MIDSUMMER PAPERS. 91 



of forestry. Tlio objecfc of pnuiiiif^ trees, forest trees especially, is to secure 

 the largest and healthiet-t and therefore the most i)roGtable growth of timber 

 upon any given area of ground, and experience has shown tiiat by a rational 

 system of pruning a forest may be made to yield a much larger product than 

 when leit to itself, as is ordinarily the case witli us. 



Hitherto there has been no juJequace treatise on the subject of tree prun- 

 ing in the English language, and we have been excijsable for our ignorance of 

 the subject. Tiie Germans and the French, in advance of us in other depart- 

 ments of forestry, are also in this. Tlie advantages of pruning forest trees, 

 as promoting an increase of timber, were recognized in Germany two hundred 

 and fifty years ago. But the practice of pruning fell into disuse after a time, 

 until it was revived during the present century by the v/ritings of Do Courval 

 and Des Cars, who recommended a system of pruning based on the funda- 

 mental laws of vegetable physiology, and whicli is now adopted in all the con- 

 tinental forests. The work of Des Cars, entitled "A Treatise on Pruning 

 Forest and Ornamental Trees," lias recently been translated from the French 

 of the seventh edition by Professor Sargent, of Harvard University, and pub- 

 lislied by the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. It is 

 essentially a reproduction of the larger treatise of De Courval in a brief and 

 more popular form, it being a duodecimo volume of less than one hundred 

 pages. 



The system of these writers is based on the fact that ''as wood is alone formed 

 by descending, elaborated sap, a wound made on a tree can only be recovered 

 with healthy, new wood, where its entire circumference is brought into direct 

 communication with the leaves by means of the layer of young and growing 

 cells formed between the wood and the bark." To make this connection it is 

 necessary to prune in such a manner that no portion of an amputated or dead 

 branch shall be left on the trunk. The cut should always be made close to 

 and perfectly even with the outlines of the trunk, without regard to tlie size of 

 the wound thus made. This is the essential rule in all pruning, and on its 

 observance the success of the operation depends. "A tree entirely left to 

 itself," says Des Cars, "generally develops in one of two directions. It does 

 not grow upwards, but assumes tiie low, round form common to the apple tree; 

 the lower branches grow disproportionately large and absorb too much sap, to 

 the detriment of the top of the tree, and these long heavy branches are often 

 broken by the wind, or by snow and ice, leaving hideous stumps. Trees of 

 this form are very common. Tiiey generally decay at the top before reaching 

 maturity and have little commercial value. On the other hand many vigorous 

 trees grow disproportionately at the top, the lower branches die from insuffic- 

 ient nourishment, fall off, and leave, when large, bare decayed spots, which 

 gradually penetrate to the heart of tlie tree, and ruin also its commer- 

 cial value. Wounds caused by the breaking off" of large branches by wind 

 or snow produce the same results. There is no remedy for the dangerous 

 effects of such accidents except in pruning. It is a simple question of sur- 

 gery. Without pruning the tree must sooner or later decay; with pruning its 

 value may be preserved. The secret of obtaining a complete cure in all oper- 

 ations requiring the removal of a branch, either living or dead, consists in cut- 

 ting close to and iJerjecthj even with the trunk." iVnd it matters not how 

 large the- cut may be. This is a universal rule of action, and it is based on 

 the fact that new wood and bark are formed by the descending sap whicii 

 passed down between the old wood and the bark and cannot deposit the 

 new woody substance upon the scar of the pruned branch if it is left project- 



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