64 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



"bleeding" will continue perhaps 

 for a long time. 



So much concerning the time of 

 pruning; now concerning the man- 

 ner. No ; we wholly condemn the 

 common custom of neglecting to 

 prune until the limbs are very large, 

 or cutting them out in such a way 

 as to leave a stump sticking out from 

 the trunk. We copy from \\\^ Ameri- 

 can Garden an illustration, figure 13, 

 showing the evil effects of such 

 faulty pruning, where the dead stubs 

 are gradually introducing decay into 

 the heart of the tree, soon to cause a 

 hollow trunk, and early death ; and 

 figure 14, where at rf a limb has been 

 lopped off closely, and so healed that 

 the scar is scarcely observable ; while 

 at e some have been removed in such 

 a way as to leave open basins almost 

 beyond the power of nature to heal. 

 Large limbs should never be re- 

 moved, if possible to avoid it, but, 

 if necessary, they should immedi- 

 ately be covered with some prepara- 

 tion which will exclude the air. For 

 this purpose various preparations 

 have been recommended, as a coat- 

 ing of thick paint, or of coal tar of 

 such a consistency that it may be 

 applied with a brush. Mr. Downing 

 recommends the following composi- 

 tion viz.: Take a quart of alcohol 

 and dissolve in it as much green 

 shellac as will make a liquid of the 

 consistency of paint. Apply with 

 brush. Keep it in a well corked 

 bottle, sufficiently wide mouthed to 

 admit the brush, and it will always 

 be ready for use. 



Neither do we believe in removing 

 the large limbs in the centre of the 

 tree to let in the sunlight. The 

 right and the wrong ideal of the 



form the pruner should have in mind 

 when at his work are well shown in 

 figures 15 and 16, in the first of 

 which the limbs have been removed 

 according to the reckless butchery so 



Fig. 15. 



often performed upon our helpless 

 apple orchards, and which is one 

 cause of the decrepit, half-dead ap- 

 pearance such orchards usually pre- 

 sent. 



The second represents a tree which 

 has been allowed to grow according 



■^-^ A 





to its natural inclination, and the 

 pruning has been simpl}- an annual 

 thinning of such small branches as 

 threaten to cross others, or thicken 

 the head too closely, and in this way 

 the removal of large limbs is alto- 

 gether avoided. Such a tree will 

 live in health and vigor to almost 

 twice the age of the former. The 



