Umbrella Trees. 225 



together, where the richness of the soil will admit 

 of it ; but this is a system which may very easily be 

 carried to excess, inasmuch as the closer and higher 

 are the trees, the greater the demands made upon 

 the soil, and the sooner will it, and the trees upon 

 it, become exhausted and worn out. 



A further objection to high trees is, that their 

 lower branches, in consequence of being almost 

 entirely excluded from light and air by the foliage 

 above, have a tendency to die off, or at any rate 

 to become weak and " whippy." Thus, high trees 

 are frequently found, when old, to have lost all their 

 lower branches, and to have assumed much the 

 form of an umbrella. This can only be prevented 

 by careful " handling," such as is hereafter described. 

 Taking all points into consideration, the conclusion 

 generally arrived at is, that three feet to three and a 

 half is, under ordinary circumstances, the best height 

 that can be adopted ; anything over three feet and 

 a half may be considered high, and anything under 

 three feet, low topping. 



Should it be found subsequently that the trees 

 have- not been topped sufficiently low, this is a 

 mistake which can easily be rectified ; while, on the 

 other hand, if they have been cut down too low, the 

 error may also be repaired to a certain extent, by 

 allowing a " sucker," or young vertical shoot, to 

 grow from below one of the top primaries. Of 



Q 



