CHAPTER IV 



PRUNING THE TREES 



PRUNING Is not an entirely artificial 

 operation as one might at first thought 

 suppose. It is one of nature's most com- 

 mon processes. Nature accomplishes this re- 

 sult through the principle of competition, by 

 starting many more trees on a given area than 

 can possibly survive. In the same way there Is 

 a surplus of buds and branches on each indi- 

 vidual tree. It is only by the crowding out and 

 the perishing of many buds, branches, and trees 

 that others are enabled to reach maturity and 

 fulfill their purpose. This being too slow and 

 too expensive a process for him, man accom- 

 plishes in a day with the knife and saw what 

 nature is years in doing by crowding, shading, 

 and competition. Proper pruning is really an 

 improvement on nature's method. 



Neither Is It true, as some claim, that prun- 

 ing is a devitalizing process. On the contrary 

 it is often stimulating and may actually Increase 



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