Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-01
PRUNING.

This is the busy pruning season of the
year, but let us be careful that we do
not carry the pruning business too far
Certain shrubs, the lilac, the spiraeas,
the mock orange and all the early
Spring Towering plants, should not be
touched at this season except to remove
dead wood, for obviously the shears will
be simply cutting away the Spring show
Of bloom. Grapes, apples, pears, peaches
and all fruit plants are pruned at this
season of the year. Here again the
primer is cutting out part of the bloom,
but since fruit rather than beauty is
the prime purpose of fruit plants and,
since each plant produces vastly more
flowers than it could possibly carry to
maturity as fruit, the problem is diff
ferent
1t is well to remember, however, that
pruning is a dwarfing process. The
pruned plant, whether it be fruit tree
ornamental or vegetable such as the
tomato, makes less growth. Pruning
therefore, should be just as little as is
needed to remove crossing limbs, water
sprouts and to allow better spraying.
The one exception to this rule is the old
tree which has developed lots of small
short spurs and is making no vigorous
growth. Every one has seen old apple
trees which have reached a stage of
small apples and top full of short,
scrubby growth. Such a tree will bene-
fit by a thorough cleaning out, esps-
cially in the topmost branches.
The grape is one plant that should
be pruned now before the sap begins to
flow. Although scientific men are ac-
customed to tell lis that sap bleeding is
of no harm, it certainly cannot be bene-
fetal. Grapes on a simple two-wire
trellis are rather easy to prune, the
principal idea being to save 40 to so
buds on last years wood. To cut away
all of last seasons wood is to court dis
aster since the fruit is all borne on
shoots which arise from last years wood.
The Kniffen system of training, in
which one stem is brought to the top
wire and kept as trunk from which
Tour arms OF new wood are annually
saved is practiced by many home gar
deners about the city. Those who grow
grapes on arborS have more of a prob
lem, but must follow the same prin-
ciple-that is, to save 40 or more young
buds, perhaps in this case on a total of
several shorter canes. One cannot arbi-
trarily set 40 buds as standard be-
cause much depends on the age and
vigor Of the vine. A strong vine, well
fed and sprayed, can carry so buds or
more better than a weak plant could
perhaps carry 40.
Summing up, one would say that
pruning in itself does not consist in
simply cutting of certain percentage
of the wood each year. Pruning should
take into consideration the normal fruit
habit of the tree. Apples and pears, for
instance, fruit chiefly on short crooked
growths called spurs. Cutting these
growths out Of the young tree is disas-
trous. The peach blossoms only on last
years wood. Clipping over the outer
part OF the peach tree, in the manner of
pruning a hedge, is decidedly unwise
because one is cutting away potentially
fruiting wood Thinning out some of
the limbs is a better practice. Those
who may be interested in the subject
may secure helpful advice from the De-
partment Of Agriculture or, if they live
IN Virginia or Maryland, from the
agricultural experiment stations at
Blacksburg, Va, or College Park, Md.