Of course these must
be cut well back in early spring, or we have long, naked reaches
of wood and a deformed tree. It is far better, however, not to let
these rampant shoots grow to maturity, but to pinch them back in
early summer, thus causing them to throw out side-branches. By
summer pinching and rubbing off of tender shoots a tree can be
made to grow in any shape we desire. When the trees receive no
summer pruning, Mr. Force advises that the branches be shortened
in at least one half in the spring, while some shoots are cut back
even more rigorously. At the age of four or five years, according
to the vigor of the trees, he permits them to bear. Now
cultivation ceases, and the ground is left to grow hard, but not
weedy or grassy, beneath the boughs. Every spring, just as the
blossoms are falling, he spreads evenly under the branches four
quarts of salt. While the trees thrive and grow fruitful with this
fertilizer, the curculio, or plum-weevil, does not appear to find
it at all to its taste. As a result of his methods, Mr. Force has
grown large and profitable crops, and his trees in the main are
kept healthy and vigorous. His remedy for the black knot is to cut
off and burn the small boughs and twigs affected. If the disease
appears in the side of a limb or in the stem, he cuts out all
trace of it, and paints the wound with a wash of gum shellac and
alcohol.
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