Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-06-24
PRUNING.
VERY IMPORTANT IN FRUIT GROWING
HEADING IN NEW WOOD.

While pruning has to be modified tC
suit the style of training employed with
any given plant, each species of plant
bears its fruit in peculiar manner
which renders the maintenance of wooo
of certain age and character necessary
in order to secure crop of fruit.
APPLE AND PEAR.
In the case of the apple and the pear
the fruits are borne upon wood of last
years growth only. Heading in oI
shortening each shoot of the seasons
growth, therefore must be done with
care in order not to reduce the bearing
wood beyond profitable limit. With
these two plants, however, the bearing
shoots are not those making the most
vigorous growth at the ends of the
branches, but they are usually more
obscurely located upon the sides OF the
branches, and make much smaller
growth, for which reason they have been
termed spurs"
PEACH.
With the peach, however, it is the
wood of the last seasons growth upon
which the fruits are directly borne, and
with them heading in may be success.
fully employed to limit the quantity OF
fruit borne by the tree. Japan plums
bear on both year-old wood and spurs;
pruning may, therefore, be used to thin
the fruit, the same as in the case of the
peach.
OUNCE.
The ounce bears its fruit at the ex'
tremty of new shoots of the presen,
seasons growth, in which respect il
differs from both its close relatives, the
apple and the pear; but as these shoots
arise from wood of the previous seasons
growth, pruning must be so adjusted
that the fruit crop will not be reduced.
GRAPE.
The grape bears its fruit on shoots OF
the season, which in turn usually arise
from canes of the previous years
growth. Old wood on the grape is
therefore of little value, hence the de-
velopment of so many systems of train
ing which maintain only single perma,
nent trunk, from the top of which the
bearing canes are renewed each year.
The so-called renewal" "high renew
al" 'sKniffen," "Munson," and various
overhead systems of training all possess
this feature in common. In fact, it is
the only economical way in which to
handle native kinds. For the fruit
garden, however, where the vines are
desired for covering arbors, pruning
must be modified so as to secure a
screen from the new growth as early in
the season as practicable. For this pur-
pose modification of the "horizontal-
arm" system of training will be found
most advantageous. BY planting the
vines closely and carrying up single
trunks to fixed height, and from the
top of the stalk carrying out horizontal
arms along which spurs" are maintain
ed, short growth from each spur will
be sufficient to give uniform and sutfi-
ciently dense canopy of leaves for the
arbor.
RAsPBERRIEs AND BLACKBERRIES.
Raspberries and blackberries both
bear their fruits on short shoots which
arise from canes of the previous seasons
growth. While these shoots are usually
auxiliary shoots, the fruits are always
terminal. In the case of the grape,
which bears its fruit upon annual shoots
arising from canes of the previous year,
the fruit is produced at node, and
takes the place of leaf; several fruit
clusters may, therefore, arise from
single shoot of the grape.
CURRANT AND GoosEBERRY.
In the case of the currant and goose
berry the fruits are produced on both
old and new wood; the fruits appear az
auxiliary growths from the shoot itself,
and wood three years or more of age il
Improbable and should be cut away.
STRAWBERRIES.
Strawberries are rarely produced in
profitable quantities by plants more than
one year old. Plants over two years OF
age should be rooted out to give room
for new ones.-L. c. COrbett, in Farm
ers' Bulletin, No. 154.