216 PRUNING. 



13. Because, as a natural result of the legitimate 

 growth and culture of pine and fir plantations, the 

 lower tiers of branches die, and when once dead, they 

 should be neatly pruned off. 



As respects diseased trees, and even mismanaged 

 woods, prevention is everything cure next to nothing. 



As wide and different opinions, however, prevail, 

 both among theorists and practical men, as to how 

 much and what part art should be called upon to 

 perform in the culture of forest - trees, or how far 

 nature should be allowed to take her own course un- 

 controlled, it becomes the more necessary to point out 

 carefully the various results of the different modes of 

 pruning, and leave those specially interested to judge 

 for themselves which course to adopt or which to avoid. 



When the proportionally large area of pine and fir 

 plantations, and the enormous quantity of trees are con- 

 sidered, the loss or gain occasioned by proper or improper 

 pruning, whether on natural or artificial subjects, must 

 be very great indeed. I shall endeavour to show that 

 the average annual layer of wood should be nearly one- 

 eighth of an inch thick. In order to secure this growth 

 the tree must be furnished with such an abundance of 

 branches as to produce a trunk as many inches in 

 girth, a little above the surface of the ground, as it is 

 feet in height ; that is to say, up to that period when 

 thinning ought to be discontinued, say at twenty to 

 thirty years of age. Thinning and pruning are in- 

 tended to accomplish one and the same result namely, 

 a fair and proportional growth in the stem or trunk 

 of the tree, and timber of the best and most valuable 

 description. Pruning, however, is sometimes done to 

 accomplish one object, sometimes another, and in other 

 cases several objects combined. 



