To be successful, the deheading process must be followed by careful thinning of the sprouts that will be forced from the old stubs. If too much thinning is done the first year, there is danger of those that are left becoming top-heavy and breaking off. This is especially troublesome in sections subject to strong winds. The new sprouts should be left sufficiently thick to help support each other, and yet should be thinned out sufficiently to prevent crowding. At the end of the first season’s growth, further trimming should be done, giving those branches best adapted for the frame of the new tree a chance to take the lead the following season. A sufficient amount of secondary growth should be left to help take care of the excessive sap flow in the shortened tree, but this must be watched to see that it does not interfere with the growth which is to be permanent. By the end of the second year, the permanent branches should be sufficiently strong and firm to permit the entire removal of all other branches. The amount of wood to be left until the end of the second season and then removed is clearly shown in figures 18 and 19. The third year the tree should make sufficient growth to restore very largely the equilibrium between the top and the roots and also produce a small crop. Figures 13 to 17, inclusive, illustrate the steps in rejuvenating an orchard by the deheading process from the start until the trees are again in commercial bearing. [Illustration: Fig. 17.—Same trees as Fig. 14, showing four seasons’ growth after deheading. Photo taken December, 1917, after trees have borne their first good crop of nuts. No pruning has been done since January, 1916.] Some growers find it more desirable to cut back only one-half of each tree at a time. The shock to the tree is not so great and the liability to sour-sap correspondingly less. The halves of the tree left standing act as a wind-break to prevent the blowing out of the new growth, which at the same time is less likely to break off because of its slower and more sturdy growth. The objection to this method is that the other half must be cut off the following winter and the shaping process is more or less uneven, and necessarily continued over a long time. [Illustration: Fig. 18.—Two seasons’ growth before pruning of almond trees deheaded six feet from the ground January, 1914, in the Armstrong orchard near Davis. The tree was only moderately thinned at the end of the first year. Photo taken February 2, 1916.]