TOP-WORKING FRUIT TREES 
ii 
bud will be the strongest and should be retained. Should the for¬ 
mation of the top allow it, a second growth may be left. If the grafts 
have been set in near the head of the trees they will require some 
pruning in reference to spreading the top. The general tendency is for 
the top-worked tree to grow too compact. Cut the grafts back to 
one of the strong outside branches started by the first pinching back 
and it will give them a start in the right direction. What shall we 
do where two cions start in the same stub? Should the stub be less 
than three inches in diameter one should be removed at this time. 
Keep the stronger, or if there should be little difference, the one best 
situated to help make a good top. Cut the other off close, even to 
removing a small corner of the stump on that side, the wound will 
heal better. Should the stub be over three inches in diameter there 
is some argument in favor of leaving the extra graft another year. 
It will help callous over the stub, and may be removed the following 
spring leaving a comparatively small wound. If left longer, or until 
the two grow together, the result is a bad crotch and sometimes a 
pressure which may actually split the stub. 
Subsequent pruning will consist in such cutting back as will help 
form a stocky and well shaped top. They will demand the same 
attention as young trees. Spread the top by pruning to outside buds 
or branches and do not pay too much attention to the small wood. 
Some of the small branches may require cutting out or clipping back, 
but remember, in it we have the start for early fruiting wood. 
TOP-WORKING YOUNG TREES 
There is a growing conviction among the fruit growers that better 
results may come from planting vigorous young trees of some strong, 
growing kind to be later worked over to the desired variety. In 
the opening remarks on this subject, mention was made of the de¬ 
sirability of working weak growing kind on stronger root-systems, 
as well as top-working as a means of lessening loss from attacks of 
root rots and woolly aphis. The embarrassment of growing the 
orchard to a bearing age only to find some of the trees not true to 
name may be avoided by this plan of starting the young orchard. 
Then every fruit grower has observed that few trees of the same 
variety are alike in bearing habit and character of fruit. No doubt, 
many growers have some particular tree in their bearing orchard 
which is better than all others, that is nearer their ideal. By choos¬ 
ing grafting wood from this tree, a young orchard may be grown 
as near like it as is possible. There are productive and unproductive 
trees in every orchard and the careful selection of cions from pro¬ 
ductive trees will avail much as means of building up .a fruitful 
orchard. 
In top-working young trees it is a common practice to set the 
trees where they are to grow and after the scaffold limbs are well 
formed, to graft or bud into these the future top. Some Eastern 
men have advocated purchasing two-year-old trees in the fall (trees 
in which the head is already formed) to be grafted over indoors in 
December. In the West, and especially on a large scale, this system 
