Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1917-01-26

Y
ment Of Agriculture)
There are several different results to
be obtained by pruning fruit trees,
namely:
1. To keep the tree within bounds,
so that the work of spraying and of
picking the fruit can be done with the
greatest facility.
=. To remove dead or interfering
branches.
3. To open the top of the tree to ad
NIT air and sunshine, and to reduce
the struggle for existence among the
branches.
4. To thin the fruit and stimulate
the development of fruit buds.
5. To make the tree stOcky and
increase its vigOr.
There are differences of opinion as
to the best ways of pruning to secure
the results desired, but most success
full growers admit that regular prun-
ing is desirable. Each grower in prun-
ing his trees has in mind the securing
of some definite objects, though he
may not know just what the principles
of pruning are. Each tree furnishes
a problem in itself, but if the prin-
ciples are understood these problems
can be solved.
Avoid Bad Crotches.
After tree is planted it is headed
back to a single unbranched stem or
Il stem with several branches, depend
ing on the size and age of the tree.
The second season several of these
stubs or new branches are selected to
form the scaffold limbs of the tree.
Care should be taken to have these
three or four spread out well along
the main stem so as to avoid bad
crotches later. The branches selected
am headed back 10 or II inches. The
third season two or three branches are
allowed to remain on each of these
scaffOld limbs, and all others cut off.
The branches selected this time should
be located so as to balance evenly and
keep open the top of the tree. The
fourth season the operation is repeat
ed on the limbs of the preceding sea-
sons growth. In all later pruDingS
care should be used to save fruit spurs
and keep the bearing wood low and
well distributed throughout the tree.
In pruning, all cuts should be made
close to the parent branch, leaving no
stubs which might later decay back
and injure the tree. All wounds of
more than an inch in diameter should
be painted.
The correct principle seems to be to
do the least cutting possible and yet
get the results desired. A great deal
of the cutting done in winter may be
avoided by a little judicious pinching
back of buds during the summer. This
pinching back prevents the growth of
nbranches that must be removed later
y permits better growth in the
inches that are desired.
Thinning.
/ The purpose of thinning is to reduce
- quantity of fruit which a tree sets
, to a quantity that it can mature and
kat the same time develop fruit buds for
q next years crop. An excessive
10 usually means small and often
poorly colored fruit, and the overload
ing frequently breaks down the limbs
of the tree. The development of seeds
is an exhaustive process on a tree,
and the growth of seeds in small fruits
is as depicting as in the case of large
fruits; thus thinning relieves the tree
of a severe strain. In the case of
winter apples it is quite likely that
annual bearing is encouraged by thin
ming, for it gives more opportunity
for the development of fruit buds.
Summer varieties of apples require
several pickings, and each of these
pickings may in way be called sys-
tenn of thinning. With stone fruits,
especially peaches, thinning has be-
come an established practice among
most commercial growers. How much
and when to thin depends ON condi-
tons. The usual time of thinning is
just after the so-called June drop. The
amount to thin varies with the kind of
fruit and the variety. With some vari-
cites it is not always profitable, and
the extra drain on the tree by the pro-
duction of seed can be overcome by
fertilizing. Peaches are usually
thinned to about five or six inches
apart on the limbs.
Orchard Renovation.
Many orchards contain trees which,
owing to old age, neglect of pruning,
insects, or disease, have become I'M
profitable. All Of these trees which