CHAPTER XV. 



RUNING is universally adopted by nature. In 

 ~kJ the forest all the branches of the little oaks and 

 pines are near the ground. But as the trees grow 

 these lower branches die and drop off. A few years 

 later we behold thousands of graceful, well-trimmed 

 trunks. Where the oak grows up in the open field 

 its method is to prune the inner branches and ex- 

 tend the surface, giving what fruit-growers call an 

 open head. The grape-vine prunes itself. Where 

 its branches are thickest the tendrils first strangle 

 and then cut off some of the excessive branches. 

 It is the Divine plan. " I am the true vine, and 

 my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in 

 me that beareth not fruit, he cutteth away ; and 

 every branch that beareth fruit, he pruneth it that it 

 may bear more fruit.'' Wise is the man who will 

 follow such teaching. Happy is the man who has 

 a taste for such work and can take up the voca- 

 tion first taught man when " the Lord God put him 

 into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep 

 it ;" especially where he can dress a garden of this 

 golden fruit a relic of Eden that is " pleasant 

 to the sight and good for food." 



