USE OF KNIVES AND SHEARS 123 



PRUNING TOOLS 



There is some difference of opinion as to the comparative value of 

 the pruning knife and the pruning shears. The knife, if sharp, and 

 well used, makes a smooth cut, with no bruising of the bark, and such 

 a wound heals over perfectly. The shears, if of good pattern and sharp, 

 also make a very good cut, but there is always some little injury to 

 the bark on the side opposite the entry of the blade. On small cuts, 

 say three-quarters of an inch or less, if the blade is kept very sharp, the 

 resistance does not make sufficient injury to the bark to seriously con- 

 sider, and the speed with which the shears can be used renders them 

 the main reliance for all the smaller pruning. Nearly all styles of hand 

 shears are used in this State. 



There are, also, two-hand shears, which are very powerful, and 

 enable one to work very quickly. When kept well sharpened they are 

 very effective tools. There are a number of styles in use, both home- 

 made and imported. 



Still another arrangement of shears is mounted on a pole, the cut- 

 ting blade being operated by a cord, and having a spring to throw the 

 blade back. The pole is jointed, so that one or more lengths can be 

 used. With this device one can stand on the ground and shorten in 

 the top shoots of a tree very handily. 



For larger cuts than can be made with the pruning knife or one- 

 hand shears, there are pruning saws of different styles, of which two 

 styles are chiefly used. One has a frame made of the best spring steel, 

 constructed somewhat on the plan of a butcher's saw, except that the 

 saw blade is much narrower ; and instead of being stationary, it revolves 

 so that the pruner is enabled to adjust the blade to cut at any angle, 

 as is often necessary to do when cutting where limbs grow close to- 

 gether, and where it would be impossible to use an ordinary saw of a 

 wider blade. The blade is only one-fourth to one-half inch wide, and 

 therefore not liable to get pinched in the cut. Strength is imparted by 

 a tension screw under the handle, which tightens the blade. The blade 

 is easily detached by slackening the tension screw, and lifting the blade 

 out of the slot in the clutches at each end. The blade can be thus 

 reversed and made to cut with a push or a pull, as may be desired. 



Another popular saw is the curved pruning saw, with twelve and 

 fourteen-inch blades, which cuts with a pull. 



During recent years it has been possible to find quite full assort- 

 ments of pruning tools at the hardware and general merchandise stores 

 in all our fruit districts where these devices can be compared and selec- 

 tion made according to individual preference, for there can be no best 

 tools for all men and all uses. 



CUTTING TO A BUD 



Whatever may be used to make the cut, it is important to sever 

 the twig or shoot at that distance from a wood bud which gives that 

 bud the best chance to grow well, and at the same time facilitates the 

 healing and complete obliteration of the scar. Cutting too far from the 

 bud leaves a stub which dies back, and is likely to carry decay into the 



