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Another objection to the using of a 

 hatchet or bill is, that branches cannot be 

 thinned by them, without frequently da- 

 maging others by their back-strokes as well 

 as their edges. — On the whole, as almost 

 every wound, made under a good system 

 of pruning, is so situated as to cast off 

 wet, and have the sap flowing all round 

 it; the smoothing of saw wounds is totally 

 unnecessary. For these reasons, we know 

 no way of doing the business, expeditiously 

 and well, with any other instrument, except 

 so far as may be performed with the knife. 



In regard to \.\\c proper season for prun- 

 ing, there is only one difficulty; and that 

 is discovering the wrong one, or the parti- 

 cular time when trees will bleed. Con- 

 siderable pains have been taken to ascer- 

 tain this point, by pruning all sorts at all 

 seasons, repeatedly; and only two have 

 been discovered which bleed uniformly, 

 at certain seasons, namely, the Sycamore, 

 and Firs, as soon as the sap begins to 



