8 
STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
provided. It will be remembered, however, that the plant cannot 
use this food until it has been made over in the leaves. It is for 
this reason that a large leaf surface is necessary and it is also desira¬ 
ble m that the shade forms - a protection from the sun. 
The kind of top which the tree is to assume is developed with 
t le first season’s pruning, which should be begun in most sections 
not earlier than the first of March. This is true for the reason if 
done earlier a longer time must elapse before the wounds can heal 
and necessarily the cut surfaces are exposed that much longer to 
the drying action of the sun, wind and frost. It is commonly 
understood among orchardmen that trees must not be pruned when 
the wood is frozen. Pruning when the trees are in this condition 
often results m bad wounds and the dying back of branches, but 
this result is probably due to the agencies just mentioned rather 
than to the fact that the wood was frozen. In any case the rule 
is a good one to follow. Then, too, there is always more or less 
danger from winter killing after early pruning is done so that the 
trees would need to be gone over a second time. 
From three to five limbs are now selected to form the frame¬ 
work of the tree which should be cut back about twelve inches from 
the trunk. The rest are removed. If the lowest branch has been 
at twen ty inches from the ground, the highest branch 
should be at .east a foot above; two feet would be better. A com¬ 
mon mistake is to cut trees back too far thus crowding the 
branches as shown in plate I. Neither were these branches 
thinned out nor headed in during the first season but were all 
allowed to develop into leaders. This latter mistake often re¬ 
sults m long willowy branches which droop with a load of fruit and 
is the mam reason for ’condemning low headed trees. Many growers 
carry their pruning up to this point successfully, but fail to head 
m the first season’s growth and so miss one of the critical points in 
the proper formation of the top. ^ 
It is a common notion that the branches gradually get hio-her 
r°m the ground as the tree continues to grow. The apparent gain 
eight is due solely to the increase in diameter of the limbs 
w ich soon begin to crowd if sufficient space has not been left be- 
we^n em. he centers of the limbs will always remain the same 
distance apart, so in forming the head one should have in mind 
what the appearance of the limbs will be when they have attained 
a diameter of six or more inches. 
liml-TTT Y , EAR: ~ It , may be re K arded as a rule, that when a 
s cut back, unless the cut is made just above a strong lateral 
L° V , m< ? re bran ches will develop near the cut end and some of 
is to T S T er Wl11 devel °P into shoots - The usual practice 
to form nViv ° f [T 6 t0 grOW on each of the P revi °us years limbs 
to form additional framework for the tree. The two selected should 
