486 



TJic Country Gcntl 



all; pruning causes defects. It is much bet- 

 ter to allow a tree to take its natural course." 



James Jupp, Millhurst, Sussex, sawyer 

 (fourteen years' experience) — " There is no 

 good done by pruning oak timber." " When 

 dead boughs waste away by nature, it is much 

 better for the timber than if they were cut off." 

 ''If large dead boughs are cut off, and the 

 place become covered with new sap, it is sure 

 .to cause an unsound place in the tree." 



Henry Lidbetter, Millhurst, Sussex, sawyer 

 (sawyer and hewer for the last sixty years) — 

 '■'■ Oak timber does best when no boughs 

 are cut off." " It is best to let dead boughs 

 drop off themselves ; if they are cut off it is 

 sure to cause the timber to be fr*,ulty." 

 *' Timber is always found to be unsound 

 when boughs are cut off and covered with new 

 -sap." 



Thomas Ratley, carpenter and timber mer- 

 chant. West Grimstead, Sussex (thirty-five 

 years' experience) — " I think it ought not to 

 be pruned, but let nature take its course." 



But it is unnecessary to multiply quotations 

 of the same opinion. On an analysis of the 

 opinions of the whole twenty-nine experts, we 

 find that twenty-one give their opinion abso- 

 lutely and unconditionally against pruning ; 

 four either directly or by implication indicate 

 an approval of pruning in the nursery or when 

 the tree is quite young, but not later; Xwo 

 qualify their opinion as not intended to apply 

 to ornamental timber; thus James Webb, land 

 agent, Worcester (with twenty-two years' ex- 

 perience) says — '^ I consider that pruning is not 

 necessary, and that it should be confined to 

 ornamental timber and to branches of recent 

 growth;" at the same time he adds — " I con- 

 sider that the sound growth of a tree is best 

 promoted by allowing nature to prune off 

 such boughs as become unnecessary." One 

 gives an opinion in favour of pruning off 

 dead branches, and one in favour of pruning 

 off both living and dead branches in the 

 young trees — viz., Thomas Geere, timber 

 merchant, Stratford, Essex (who is the 

 only one who omits to specify the extent 

 ■of his experience). He says — "It is neces- 

 sary for the proper growth to prune or rub 

 •off the live young shoots round the stem 



'email's Llagazinc 



or trunk up to the crutch or first bough, ,| 

 otherwise suckers and dead boughs." " I 

 think it quite necessary to cut off dead boughs 

 within 6 inches from the trunk very smooth ; 

 if allowed to remain on, the wind or storms 

 will break them off in a ragged state, and 

 allow the wet to get into the body of the tree, 

 and in time kill the tree" — opinions which 

 are opposed to those of everyone else con- 

 sulted, as well as to the principles on which 

 they form their conclusion. 



We have thus given a perfectly fair resume 

 of the replies to the queries put to the men 

 selected as having most experience and being 

 best qualified to speak on the subject; 

 and, although we may not have succeeded 

 in convincing those who may be too wed- 

 ded to their own opinions to be capable of 

 changing, we hope we have made it clear to 

 the impartial reader that dead branches 

 ought not to be pruned off, and that when 

 they are so pruned off they injure the 

 timber. 



We promised also to endeavour to ascer- 

 tain the difference of price between boughed 

 oak timber and oak timber which had not 

 been boughed. Here is the reply we have 

 received from Mr Murray Marshall, an emi- 

 nent timber merchant who converts largely : 

 " I should not in any case give within 33 per 

 cent, of the value of timber that had been 

 boughed as compared with its value un- 

 boughed. The risk in converting boughed 

 timber is fully 33 per cent, to say nothing of 

 the loss of the bark in oak timber. 



" The principle of boughing is very bad ; 

 and when it has been done carelessly, and 

 has been cupped or grown over, it is very 

 difficult to tell the effect it may have on the 

 soundness and utility of the timber when cut 

 down and converted. Timber merchants 

 generally look on boughed timber with much 

 suspicion. 



" The only pruning I have ever seen prac- 

 tised to advantage is in growing hop-poles — 

 planting very thick indeed, and pruning them 

 to draw them to an artificial height in a 

 short time, as lengtli is required rather than 

 stamina." 



There can be no better proof of the injury 



