208 



bill, with a handle of a length suitable to 

 his work: — this business can require no 

 nicety, and hence the expedition ; as 

 every stroke may be made downwards. 



It is impossible not to smile at the ab- 

 surdity of writers, who tell us either not 

 to prune firs at all; or not to do so, till 

 " the branches shew evident marks of 

 " decay;" — as a little of that much-neg- 

 lected article, experience, would teach 

 them, or any others, that if a branch 

 were cut off while alive, the sap vessels 

 would send out resinous matter enough 

 to seal up the wound, in a way infinitely 

 superior to human ingenuity. Nor need 

 we be afraid of wasting such sap by a 

 too copious discharge ; as, if the winter 

 operations be discontinued at least a 

 month before the sap is stirring, and the 

 summer pruning do not commence till 

 three months after that circumstance 

 takes place, there is no danger to be ap- 

 prehended. — For not only is the end of the 



