APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEM. 33 



carefully removed by cutting off the branch bearing 

 it. 1 



The necessity of commencing the operation of prun- 

 ing at the top of the tree must be insisted on ; in no 

 other way can the form proper to the tree be es- 

 tablished or the safety of the operator preserved. 

 The disregard of this rule was followed not long 

 ago by what might have been a severe accident. An 

 excellent workman was about finishing the pruning of 



Fig. 27. Pruning badly commenced. 



a Beech tree ; two long, slender branches (A and B, 

 Fig. 27) remained to be operated on. He cut the 



! In some portions of the United States when* the American 

 species of Mistletoe flourishes, especially in the Mississippi States 

 south of the Ohio, great damage is done to different trees by thi* 

 plant. The destruction of the Black Walnut from this cause has 

 become very general, and causes serious loss in some portions of 

 Kentucky and Tennessee. c. 8. 8. 



