ARBORICULTURE. 381 



of timber of any value ceases, and it dies prematurely, affording 

 at last a produce comparatively of no value, after having obstructed 

 the profitable and healthy growth of the adjoining trees during 

 its latter unprofitable stages of life. In the contest for the 

 preservation of existence which takes place after a certain period 

 of growth among the individual trees of a plantation which has 

 been neglected, or left without the aid of judicious pruning or 

 thinning, there will be found trees which, from the accidental 

 circumstance of having originally a vigorous, healthy constitution, 

 and from partially escaping the numerous injuries and obstructions 

 of growth that accrue to trees by neglect of culture, have attained 

 to a valuable timber size. The timber of the few such trees, 

 however, as have thus gained the supremacy, is frequently much 

 blemished by the stumps of the dead branches having become 

 imbedded in the wood ; and this serious injury to the quality of 

 the timber and value of the tree, is the invariable consequence of 

 neglecting to prune off these stumps as soon as they appear, or 

 rather neglecting to cut away close to the stem such branches as 

 indicate decay, and before they cease growing. 



The time at which pruning should begin, depends entirely on 

 the growth of the young trees. In some instances of favorable 

 soil and quick growth of the plants, branches will be found in the 

 course of four or five years to require foreshortening, and in 

 case of the formation of forked leaders, to be pruned off close to 

 the stem. When the lateral branches of different trees interfere 

 with each other's growth, pruning, so as to foreshorten, should 

 be freely applied in every case, in order to prevent the stagnation 

 of air among the branches, or the undue preponderance of 

 branches on one side of the tree. Perfect culture, in this respect, 

 requires that the plantation should be examined every year, and 

 by keeping the trees thus in perfect order there will never be 

 any danger of making too great an opening, or depriving a tree 

 too suddenly of a large proportion of branches. The operation 

 will also be so much more quickly performed, as to render the 

 expense of management less than if the pruning were delayed, 

 or only performed at intervals of years, as is too frequently 

 practised. By this management there will be little, if any, 



