338 REPORT ON THE PRUNING OF THE RARER CONIFERS. 



coniferee, informs us that as late as the month of May he has 

 pruned the Cedrus deodara and atlantica with complete success. 

 The Murthly pines, which are beautiful specimens of what coni- 

 fers may become under good management, are pruned when 

 necessary, if the weather is suitable, in November, December, 

 and January; while many persons, whose opinion on the subject 

 is valuable, select the end of October for the operation. When 

 the specimens stand singly, and the averuncator alone is used, 

 they may be pointed at any season. 



There are many beneficial results attained by the judicious 

 pruning of conifers, and indeed we consider that, as a family, 

 they benefit most materially by the process. The liability to 

 lose their leaders, to which many of the newer coniferse are sub- 

 ject, may be obviated by a careful attention to pruning. By 

 foreshortening the branches of each of the three upper tiers to 

 one-third of their length, a stronger leader is secured, and nature 

 herself will often complete the cure. Should this operation, 

 however, not prove completely effectual, and several heads ap- 

 pear, all the bud-eyes except the centre one must be carefully 

 rubbed out, and after a year or two of such treatment the leading 

 shoot will have acquired sufficient strength to hold its own 

 ground against all rivals. Besides improving the beauty of the 

 tree, this treatment will be found materially to enhance its value 

 as timber, for the sap which would have gone to nourish large 

 superfluous limbs, being all retained in the main stem, vastly 

 increases the bole of the tree, and improves the quality of timber. 

 Instances have occurred in which spruce trees so foreshortened 

 and trained, have made nearly a third more timber in the trunk 

 than unpruned specimens of the same age growing beside them. 



When it is desired to grow the Cedrus deodara on a heavy 

 soil, upon a close clay subsoil, pruning will be found imperatively 

 necessary, to enable the plant to throw up a leader, and assume 

 the tree habit ; for on clay the deodara inclines to grow like a 

 thick straggling bush, and the only way to overcome this ten- 

 dency is to cut off the lower tiers of branches, and to thin out by 

 the foreshortening process the two upper tiers of young wood. 

 The Cedrus libani in its young stage, till it has attained the 

 height of four feet, requires the same treatment, and will be found 

 to benefit much by it. 



There are some conifers which will not stand the use of the 

 pruning-knife, but they are few in number. None of the Pinus 

 family bear pruning well, and the Scotch fir (Pinus i^alustris) 

 proves quite intractable under the treatment. All the Pinus 

 family bleed so freely when cut as to run a great risk of perish- 

 ing in the process. The only way in which they can be trained 

 with safety is by "finger-pruning" or " dis-budding," and if 

 under any circumstances it is requisite to have recourse to fore- 



