. Bulletin . tree. carry a crop the lower ones are nearly on the ground. Branchesthat are too low can be cut off and where they are so long that theirends droop on the ground, they can be cut back to strong laterals ofthe upward type. Such pruning removes the weak wood and invig-orates the remaining wood. Rejuvenating Old Trees.—Sometimes in a neglected orchardthe lower limbs are dwarfed and eventually killed from lack ofpruning. The top limbs continue growth unhampered. Under such 24 conditions the tree becomes too tall. If the lower limbs have beendwarfed but not killed, it is possible that
. Bulletin . tree. carry a crop the lower ones are nearly on the ground. Branchesthat are too low can be cut off and where they are so long that theirends droop on the ground, they can be cut back to strong laterals ofthe upward type. Such pruning removes the weak wood and invig-orates the remaining wood. Rejuvenating Old Trees.—Sometimes in a neglected orchardthe lower limbs are dwarfed and eventually killed from lack ofpruning. The top limbs continue growth unhampered. Under such 24 conditions the tree becomes too tall. If the lower limbs have beendwarfed but not killed, it is possible that the trees may be profitablylowered. Tall top branches can be headed back to strong sidebranches. Care must be taken that such a pruning does not leaveweak branches at the cut or it may result in bad breaking. Caremust also be used that no large opening is made in the center of thetree, because such openings cause sunscald on the main scaffoldlimbs. Real skill is required for a successful rejuvenation of old. Fig. 15.—Same tree as shown in Fig. 14 after the annual pruning. Water sprouts have beenremoved and a general thinning-out pruning has been done over all the large branches. Eachbranch was pruned from top to bottom. Each side branch was thinned from tip end back to base. trees. If a grower is in doubt as to what to do, he should dependalmost entirely on thinning branches in the tops (see Figs. 16-17). Pruning- as Related to Planting Distance.—Trees planted be-tween the permanent ones to increase the production of fruit beforethey fully utilize the ground are known as filler trees. Such treesare given as light pruning as is consistent with good managementto encourage early and heavy production. As they begin to crowd,heavy cutting back of side branches is done only on the fillers, so 25 that the permanent trees develop symmetrically without the slight-est crowding at any time. Cutting-back pruning can be increasedin severity on the fillers, flattening them until such t
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