The Arizona sentinel., 1909-05-13
DECIDUOUS ORCHARDS
[Continued from Page Two

cOmplShed by what Is known as 'hrad-
ing in" From one-half to two-thirds
of the years growth is cut from every
shoot, thus removing a large proper
ton of the fruit buds. Such heading
in also encourages annual bearing in
stead of biennial bearing, which is so
often common in long-lived fruit trees,
and which is characteristic of many
Arizona orchards.
The pruning away of dead and weak
branches is necessity in all climates.
A tree invariably puts out more branch
es than survive in the struggle for life,
and these dead and weak twigs and
small branches must be removed from
the tree in order to give more room to
the fruit-bearing twigs and to facilitate
the harvesting of the fruit. Water
sprouts also are prone to rise from the
be Sc and trunk. These rob the fruit
bearing branches of sap, and their
presence, moreover, gives the orchard
an unkempt appearance. They should
be promptly removed.
The effect of pruning, as we'll as the
necessity of it, depends to a great ex-
tent upon local conditions of soil and
climate. Fruit-growers in the humid
climate of the east find it necessary to
prune for an open head in order to Sc
cure light and heat sufficient to produce
fruit of good color. On the plains,
however, such a course would lead to
sun-scaid of the bark and injury by
winds In California the trees tend
naturally to fruit bearing, and the
chief objects in pruning are conven-
fence of shape and the shading of bS
and trunk. Here in the inland arid
Southwest the conditions are different.
Our trees are prone to run riot with
vegetable growth, especially when
abundantly irrigated. This must be
curbed and the trees thrown into bea"-
ing by methods which will not inter-
fere with the proper shading of the
limbs, trunk and the soil about the
roots.
THE DETAILS.
Every fruit tree should receive its
first pruning Oh the day it is planted.
1t is of course imperative that the top
be cut back at this time to equalize the
loss of root cccasiened by moving the
tree. It. is we'll to prune all bruised or
broken rO0ts back to sound wood. After
the tree is set the top should be cut
back to from six to twelve inches from
the ground, in the case of the drupe
fruits. and to from twelve to twenty
four inches in the case of the pome
fruits. I wish to especially emphasize
the great desirability of this low head
ing under Arizona conditions. A long,
bare trunk is almost sure to sunburn
on the southwest side, and this will
prove a serious handicap, or perhaps
the destruction of the tree. During
the first seasons growth the scaffold
mbs-three to four in numher-whic
are to make the main framework of the
tree, should be selected. These should
be distributed both laterally and YER
tically in such a way as to avoid Y
shaped crotches, which are apt to split
under load of fruit. They should be
to make their full growth,
while all shoots not desired for branch
es are pinched off after growing out two
or three inches, leaving a bunch of
leaves to shade the trunk and contrib
ute to its growth. During the follow
ing winter the seasons growth is head
ed back to about twelve to eighteen
inches from the trunk. Three to five
healthy, well-distributed limbs should
be allowed to grow on each of the scat
fold limbs, and during the winter sea-
son of the following year these should
be cut back to within twelve or fifteen
inches of the scaffold limbs. On &C.
count of the possibility of body blight
of pear trees, it is well not to allow
fruit spurs to grow upon these scaffold
limbs. During the second summer the
pinching out of undesirable shoots is
continued, but always with an eye to
the proper shading of the trunk. From
this time on little heavy pruning is ne
cessary, but the trees should be visited
at least twice a year, once in winter
for the purpose of cutting out old or
weak branches, and once in summer
for removing water sprouts and check
ing the too exuberant growth of the
stronger limbs.
Different varieties of the same class
of fruits are characterized by different
habits of growth. Some varieties tend
to spread out with mostly horizontal
branches, while in others the tendency
is to run straigh hit up and form a broom
like top. Every primer should be ia
miliar with these varietal traits, which
may be overcome to large extent by
cutting to inside buds to encourage
more erect growth, and to outside buds
to cause the tops to spread out.
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