234 Cff ee Planting. 



preservation of the tree in vigour and symmetry of 

 form which must be a necessary accompaniment 

 of such a result. To insure the first object, trees 

 should never be heavily pruned, nor will those that 

 have been consistently treated in the manner above 

 prescribed ever require it. 



It should ever be remembered that regular and 

 systematic handling insures easy pruning and 

 handling can never be done too carefully or too 

 often. Some planters ,who are fortunate enough 

 to have sufficient labour at their disposal, make a 

 point of going over the estates in this way once a 

 month ; and if this can be done from the first, the 

 work will be found both simple and light in fact 

 a monthly handling can be accomplished with a 

 comparatively small gang of women and boys, 

 while a bi- monthly or less frequent operation will 

 prove more than twice or thrice as tedious and 

 costly. Of course the longer any wood that is 

 useless and intended to come off, is allowed to 

 remain on the tree, the greater is the waste of 

 vitality and sap. Considerable instruction and 

 intelligence are required to make women and 

 especially children good handlers, but this can be 

 done nevertheless and it must be done, as it is 

 obvious that if shoots and twigs are plucked off at 

 random, or without a proper selection being made, 

 the greatest mischief may be done. Care must 



