1885.] COUNT DE CARS' BOOK. 501 



fortified for a long time to come. This process has been already 

 applied in the Impregnating Works of C. Amendt at Oppenheim 

 on the Khine, and it is no doubt a very effectual one ; but 

 whether it is not rather complicated and expensive remains to be 

 proved by further experiments before it can be employed on a 

 larger scale. — Ccntralhlatt fur das ycsammte Forstwescn. 



COUNT DE CARS' BOOK; OB, A "CRITICISM" 

 CRITICISED. 



CAPTAIN HENEY ROGEKS, E.N., criticising Count de Cars' 

 method of pruning, points out what appear to him as some 

 deficiencies in his method. In criticising another man's opinions, it 

 is well to remember that whatever may be our ideal of a perfect 

 method, it is not possible to reach that Utopia of perfection which 

 any individual mind can without any strain picture, but which is 

 entirely without substance in the real world of facts accomplished 

 or to accomplish. 



There are defects and failures in all systems, however carefully 

 elaborated ; while the defects of any system of procedure as applied 

 in the practice of Forestry, will always be in ratio to the modus 

 operandi and the time of making the operations. Pruning does not 

 consist in one only performance, done at any time and in any way 

 after the tree is old, without anterior or ulterior regard to its dis- 

 position. Pruning consists in a long series of cautious operations, 

 beginning in the early-growth stages of the tree's life, and is 

 continued on through many years of its later life, and may in fact 

 be continued throughout its complete existence. The difference 

 between pruning and pruning is immense, and in that is contained 

 absolutely the success or failure of this the most delicate branch of 

 Forestry. Some say. Leave all pruning and thinning to nature. I 

 have no belief in nature's procedure in that. No doubt nature mil 

 perform in her own time and way ; but how will nature do that? 

 Will it not be by wholesale destruction or universal suicide of 

 herself ? The whole secret of successful pruning is to be found in 

 the time and manner of doing the work. It is said that " a little 

 knowledge is dangerous ; " and so it is very dangerous, especially in 

 the art and practice of arboriculture, and the novice should only be 

 entrusted with its most simple developments. 



Now to notice some of the several points raised by Captain 

 PiOgers in his " Criticism." Most foresters will agree with the 

 objection of " Rustic " to nail wood or metal on cavities in growim:^ 



2 k 



