ON PRUNING TIMBER TREES. 251 



it* branches; and in the next place, the process should be car- 

 ried on so slowly as not to effect the healthy growth of the plant, 

 and so gradually, that it may have vigour to cicatrize, or cover 

 with bark, the wounds that have been made upon its surface. The 

 period when we may safely commence this process of denuda- 

 tion, is when the tree has attained the height of fifteen or sixteen 

 feet. 



Now, every tree adds to the length of its leading shoots and 

 branches from buds which grow on the end of the shoots. Every 

 year a new shoot is made from the end of the buds, of a length 

 proportioned to the vigour of growth of the plant. The shoots 

 thus formed in one year, produce each a bud, which, in like man- 

 ner produce shoots in the following year ; and thus while the tree 

 is growing, there is a continued increase of the length of its lead- 

 ing shoots and branches. Further, when the annual shoot of 

 any branch is produced, there is usually sent forth at the place 

 where it originates one or more lateral shoots, so that there is a 

 succession of branches, or tier of branches from the base to the 

 summit. Were these lateral branches not to fall off, we could, 

 by means of them, ascertain the age of the tree, and in the case 

 of many of the Coniferae, we can frequently ascertain the number 

 of years which they have lived, or that each individual branch 

 has taken to grow, from the number of these annual shoots 

 alone. A knowledge of this mode of growth will conduct us to a 

 simple rule in practice for removing, without violence, the lower 

 branches of the trunk. 



When we commence this process of pruning off the branches 

 of the stem, let us cut off the lowermost branch or tier of branch- 

 es, that is, the branch or branches of one year's growth, and no 

 more : in the second year let us cut off a second tier, in the 

 third year a third tier, and so on. In this manner, while the tree 

 in each year makes one shoot vertically, the lateral shoots of an- 

 other year is cut off below. Thus, a tree having made fifteen 

 shoots, and having risen, we will suppose, to the height of fifteen 

 feet, we commence the process of pruning by cutting off the 

 lowermost set or tier of branches. The tree then makes a shoot 

 at the top, so that while we have cut off the lateral shoots of one 

 year, another year's vertical shoot will be made. The next year 

 we prune away the branch or tier of branches, and again the 

 tree makes a shoot at the top. In the third year we cut off as 

 before, and again the tree makes a shoot upwards ; and so we 



