248 REPORT ON THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF PLANTATIONS. 



to the more frequent thinning which mixed plantations require, 

 extra hands in consequence of the great difficulty of keeping the 

 nurses at a proper distance from the hardwoods, and also the 

 greater urgency of pruning, from the trees becoming almost 

 invariably defective of branches on one side, while the growth is 

 superabundant upon the other. 



Pruning had evidently commenced about the time the planta- 

 tion received its first thinning, and was for a long period per- 

 formed only during autumn, winter, and spring, it being con- 

 considered at that time that summer pruning was injurious to 

 the health of the trees. Experience, however, subsequently 

 showed that summer is the best season for pruning operations, 

 and may be performed with greater advantage (upon most hard- 

 wood trees) during the months of June, July, and August, than 

 during any other period. In pruning healthy trees of vigorous 

 growth, no important difference appears at whatever season the 

 work is performed, but upon trees of stunted growth, or in any 

 degree sickly, the difference is at once manifest in the manner 

 in which the inflicted wounds heal up. In winter pruning, a 

 portion of the bark is apt to decay in the lower part of the wound, 

 while trees of a similar description pruned in summer are freed 

 in a great measure from this evil. 



The work of pruning was performed with the common clasp 

 pruning knife, so long as the branches were within a man's reach ; 

 and afterwards the operation was performed by means of the 

 pruning chisel, hand-saw, and spokeshave, and the wounds, when 

 large, were dressed with a preparation of paint, composed of 

 white lead and oil, with the addition of a little lamp black, 

 which, when applied, brings the part to a colour nearly re- 

 sembling the bark of several sorts of hardwood trees. 



The principal reasons assigned for pruning in the present case 

 are as follows : — First, To secure a clean straight trunk of nearly 

 equal thickness. Second, To give to each tree one single stem by 

 relieving it of others. Third, To protect the leading top from 

 others contending against it. Fourth, To remove all decayed 

 branches from the trunks of the trees. Fifth, To reduce any excess 

 of branches on one side, in order to balance the tree. Sixth, To 

 shorten any extra long branches, so as to prevent snow and winds 

 from breaking them. Seventh, To shorten or reduce any branch 

 growing off from the main trunk at an acute angle, causing the bark 

 to fester between the two surfaces at their junction. These are a 

 few of the leading objects kept in view in the practice of pruning 

 in the present case; other objects, of course, are aimed at in pruning 

 plantations differently situated and grown for a different purpose. 



The following statement shows the average actual crop upon 

 the ground in 1864, and represents the market prices per acre of 

 the whole at that period : 



