14 



TREE PRUNING. 



regard to the manner in which it should be pruned. 



Particular attention will be given to the treatment of 

 trees intended to grow on to 

 maturity, in connection with 

 a system of coppice growth, 

 because this system of forest 

 management is now very gen- 

 erally adopted. 1 The methods 

 here advocated are, however, 

 equally applicable to other 

 systems of sylviculture ; and 



Fi%. 9. Condition of the stump J 



at the end of the fifth year. they should interest small as 



well as large land owners, as in 1 every field and along 

 every roadside are trees to prune and improve. If 

 the importance of properly caring for trees could 

 be appreciated, an important addition to the wealth 

 of the nation might easily be made. Oaks, stunted 

 or abandoned, and only fit for fuel, might in a few 

 years be transformed into trees of great value ; and, if 

 all who prune may not themselves find their reward, 

 they can at least have the satisfaction of doing some- 

 thing to benefit another generation. 



1 Futaie sur taillis, a term which is without equivalent in the Eng- 

 lish language, is applied in France to a very common system of 

 forest management. It consists in allowing a certain number of 

 selected trees in a plantation to grow to maturity, while the remainder 

 is treated as coppice, or " sprout land," and cut over at stated periods, 

 varying from ten to fifty years, according to the nature of the soil or 

 the necessity or wishes of the proprietor. The trees left to reach 

 maturity are called " reserves," and are intended to furnish large 

 timber for purposes of construction. These, of course, receive the 

 greatest care and most careful pruning. c. 8. 8. 



