No. 4.] TREE SURGERY. 461 



to add to, rather than detract from, its usefulness ; and if 

 such pruning be annual, comparatively few shoots being 

 removed each year, the tree should be benefited rather 

 than injured thereby. An}^ number of small dead limbs 

 may be removed at any time from most evergreen or conif- 

 erous trees, provided care is taken not to injure the living 

 wood. 



The ideal method of pruning is to shape the tree while it 

 is still young and small, and to prune annually at first, tak- 

 ing out such superfluous shoots as can best be spared for the 

 purpose in view while they are still so small that the result- 

 ing wounds will heal in one season. If this is faithfully 

 done, the tree will be so shaped and cared for that large 

 branches will not break ofi*, and need never be removed. 



To HASTEN THE HeALING OF WoUNDS. 



Whatever will bring the tree into a vigorous condition 

 and maintain it in that condition will assist it in healing 

 wounds. Fruit trees should be kept well nourished by the 

 application of suitable manures. Where cultivation is pos- 

 sible, it will also help. A heavy dressing of suitable manure, 

 applied in the fall, when the ground is frozen, and extending 

 from the trunk out at least as far as the ends of the branches, 

 will give growth a good start the following spring. Fruit 

 trees which bear heavily annually do not make much growth 

 on the bearing year. No doubt the material that goes into 

 the growth of fruit and seed robs the tree of much vitality 

 and substance, which otherwise would go to making new 

 wood and bark. The modern fruit tree is an abnormal 

 product, perfected in fruit bearing by man's selection, prun- 

 ing and cultivating for long series of years, and requires the 

 best of treatment, if it is to continue productive and vig- 

 orous. If the tree is defoliated by insects, or in any other 

 way, the wood growth will be very small for one or two 

 years. 



Of 364 wounds, made in 1895, on trees averaging approx- 

 imately fifty years of age, 158 had not healed at all three 

 years later. The trees, though old, were in average condi- 

 tion, but they had all borne heavily one year out of three, 



