This is a matter that has received much attention from all
fruit-growers. The influence of different modes of training and pruning
is very great on the bearing qualities of trees. The peculiarities
demanded by the various fruit-trees, vines, and bushes, are given under
these articles respectively. We give here only some general principles.
The health, beauty, and profit, of most fruit-trees depend upon
judicious pruning and training. The following are the general objects:--
1. To secure regular growth and prevent deformities, and thus promote
the health of trees.
2. To secure a sufficient number of fruit-bearing shoots, and in right
locations, and to throw sufficient sap into those shoots to enable them
to mature the fruit. With a certain amount of pruning, you may double
the quantity of fruit, or destroy half that the trees would have
produced if not trained at all. One half of the fruit of any orchard
depends upon correct pruning. It also has a great influence upon the
quality of fruit. The cherry is almost the only fruit-tree that throws
out nearly the right number of branches, and in the right places. It
needs a very little direction while young, and afterward only the
removal of decaying branches. The quince needs considerable trimming at
first; but, the head once formed, it will need very little
after-pruning. Next comes the plum, needing, perhaps, a little more
pruning than the cherry or quince, but much less than the other fruits.
The plum is apt to throw out strong branches, in some directions, quite
out of proportion with the rest of the top. Such need shortening in, to
distribute the sap equally through the tree, and thus produce a
symmetrical form. This is all the trimming necessary. The roots of a
plum-tree are usually stronger than the top, and absorb more than the
leaves can digest; hence some of its diseases. The natural remedy would
be root-pruning, and leaving the top in its natural state, except
shortening-in the disproportioned branches. Removing much of the top of
a plum-tree would ordinarily prove injurious. The apple needs
considerable pruning, but not of the spurs and side-twigs which bear the
fruit, but of limbs that grow too thick, and of disproportioned
luxuriance. (See under Apple.) So the pear must be often slightly pruned
to check the too vigorous growth and encourage the too tardy. The peach
must be so pruned as to prevent the long bare poles so often seen, and
to secure annually the growth of a large number of shoots for next
year's bearing, and to check the flow of the sap by cutting off the ends
of the growing young shoots, so as to cause the formation on each, of a
few vigorous fruit-buds. Peach-trees, so pruned, will be healthy and do
well for fifty years, and produce a larger number of better peaches than
will grow on trees left in the usual way. By a system of pruning that
will equalize the growth and strength, the bearing will be general on
all the branches of the tree. This will make the fruit more abundant and
of better quality. The following six principles--first stated by M.
Dubreuil, of France, and since presented to the American people in
Barry's "Fruit-Garden," and still later in Elliott's "Fruit-Book"--will
guide any attentive cultivator into the correct method of pruning and
training:--
1. The vigor of a tree, subject to pruning, depends, in a great measure,
upon the equal distribution of sap in all its branches.
2. The sap acts with greater force, and produces more vigorous growth on
a branch pruned short than on one pruned long.
3. The sap, tending always to the extremities, causes the terminal
shoots to push with more vigor than the laterals.
4. The more the sap is obstructed in its circulation, the more likely it
will be to produce fruit-buds.
5. The leaves serve to prepare the sap for the nourishment of the tree,
and to aid in the formation of fruit-buds. Therefore, trees deprived of
their foliage are liable to perish, and they are injured in proportion
to their defoliation.
6. When the buds of any shoot or branch do not develop before the age of
two years, they can only be forced into activity by very close pruning;
and this will often fail, especially in the peach.
Observe the foregoing, and never cut large limbs from any tree, except
in grafting an old tree (and then only graft a part of the top in one
year, especially in the pear), and of old, neglected peach-trees, to
renew the top, and any careful cultivator can raise an orchard of
healthy, beautiful, and profitable trees. There are different forms of
training that have gone the rounds of the fruit-books, that are nearly
all more fanciful than useful. There are four forms of fan-training, and
several of horizontal and conical. The following only are useful:--
_Fan-Training._--A tree but one year from the graft, or bud, is planted
and headed down to within four buds of the ground, the buds so situated
as to throw out two shoots on each side (see fan-training, first stage).
[Illustration: Fan-training, 1st stage.]
[Illustration: Fan-training, 2d stage.]
[Illustration: Fan-training, 3d stage.]
[Illustration: Fan-training, Complete.]
The following season, the two upper shoots are to be cut back to three
buds, so as throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on each side. The
two lower shoots are to be cut back to two buds, so as to throw out one
leading shoot, and one shoot on the upper side. In this second stage,
you will have a tree with five leading shoots on each side (see cut,
fan-training, 2d stage). These shoots form the future tree, and should
neither be shortened in, nor allowed to bear fruit this year.
Each shoot should now be allowed to produce three shoots, one leading
one, and two others on the upper side, one near the bottom, and the
other half way up the stem. All others should be pinched off when they
first appear. At the end of the third year you will have the appearance
in the cut (Fan-training, third stage). After this it may bear fruit,
but not too much, as a young tree so trained, is disposed to
over-bearing. These shoots, except the leading ones, should be shortened
back; but to what length depends upon the vigor of the tree. This is to
be continued and extended as the grower may choose, always preventing
the top from becoming too dense, and the shoot too long for a proper
flow of sap, and maturity of fruit-buds. A good form, though slightly
irregular, is seen in the cut (Fan-training, complete). Such trees
trained against walls, or better, on trellis-work, are beautiful and
very productive.
[Illustration: Horizontal Training, first stage.]
_Horizontal Training_ is another form contributing to fruitfulness, by
regulating the flow of the sap. This is done by preserving an upright
leader with lateral shoots at regular distances. To secure this, such
shoots as you wish to train must be tied in a horizontal position, and
all others pinched off on first appearance.
[Illustration: Horizontal Training, fourth year.]
The process is simple and easy, continued as long as you please. Head in
the shoots of these lateral branches to two or three buds and they will
bear abundantly. As the growth increases, remove all that are not in the
right places, and train all you spare, as before. In the fourth year,
you will have trees of the appearance in the cut (Horizontal Training,
fourth year).
_Conical Training._--The Quenouille (pronounced _kenoole_) of the
French, is the best of all forms of training, especially for the pear.
To produce conical standards, plant young trees four or five feet high,
and after the first year's growth, head back the top, and cut in the
side branches, as in the cut (Progressive stages of conical training).
[Illustration: Progressive stages of Conical Training.]
[Illustration: Conical Training complete.]
The next season several tiers of side branches will shoot out. The
lowest should be left about eighteen inches from the ground, and by
pinching off a part, others may be made to grow, at such distances as
you may desire. At the end of the second year, the leader is headed back
to increase the growth of the side shoots. The laterals will constantly
increase, and you must save only a sufficient number. The third or
fourth year, the lateral branches may be bent down and tied to stakes.
The branches must be tied down from year to year, and the top so
shortened in as to prevent too vigorous growth, and throw the sap into
the laterals. This may be continued until the tree will exhibit the
appearance in the cut (conical training complete). When the tree has
become thoroughly formed it will retain its shape without keeping the
branches tied. The fan and horizontal training are valuable for fruits
that need winter protection, and they are also very ornamental, and
enable us to cultivate much fruit on a small place. All these forms of
training increase largely the productiveness of fruit-trees. It is
recommended for all small gardens and yards, and will pay in growing
fruit for market.