PRUNING. 115 



it is better to prevent the possibility of firs becoraiiig 

 principals to the injury of the scenery. Witli this view, 

 we have had hardwood, without firs_, planted in masses 

 at foni' or four and a half feet apart. 



Pruning. — In the cnltm-e of forest trees, pruning is, 

 after planting, the most important operation. Its object 

 is the production of a large trunk or bole of clean sound 

 timber ; and to accomplish this, the tree is to be primed 

 so as to lead to the accumulation of the principal bulk 

 of the ligneous matter in the main stem. This aim 

 should be distinctly kept in ^iew in eveiy operation, 

 whether in the removal or shortening of the branches. 

 Reduced to this general principle, pruning is divested 

 of aU difficulty, at least when it is commenced at an 

 early period, and is regularly and careftilly prosecuted. 

 After a shoot has been selected for the main stem, all 

 other shoots, which indicate a tendency to draw off from 

 it the leading gi'owth, should be shortened or removed. 

 For some years after planting, it will be for the most 

 part sufficient to foreshorten, that is, to cut back, the 

 side-shoots from one-third to two-thirds of their length, 

 in order to discourage their growth in a lateral direction ; 

 but this is on the supposition that the trees have taken 

 with the ground, and are in a thriving state. "UTiere 

 hardwood does not appear to thrive by the end of the 

 second, or at most the third season from planting, it is 

 advisable in the following spring to cut the ti'ees to the 

 ground : the result ^vill be a number of vigorous shoots, 

 of which one should be selected for the future tree, and 

 the others removed. 



Where a plantation has grown well by the end of the 

 sixth or seventh year from planting, in addition to the 

 pruning afready recommended, the branches formerly 



