PRUNING IN GENERAL. 8l 



the sun and man made or tried to the tree; and 

 the man's tree does not fit the sun; and as there is 

 little hope of reforming the latter, it is best to fol- 

 low nature and make a tree that will fit the sun. 



Compare the bottom and top diameter in a natur- 

 ally grown tree with the same in an artificial one, 

 where the stem is drawn up to 4 or 5 feet. Two 

 such trees of the same age just measured give the 

 following: The former, bottom diameter, 7 inches; 

 top (3 feet above), 3 inches. The latter, bottom, 

 5 inches, and top, same height, 4^ inches. 



It will be readily seen that the cause of this mal- 

 formation is in part the action of the sun upon the 

 trunk, and partly the loss of the greater amount of 

 sap or plant food descending from the leaves of the 

 lower branches, which builds up the trunk in pro- 

 portion to the leaf surface supplied above them. 



In a conversation with the venerable T. T. 

 Lyon, of Michigan, he said, "I would not plant 

 a tree with over a foot of trunk. I never yet saw a 

 borer in a tree where the trunk was shaded." This 

 is from a man of fifty years' experience as a prac- 

 tical horticulturist, and in a state where we are 

 apt to think there is no trouble to contend with as 

 there is in the dry, bleak northwest. 



To conclude, let us "sum up:" (i) I/et us not 

 fall into the habit of thinking that pruning is in 

 all cases necessary. (2) Study to avoid rather than 

 to find an excuse for it. (3) When the best judg- 

 ment advises it, cut as above described to the ring or 

 collar, cut when small, and follow with the paint 



