36 



TREE PRUNING. 



menced by making a notch on its lower side (A, Fig. 

 29). This .notch should reach the middle of the 



Fig. 29. Method of preventing 

 injury from the fall of a heavy 

 branch by cutting notches on the 

 lower and upper sides. 



Fig. 30. Proper appearance 

 of a wound caused by the ampu- 

 tation of a large branch. 



branch ; a second notch, B, should then be made on 

 the upper side of the branch, but further from the 

 trunk of the tree than the cut A. By adopting this 

 method all danger, too, of injury to the trunk from 

 the weight of the falling branch tearing away the 

 bark will be avoided. 



The operation of amputating a branch will not 

 be complete, whatever method is employed, until 

 the wound is made perfectly smooth (Fig. 30). The 

 workman may do this with his hatchet used as a 

 plane, the handle being held in one hand and the 

 point of the blade in the other. 



Use of Coal-tar in Dressing Wounds. All wounds 

 made on the tree in pruning should be covered with 

 a coat of coal-tar applied with an ordinary painter's 

 brush. 



