Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1913-03-06

Although the pruning of fruit trees
has been done for years by men, who
were growing fruit either as CONNER
cial proposition or merely to have a
little fruit in the home garden, still
there is probably no other phase of the
fruit business which is SO poorly done
and about which so little is known.
In the beginning, we should under
stand the difference In meaning of the
terms pruning and training. BY train
ing, the shape, form and style of the
tree is changed, while by pruning, the
vigor, fruitfulness and general bearing
habits of a tree are altered or changed
to meet the needs Of the grower
Let us start, then, with the training
of the young tree. There is no doubt
but that the early training is the most
important part of trees life. If this
training is not done properly and the
tree started right, it will probably al
ways be weak tree, or will not be
the profitable investment that it should
be; on the other hand, if the proper
training is given the first three or four
years, the tree ought to be SO started
that it would be in shape to bear many
future crops with further pruning COM
paratively easy.
Height of Head.
When starting to train young apple
trees, the first thing to be decided is
the height of head, which we are going
to use. Without going too much in de-
tail, it is sufficient to state that in
West Virginia we should use a low
head. The trees are not only picked,
sprayed and pruned easier and cheap
er, but there is also less liability Of
the trees being damaged by the winds
or injured by sun scale. The
proper height in West Virginia is from
"a to 20 inches high, this giving us 6
to inches in which to form our heads
thus bringing the lower limbs from Is
to % inches from the ground, which
allows of proper cultivation, especially
where extension implements are used.
Peaches should be cut off about IS
inches high, which gives us a lower
head than in apples.
Method OF Pruning To Use.
There are two systems or methods
by which the apple might be pruned
First by the open headed method, or,
second, by the central leader system.
Both methods are used extensively.
and, while each grower can decide for
himself which method he wishes to
use, still the central leader system
seems to be the best method for West
Virginia. With the open headed sys-
tenn the branches of the head all come
out very near the same place on the
trunk and tend to make weak and bad
crotches. Also the weight of the crop
is borne on only about six inches of
the trunk and the main limbs are more
liable to split and break when the tree
bears heavy. Such an open headed
tree is shown in Fig. 1. On the other
hand, with the central leader, the
limbs are distributed over a larger por-
ton of the trunk, two or three scat
folds of limbs can be formed and the
weak crotches can be greatly de-
creased. The fruit is not borne all at
one place on the trunk. There is a
greater bearing surface on such tree
and stronger tree is formed. There
fore, in pruning the apple, the first
year, consists simply OF cutting of the
whip "a to % inches high. The second
year this whip will have thrown out
number Of branches or laterals.
Choose from 8 to laterals, or posi-
bly, or 2 more, if they are all we'll
placed, and cut out all others. Prune
these laterals back to from to 8
buds, according to the vigor Of the
growth, and leave the central leader,
cutting it back in proportion to the
laterals. Now, this second year, these
| laterals will throw out number of
sub-laterals and the central leader will
continue its upward growth. Then the
third spring choose 2 or 3 Of the best
well-placed sub-laterals which are
branching out like fork from the
main limbs or 1aterals and cut the
other sub-laterals. Cut back the ones
which you save one-half their growth