17 



had been aware of the reason for leav- 

 ing the side-branches, he could not have 

 inserted what immediately follows ; he 

 says, " Thus bring up the leader, and 

 " when you would have that spread and 

 *' break out, cut off all the side boughs, and 

 " especially at midsummer, if you espy 

 " them breaking out*." Here we have a 

 sudden change of system, without any 

 cause assigned, except that of making 

 the top of the tree " spread and break 

 out ;" which to a man of experience, ap- 

 pears the worst that could have been giv- 

 en ; as he well knows, that nature per- 

 forms that operation much better, without 

 such interference ; and he knows, besides, 

 that its immediate visible tendency would 

 be, to create a necessity for the extra 

 Midsummer-Pruning there mentioned, 

 with other subsequent ones : — a very im- 

 portant consideration ; for, if the business 

 cannot be done without such attention, 

 it will rarely be done at all. 



* Hunter's Evelyn's Silva, p. 473. 

 4 



