88 



General Care of Trees 



damage will readily suggest themselves. A rope or hook 

 ladder will often be a desirable addition to the outfit. 



Where saw or axe cannot readily be used, a chisel and 

 mallet may be substituted. In any case, a smooth surface 

 must be secured, not a hacked and lacerated wound. 



Always cut close at the very base of the branch to be 

 amputated, with a cut as nearly jjarallcl to and even with 

 the outline of the main axis (branch or trunk) as possible, 



good 



Fig. i8. — Good and bad pruning. A, side view of good and bad branch 

 pruning; B, front view of a well pruned branch. 



leaving no portion or stub of the amputated dead branch 

 on the trunk. Alany older branches as well as younger, 

 have at their base a swelling bulge, sometimes called a 

 "shoulder"; this must be cut into and removed in order to 

 satisfy the requirement of close cutting, in spite of the fact 

 that the wound is thereby greatly enlarged. 



The object of cutting close and parallel to the remaining 

 axis is to expedite the closing of the wound by the callus 

 or wound wood formed from the cambium at the margin, 

 which, as we will presenti}- sec, is more readily formed 

 when the cut is made as prescribed. Great care must be 



