8o TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



bedding {Nadelstreu), also to get clean stems and so raise the 

 value of the timber, to improve the pasturage by diminishing 

 shade, and to improve the appearance of the wood. The 

 pruning was done with a saw and was carried out with much 

 care. Usually the trees were pruned to half their height, but 

 sometimes higher, and the work was usually carried out in 

 what in Finland is late winter, i.e. the end of March and the 

 beginning of April ; occasionally autumn was the period selected. 

 The results proved disastrous. The cut branches remained 

 plainly visible on the surface of the trees even after 15-20 years. 

 An intense outflow of resin occurred in every case, and in almost 

 all the trees more or less extensive decay was apparent after 

 felling. In regard to height-growth after pruning no uniform 

 diminution was observable, but the measurements suggest that 

 this was unfavourably affected, if not suddenly, in the years 

 following the pruning. Increase in girth, on the other hand, 

 was immediately diminished, attaining in the years following 

 pruning only 30-50 per cent, of that previously reached. The 

 diminution was not uniform, being relatively greater at the 

 base than further up, so that the form of the stems was 

 improved. In this relatively greater increment above, the 

 pruned trees resembled suppressed and shaded trees in an 

 ordinary forest, while in unpruned dominant trees increment is 

 greater towards the base and diminishes upwards. In the 

 pruned trees the increment near the base was usually only one- 

 third to two-fifths of that before pruning, or in the best cases 

 a little over one-half. Mass increment diminished in con- 

 sequence of pruning to about one-half of that previously 

 attained. Even 12-18 years after pruning, the mass of the 

 branches in relation to the mass of the stem remained less 

 than before. Decay affected both the points pruned and also 

 the parts of the stem which had grown after the pruning. 



The writer of the note regards these results of Lakari's as 

 showing that the pruning of green branches in spruce is wholly 

 injurious and should be avoided. On the other hand he 

 considers that experience, alike in Austria and elsewhere, proves 

 that the pruning of dead branches increases the return from 

 spruce woods, provided the operation is carried out only in the 

 case of the best stems. Otherwise the increased value of the 

 timber may be more than counterbalanced by the cost of 

 the operation. The pruning should be carried out in woods 



