54 PRUNING IN" RELATION TO THE PRODUCTION OF TIMBER. 



I A'. Pruning in relation to the Production of Timber. By John 

 B. Smyth, Forester, Duff House. 



Arboriculture may be looked upon as the oldest of all sciences, 

 and can be traced back to the earliest existence of man upon earth. 

 Scriptural records inform us that in the past ages our ancestors 

 laboured as we ourselves labour. In the remotest centuries we 

 are told by oral tradition that planting and felling of timber 

 formed subjects of legal enactment. 



Need we wonder that a science so old and so useful, and which 

 displays so beautifully the works of an all-wise Creator, has been 

 extolled by the writers of ancient Greece and Rome, as well as by 

 modern anthors ] Evelyn, in his " Sylva," says — " Men seldom 

 plant trees till they begin to grow wise, and that is when they 

 grow old." But we are well aware that the science of Arbori- 

 culture is not in that stage of advancement which it justly de- 

 serves. Many engaged in the science at the present day have no 

 fixed principles, their only theory being that their fathers before 

 them did it. Doubtless, many things have been discovered by 

 chance, while others have been the result of accident. However 

 skilful a person may become by experience, more success is to be 

 expected when he acts upon fixed rules, the soundness of which 

 has been ascertained. At the present day, there is no want of 

 empirical rides, based upon practice only, supposed to be suc- 

 cessful ; but our opinion is, that no man is capable of performing 

 the operation of pruning until he be conversant with the laws of 

 vegetable physiology. 



In the first part of our subject, viz., pruning physiologically, 

 we hold that every man should have a thorough knowledge of the 

 growth of trees, so that his operations may be in harmony -with 

 the laws of vegetable physiology. In the second part, viz., "In 

 relation to the production of the greatest value of timber," we are 

 of opinion that this requires practical skill, combined with know- 

 ledge of the foregoing laws, in order that a wound may cause the 

 least possible loss of blood. It is also essential to know whether 

 the wound produced will be beneficial, or otherwise, to the plant 

 operated upon. 



In the art of pruning, we are convinced there is nothing more 

 detrimental than extreme measures. It is essential to success, in 

 this branch of forestry, that we act upon fixed principles. We 



