Material and apparatus. Small orchard; pruning-saw,pruning-knife, pruning-shears, long-handled pruner.

After the student has become thoroughly familiar with the different kinds of buds of the several fruits and is able to distinguish a fruit bud from a branch bud, or a fruit spur from a leaf spur, several exercises should be given in the general practice of pruning. It is advisable to have at least one exercise each on the pruning of the apple, the cherry, the peach, and the grape. Study carefully each kind of plant pruned. Discuss fully what is the essential thing for which to look. Discuss the differences between the fruit bud and the branch bud as seen from your practice in pruning. Discuss fully what kind of a cut should be made in every case. Discuss why it is essential, when cutting a large limb, to make a cut first on the underside. Discuss why the peach must be pruned differently from the apple. Tell why the grape should be pruned back to three or four buds. On what age of wood are the fruit buds of the peach, the pear, the grape, and the cherry usually found. Compare several of the different kinds of pruning-saws. Give the advantages and the disadvantages of each. Tell where the pruning-shears should be used and where they should not be used.

References

Bailey, "The Pruning Book," chap. iv.

Farmers' Bulletin No. 181, United States Department of Agriculture. Paddock and Whipple, "Fruit Growing in Arid Regions," pp. 81-100. Thomas, "The American Fruit Culturist," chap. vii.

Fig. 18. Pruning tools 1, 2, 3, 4, pruning-saws; 5, 6, pruning-knives; 7, 8, 9, 10, pruning-shears.