Correct Pruning Is Essential to Success 
P RUNING is the removal from a plant of the 
part or parts which are undesirable or 
superfluous, and the object is to improve 
results or to make them more certain. Nature’s 
purpose is the production of a large number of 
seed, but the gardener wants quality fruit. 
The first thing to develop is a good framework 
to carry a load of fruit and to make it easiest to 
spray and harvest. One must picture in advance 
what one wants to accomplish. 
HOW TO PRUNE— Make all cuts smooth, 
close to the trunk or branch, or close to a bud. 
TREATING WOUNDS —The general practice 
has been to paint wounds over two inches in 
diameter with a paint of pure white lead and pure 
linseed oil. Some use creosote, a very thin coat¬ 
ing, over the center, but this must not be allowed 
to touch the young wood or young bark. Some 
recommend Sodium Silicate (“water glass”). 
TIME TO PRUNE —The best time for pruning is in the early spring before the growth starts, as 
the wounds will heal more quickly than when the cutting is done in very cold or freezing weather. 
The inexperienced grower should do all his pruning while the trees are dormant. 
PRUNING PLUM 
Plum bears partly on spurs and partly on 
last season’s growth. 
Some growers at planting time prune the 
same as with peach; others, when setting 
branched one or two-year olds, select three 
to five branches, cut them back one-third 
to one-half and head back the leader 
proportionally. 
Varieties differ widely in habits of 
growth. The Japanese varieties grow more 
like the peach and are pruned much the 
same. The Burbank is a rank, sprawling 
grower and needs more heading back. 
As a rule it is better to let the trees take 
their natural form. Of course, broken, split¬ 
ting or interfering' limbs should be removed, 
hut heading back and thinning out and 
summer pinching back should be practiced 
with due consideration of the way the tree 
grows. 
A 5 C D 
A—Bight way to cut twigs. 
B—Too long a slant. 
C—Too long a stub. 
I)—Too close to bud. 
PRUNING PEAR 
The pear also bears fruit like the apple, 
on “spurs,” and is pruned much the same. 
Most varieties, however, tend to grow in an 
upright form and are usually headed lower. 
Light pruning is the rule and cuts should 
be made above outside buds whenever pos¬ 
sible. Heavy pruning induces young growth, 
which is more susceptible to blight. 
PRUNING CHERRY 
The fruit is borne largely on spurs, but 
also from lateral buds on last season’s 
growth. 
One-year Sweet Cherry are “whips” and 
when transplanted, the top is cut off close 
to a bud 2% to 3 feet from the ground. 
Two-year Sweet Cherry and both one and 
two-year Sour Cherry, are branched and 
when pruned after planting, from three to 
seven side branches may be left, selecting 
those that are well spaced and on different 
sides of the trunk. 
From then on little pruning is required. 
It may be necessary to remove some 
branches that cross, or some that grow 
back into the trunk, or some that are too 
close, or to thin out the top before the 
branches become so thick that they shade 
and kill out the lower wood. It is desirable 
to encourage fruiting in the lower part of 
the tree. Heavy pruning can be avoided by 
doing a little every year as needed. 
PRUNING PEACH 
The fruit is borne on last year’s wood. 
After the tree is planted, cut off the top 
18 to 24 inches above the ground and cut 
off any side branches about an inch from 
the trunk, leaving one or two good buds. 
During the first season when the growth 
is four to six inches long, choose three to 
five side branches on different sides of the 
trunk and well spaced. Assuming that you 
select three branches, the highest would be 
about two feet above the ground and the 
lowest branch about a foot. Every three or 
four weeks during the first summer, pinch 
off the tip ends of all the other branches. 
If these are very numerous, some of them 
may be cut off close to the trunk. If this 
pinching is done, no winter pruning will be 
necessary. 
During the second summer select two or 
three shoots growing outward, not upright, 
on the main branches and pinch back the 
others. 
During the third summer, less pinching 
back is required and during the fourth sea¬ 
son practically none is necessary. All that 
is needed can be done in the winter pruning. 
The result should be a tree low-headed, 
spreading, with a well-balanced framework 
that will produce large crops of quality 
fruit and come into bearing young. 
This style of pruning causes growth at 
many different points rather than much 
growth at a few points near the cuts. 
Severe pruning only seems to produce better 
grow'th, this growth is near the cuts, at the 
expense of the lower parts of the tree and 
the total growth of the tree is diminished. 
As the trees get older it will be necessary 
to prune the tops more heavily in late 
spring (some growers delay this pruning 
until the trees are in full bloom). If the 
twig and limb growth lower down in the 
tree begins to die out it indicates that the 
centers and top are not open enough. If 
these twigs and limbs in the lower part 
of the tree develop a long growth it shows 
the top and centers are too open. 
If you have old trees that seem to need 
heavy pruning, cut back moderately, say 
three to five feet, making a smooth cut to 
a good sized limb extending outward. Then 
the following summer when the new growth 
is one or two feet long, remove the strong 
sprouts that push out where new limbs are 
not desired. 
RABBIT AND MICE PROTECTION 
The best way is to put around the trunk 
a roll of galvanized wire cloth of one-fourth 
inch mesh. Many use paper but remove it 
in late spring. Some have found it effective 
to paint the trunks with Lime-Sulphur and 
Arsenate of Lead or White Lead and Lin¬ 
seed Oil. 
Mice injury can be prevented by keeping 
any weeds or grass away from the trunk 
or by wire protectors which should be 
pushed into the ground a couple of inches. 
PRUNING OF APPLE TREES 
UNTIL BEARING AGE 
If young trees are properly pruned at 
planting time, and a little thereafter each 
year, they will not require severe pruning 
at any time; they will simply need a thin¬ 
ning out of interfering branches and the 
cutting back of particularly strong growing 
limbs to make a well balanced top. At no 
time is it advisable to prune severely unless 
at some time previous they have been 
neglected or allowed to get too thick or ill- 
shaped. Bear in mind in the pruning of 
apple and pear that the fruit is all borne 
on fruit spurs or the small twigs, and these 
same twigs develop new fruit buds and con¬ 
tinue to bear year after year. The modified 
leader type of tree is the accepted standard 
for the middle west. To produce this type 
of a head, the main stem is allowed to grow 
a little faster than the lateral or side 
branches, each year allowing this main 
stem to make 18 or 20 inches new growth. 
Ltpon this a few well placed main branches 
are allowed to grow. When a height of six 
or eight feet is reached the central leader is 
then suppressed or removed. 
PRUNING BEARING VINES, 
KNIFFIN SYSTEM 
Save four strong canes, one on each side 
of the trunk for each of the two wires. 
Cut these to about 3 feet long for the top 
wire and a little shorter for the lower wire. 
Make cuts about an inch beyond the last 
bud. 
Cut off other canes, except that two as 
near the wires as possible should be cut 
back to two buds to make fruit-bearing 
wood for the next season. 
Winter pruning may be done any time 
after the leaves fall until growth starts in 
the spring, but with small plantings it is 
better to wait until just before growth 
starts. In any case do not prune when 
vines are frozen as they are then easily 
broken in handling. 
The amount of fruiting wood to leave 
when pruning varies with the vigor of the 
vine. An average Concord vine can produce 
about 15 pounds and still grow good fruit¬ 
ing wood for the next year. On such a 
vine, a total of 30 to 35 buds should be left. 
Fig. V. Mature Grape Vine Pruned. 
T—Trunk. 
A—Arms. 
C—Canes, one year old, on which fruit 
is borne. 
SP—Spurs from which canes will grow 
for fruit the next year. 
