02 PRUNING. 



Mr. Cree commences his operations before the tree has been taken 

 from the nursery, and continues them till he has obtained a clear 

 trunk, of such a height as he thinks the kind of tree will produce of a 

 useful timber size, in the climate and soil where it is planted. He 

 cuts off no branches whatever till the tree has attained the height of 

 from sixteen to twenty feet, with a stem from fifteen to eighteen inches 

 in circumference at the surface of the ground ; but during the growth 

 of the tree to that height he shortens in the side branches whenever 

 they extend farther than between three and four feet from the trunk. 

 In consequence of being thus shortened, these shoots do not, so long 

 as they are allowed to remain on the tree, attain a greater diameter at 

 their departure from the trunk than about an inch. The tree having 

 attained its sixteenth, eighteenth, or twentieth year, its head forms a 

 narrow cone, clothed with branches from the ground to the summit. 

 Its pruning is now commenced by taking off one tier of branches 

 annually, commencing with the lowest, cutting close to the stem, 

 generally just before midsummer, that the wound may be partially 

 healed over the same season, and continuing to do this annually till 

 the stem has grown and been cleared to the required height. While 

 the process of clearing the stem is going on below, that of shortening 

 in the side branches is going on above, so as to preserve the narrow 

 conical shape, and prevent any of the branches which are to be cut off 

 from attaining a greater diameter than an inch. The trunk being at 

 last cleared to the proper height, the head over the cleared part is left 

 in the form of a cone, and no longer touched with the averruncator. 

 The head now, by degrees, takes its natural form, and continues 

 growing in that form till the tree is felled. The quantity of timber 

 produced will not be so great as in the case of a tree standing alone, 

 and throwing out its branches uncontrolled on every side, because the 

 quantity of foliage produced, and properly exposed to the light, will 

 not be nearly so great ; but it must be recollected, that the timber 

 produced will be in a more useful form, and that more trees may be 

 grown on the same area by this than by any other mode of training. 



Shortening-in is the term applied when shoots are shortened at the 

 distance of from two to four or five feet from the stem, the cut being 

 always made to a bud. Exceeding that distance it is called fore- 

 shortening, and is chiefly applicable to timber trees in hedgerows ; 

 and under that distance it is called spurring-in. We have seen the 

 use of shortening-in in connexion with close pruning, in the case of 

 forest trees, in the preceding paragraph. In the culture of fruit trees 

 it is applied in connexion with spurring-in, to produce trees of conical 

 forms with branches which, never being allowed to attain a timber 

 size, are prolific in fruit-bearing spurs. 



Fore- shortening. When the lateral branches of a standard tree 

 extend farther than is desirable, a portion of their extremities is cut 

 off, the cut being always made close above a branch of sufficient 

 thickness to form a leader of sufficient strength to keep the branch 

 alive and healthy, but not so strong as to cause it to produce much 

 timber, or in any way to come into competition with the trunk of the 



