Manner of Operation 



87 



Nor should the pruning as now be trusted to men who get 

 all they cut off, and whose whole notion of pruning, accord- 

 ingly, is 'ax and it shall be given unto you.' Do pray take 

 this matter into your hands — for you know how to love a 

 tree — and give us a modern instance of a wise saw." 



Manner of Operation. We may distinguish between 

 trimming or heading in, wliich refers to cutting back or 

 shortening of twigs and small branchlets with shear or 

 knife, and pruning proper, which refers to operations with 

 axe and saw in removing larger branches. It is in these 

 latter operations that care is most needful, in order to avoid 

 secondary damage from fungus disease. 



The tools must be sharp; the saw with wide set for laige 

 branches; the cut must be made smooth. When cutting 

 heavy long branches there is 

 danger of the weight of the 

 branch breaking it off before 

 the cut is completed, splitting, 

 spHntering, and tearing off bark. 

 To avoid this, two cuts should 

 be made, the one at some dis- 

 tance, — two or three feet — 

 from the base of the branch, to 

 relieve the leverage, the other, 

 which is the final one, or near 

 the final one, at the base; in 

 both cases first sawing a kerf or 

 notching from below half way through the branch, and then 

 sawing or notching from above, in order to avoid splitting 

 and tearing off bark on the lower side. 



With very large branches or tops to be removed, mechan- 

 ical appHances, such as chains and ropes, varying with 

 conditions to suit the case, for the purpose of avoiding 



Fig. 17. — Method of removing 

 a heavy branch without split- 

 ting and tearing the bark on 

 the under side, the lower notch 

 being made trrst. 



