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■ ©u pruning "Itm at iht iinu ai Cons^lantiug. 



&^0W should trees be pruned at the time of transplanting? or should they be 

 W4] pruned at all ? are yet open questions among planters. As the subject will at 

 this season of the year be one of the most general interest, we propose to offer a few 

 remarks on it. 



The objects in view in pruning a tree at the time of transplanting are three-fold. 

 First, The removal of all bruised and broken roots and branches. The necessity for 

 this is obvious and indisputable: bruised and broken roots, when planted without 

 being dressed, must decay and interpose very serious obstacles to the formation of 

 new roots ; they should therefore always be pruned otF closely to the sound wood, 

 and with a sharp knife that will make a smooth, clean cut, the sloping surface of 

 which should invariably be on the under and not on the upper sides of the roots. In 

 making the cut, the knife should be laid to the under side of the root, and drawn 

 upward. The young roots which subsequently spring from the cut end of the root, 

 as from the end of a cutting, strike downward at once, as is natural. The reasons 

 for pruning off broken or bruised branches are equally obvious. A broken branch 

 left on a tree will produce an unsightly and in some cases a dangerous scar ; but if it 

 be pruned off close to the body of the tree, or to a sound bud, the wound will soon 

 heal over or a new shoot will be produced. It is very common, in pruning hastily, to 

 leave small portions of branches without eyes. These, instead of prod icing new 

 shoots, die off, and the new wood growing in around them produces unsoundness that 

 in many cases brings the tree to an untimely end. 



The second object in pruning is, to mold the tree to the desired form. Trees com- 

 ing from the nurseries are seldom in the exact shape that the planter wishes. They 

 have too many side branches, their heads are too low or too high, or they have some 

 other defect which the knife must remedy. Now the question comes up, How far is 

 it judicious to attempt the formation of the tree at the moment of transplanting ? 

 Several points must be considered. If the trees are standards for the orchard, and 

 they happen to be somewhat slender in proportion to their height, it would be unwise 

 to prune off closely any side branches they might have, because this would direct the 

 future growth to the top, and urge the tree still further out of balance and proportion. 

 In such cases, the aim should be to increase the growth of the stem ; and this can 

 only be done by retaining two or three good eyes or buds of every side shoot, or of 

 a sufficient number of the strongest and best, and by reducing the attracting power 

 of the branches at the top. The influence of this is seen in the case of forest trees 

 planted in the street, where the entire head is sawed off at planting, and nothing but 

 a bare pole or pollard left ; the growth is thrown into the trunk, which soon becomes 

 covered with new shoots, and increases its diameter rapidly. If the tree has been 

 pruned up too high in the nursery, making the head higher than desired, a new head 

 must be formed lower down by cutting back the tree ; but whether it is better to 



UcTuiiER 1, 1804. J 1 ^'o. X, 



