The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-12-05
TOO MUCH PRUNING.
HorticuIturists Do Too Much Cut
ting in Their Orchards.

1t is really surprising how very little
is known about the effects of pruning,
says the Practical Farmer. Both webb
ally and by letter L get inquiries about
the matter which shows this to be true.
1t is of common occurrence to be asked
by an orchardist, When shall prune
my trees?" and when I reply 1 ask why
it is thought they require pruning. the
answer is always to the effect that it
had been understood by those inquiring
that pruning was necessary every year.
though they were unable to say what
it was to accomplish. The same idea
is entertained by the city merchant
who has shade trees before his door,
but he has been brought to believe this
by laborers anxious for a days work in
winter. They nave made him believe
his tree has to be cut back every year,
and as he is generally ignorant of such
matters and thinks the laborer is not,
he lets his trees be mutilated every year
without a murmur. There is but little
heavy pruning required in an orchard
after the first year or two succeeding
the planting. There should be some
done when first planted, both to lessen
the risk of tranSplanting, and to give
shape to the tree. 1t is we'll understood
that new shoots form just below where
cut off, therefore the cut is to be made
where a branch or two is wanted. 1t
is not always that the new shoots are
just where they are wanted or of the
number desired, and there may be a lit
tie more pruning required But the fact
remains that if intelligently handled the
first few years but little pruning will
be required afterward. Repeated prun-
ings of good sized branches weaken
trees very much. It frequently occurs
that old orchards fail to make thrifty
growth, and to promote such growth
heavy pruning is performed. Thiss is a
great mistake. If there are half dead
limbs on the tree it is right to cut them
out, but to lop off limbs right and left
which are healthy but not growing, is
going to cripple the tree severely.
If the trees are not at the natural end
of their growth through age, what they
need is manure and cultivation. This
will accomplish what is desired. if any
thing will. In my travels last winter
I passed by an orchard of pears and
apples which were being pruned, and
such a sight as it was In the first
place the trees had been set too close,
by far. The pears were apparently not
more than twelve feet and the apples
twenty feet apart. a la.boring man was
going through the orchard with hatch
ct and saw, and the ground was strewn
with thick branches. The trees were
full of scars. the wounds appearing in
all directions. 1 inquired what he was
doing. and he informed me the boss
thought the trees too thick, and he was
cutting away the lower limbs and many
Of the side ones to let IN light and air.
To my suggestion that it would be in
fnitely better to chop out every other
tree, he said his boss would not listen
to that, as each tree was different from
the others. and he wanted a variety.
This, of course. was all wrong. The
mistake of planting too close was be-
ing followed by another, the mutilation
of the trees past repair. l am positive