
warrant the insertion of this paragraph, the almost criminal neglect from 
which the quince tree suffers as regards pruning would move one to writing 
a book. Among the fruit trees herein considered, the quince has a fruit 
bearing habit peculiar to itself. With the advance of spring the dormant 
buds on the one-year-old wood push out leafy shoots from three to four 
inches in length and these are terminated by a single flower. While both 
axillary and terminal buds produce these flower-bearing shoots, the stronger 
flowers come from the axillary buds on tl»e last half of the annual growth; 
terminal buds more frequently give rise to branches or, at most, weak 
flower-bearing shoots. Considering its fruiting habit then, the quince should 
receive about the same pruning as the peach. While with some varieties 
the plant assumes a tree-form quite readily, others are, at their best, only 
a bush. A course of severe pruning for the young tree, however, will aid 
the grower in securing a desirable shaped tree. When the tree has 
reached a bearing age it s'hould be pruned annually by thinning out the 
new* wood and clipping that remaining back to about two-thirds of its 
length. With proper pruning, the quince should produce annual growths 
from twelve to twenty-four inches in length. Too rank a growth is no'. 
