CHAPTER XVIT 



PRUNING 



ENERALLY speaking there should be as little cutting 

 away of branches as possible consistent with the develop- 

 ment of a good, straight stem on the young tree, so as to develop 

 ample and uninterrupted space for tapping operations. What- 

 ever pruning has to be done should be done before the trees are 

 two years of age. 



There is, unquestionably, too much pruning away of 

 branches on nearly all estates. Especially is this so in the case 

 of the lower branches about 10 or 12 feet from the ground. 

 These, although at first they may appear weakly and inclined 

 to bend down, should not be cut away quite close to the 

 stem. They should be pruned about a yard from the stem 

 and left to develop into strong branches bearing good foliage, 

 as they generally do. The best trees have well-developed 

 lower boughs. It is a pity when a tree has to depend solely 

 upon a mass of high foliage as the principal means of manu- 

 facture of its food supplies. The illustration given herewith 

 shows a case of such an improper method of pruning. 



At one time what is called " thumb-nail pruning " was 

 rather popular among planters. This consisted in nipping off 

 the top-shoot of the young tree when it was about twelve 

 months old. The effect of this was that young trees which 

 were naturally inclined to grow tall and spindly greatly in- 

 creased in girth and developed a heavy system of branches all 

 round the stem. 



Unfortunately the too-frequent effect was that the slender 

 stems of the young trees were not able to support a heavy 

 development of branches. Very often, especially during 

 strong winds, the stems of the young trees snapped across or 

 the trees were blown over. So much was this found to be the 



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