TREATMENT OF OLD WOUNDS. 55 



and pulling down shoots not entirely severed by the 

 blade. 



The following method may be adopted in removing 

 these young shoots. When the second or August 

 growth of the tree is finished, and the 

 young shoots are still soft and tender, that 

 is in August and September, a workman 

 armed with two pruning hooks, fastened 

 on long tough handles of different lengths, 

 and carrying his pruning knife in his belt, 

 commences the operation by cutting off all 

 the shoots within reach of his knife. 



This is continued first with the short and 

 then with the long-handled pruning hook, 

 with which he will be able to reach to the 

 top of the trunk of an ordinary-sized tree. 

 In the case of very tall trees it will, of 

 course, be necessary to use a ladder ; and, F/o> 51 _ 

 although this will make the removal of the Pruni g ho <*- 

 shoots a longer and more expensive operation, it 

 should not on this account be neglected. The pres- 

 ence of a few shoots, along the upper part of the 

 trunk of a large tree, does not materially interfere 

 with its growth ; their proximity to large branches, by 

 which they are necessarily shaded and overtopped, 

 checks their growth and prevents any great injury to 

 the tree. As a general rule, however, all such shoots 

 developed on the trunk below the branches should be 

 removed, except from very young trees, insufficiently 

 supplied with foliage, or when less than one third of 



