Introduction 



i8i 



to the landed proprietor or cultivator in this 

 country, will be given, illustrated, where 

 practicable, by large woodcuts, taken from 

 photographs of the actual trees. It is in- 

 tended also that short scientific articles of a 

 less restricted nature, and miscellaneous 



information of all kinds relating to trees and 

 timber, whether British or foreign, shall from 

 time to time find a place. 



Under the head of Arboriculture proper, 

 articles on planting, pruning, felling, and uti- 

 lizing trees will also appear. 



ON PRUNING AND THINNING FOREST TREES. 



CHAP. I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE TO 

 PRUNING. 



ENGLISHMEN have an instinctive liking 

 / for general principles. At any of our 

 public meetings nothing seems to set our 

 mind so much at rest as to get hold of some 

 broad principle to which we can refer the 

 subject under consideration. But the extra- 

 ordinary thing is, that no sooner have we got 

 our principle, than, instead of acting upon it, 

 we immediately set about getting rid of it by 

 encroaching upon it with exceptions on every 

 side. A good illustration of this was given 

 last summer, when Mr Gladstone unfolded 

 his democratic charter of universal suffrage. 

 All men were by right entitled to vote except 

 those who were disqualified — the disquali- 

 fications excluding almost everybody but those 

 who already had the privilege. So in the 

 pardons offered by Philip the Second to his 

 rebellious subjects in the Netherlands. Every 

 one was pardoned except those designated 

 under a few clauses, which practically in- 

 cluded every man, woman, and child in the 

 kingdom. 



We find the same greediness for exceptions 

 to general principles in one subject on which 

 we have long wished to break a lance with 

 the foresters of the present day — viz., Pruning 

 and Thinning. AVe think very great mischief 

 is being done all over the kingdom by the 

 abuse of the pruning-knife and insufficient 

 use of the axe, which has the more surprised 

 us, that it is carried on wholly in opposition 

 to and in defiance of principles which are re- 

 cognised by every one. 



It is long since Dr Lindley, in his '' Theory 

 and Practice of Horticulture," clearly laid it 

 down that 



"The quantity of timber that a tree forms, 

 the amount and quality of its secretions, the 

 brilliancy of its colours, the size of its flowers, 

 and in short its whole beauty, depend upon 

 the action of its branches and leaves, and 

 their healthiness. The object of the pruner 

 is to diminish the number of leaves and 

 branches ; whence it may be at once under- 

 stood how delicate are the operations he has 

 to practice, and how thorough a knowledge 

 he ought to possess of all the laws which 

 regulate the action of the organs of vegeta- 

 tion. If well directed, pruning is one of the 

 most useful, and if ill directed, it is among 

 the most mischievous operations that can take 

 place upon a plant. The object of pruning 

 Is either to influence the production of flowers 

 and fruit, or to augment the quantity of 

 timber. 



"Pruning is nothing less than the removal 

 of leaves. To cut off" a branch in summer is 

 evidently so ; and if the branch is naked, still 

 its removal is the destruction of the part from 

 which the leaves would have been produced 

 had it been permitted to remain. 



" Prune not at all should, therefore, be the 

 maxim of the forester. Plant thickly, thin 

 constantly, stop carefully, and leave the rest 

 to nature." 



No maxim can be sounder, and it may 

 almost seem absurd to enlarge upon it. But 

 if it be admitted, we may say with Rodrigo, 

 "It hath not appeared." It has not been 

 acted upon. Even Lindley immediately pro- 

 ceeds to quench the force of his observations 

 by adding — " Unfortunately it does not hap- 

 pen that he who plants will always thin con- 

 stantly ; it is still more rare that stopping is 

 thought of; and so a maxim, one of the 



