PRUNING 37 



sufficient time is given, gradually extend so as to cover 



up the cut surface of the stem, and to heal the wound 

 over altogether. This may be seen sometimes in 

 standards where a branch of the stock has been cut off 

 above the junction of the stock and the scion. The 

 knife cut is, moreover, sloping and not directly across 

 the stem, and is therefore less liable to retain water on 

 its surface, which might injuriously affect the plant and 

 leave it more open to the attack of frost or decay. 



The advantages of the secateurs are of a different 

 kind. They mean to the ordinary amateur a saving of 

 time, trouble, and laceration of the hands, the saving of 

 time in particular being very considerable. Mr Darling- 

 ton estimates that to prune a bed of Roses with the 

 secateurs takes from one-third to one-half as long as 

 pruning with knife and saw. Moreover the time and 

 skill necessary to keep the knife constantly sharp is to a 

 great degree dispensed with. That secateurs require 

 much less skill than the knife seems to be pretty 

 generally admitted. It is easier with secateurs to cut at 

 the exact point desired, while old shoots from the centre 

 of the tree can be fairly easily removed with secateurs 

 by an amateur, while to remove them with the knife 

 without injury to surrounding growths is no easy task 

 even for the skilled person. The mere cutting through 

 of a thick branch is in itself no easy job with the knife 

 alone, the leverage given by the secateurs being of 

 considerable assistance. 



All these considerations of personal convenience, time, 

 and trouble may perhaps be thought small when weighed 

 against the success of the pruning operations, but it is 

 by no means certain that, even from the point of view 

 of efficiency, the knife has much advantage over the 

 secateurs. Even when done by an expert the act of 

 cutting with the knife through a thick piece of wood is 

 not unlikely to badly strain the plant, and has been 



