230 PRUNING. 



value in the market. If trees could be grown with- 

 out such branches and corresponding knots, it would 

 be a very good and desirable thing ; but as that is an 

 impossibility, in the nature of things, the next best 

 thing to do is to minimise the evils resulting from 

 them, which can best be done by pruning off the dead 

 branches as they occur on the tree. The lower part 

 of the stem is best cleared by means of the pruning 

 handsaw to a height of above 8 feet ; and what occurs 

 above that height must be pruned off with the prun- 

 ing-chisel, cutting close to the stem, but carefully 

 avoiding injury to the bark. It is not affirmed that 

 this is unattended by any evil results at all, for there 

 are spots and marks thereby produced in the manu- 

 factured wood, in spite of all that can be said and 

 done to prevent it (see fig. 6, p. 223). These, how- 

 ever, are so small and unimportant in comparison with 

 what would otherwise be the result if not pruned, that 

 there is no comparison between what is the actual 

 result from pruning and would otherwise be the result 

 if not pruned. 



For the sake of those who wish to obtain a full 

 knowledge of the principles and practice of pruning, 

 we subjoin the following instances at some length, 

 even at the risk of some repetition of what was said 

 in last chapter : first, as applicable to hardwood trees ; 

 and second, with respect to pines and firs specifying, 

 however, only as many examples as may be deemed 

 sufficient to illustrate the subject : 



1. The first case, when pruning may be considered 

 necessary, is that of a hardwood tree on its being 

 transplanted from the nursery to the forest, from a 

 richer to a poorer soil, from a sheltered to an exposed 

 situation, or from the tree having had the bark gnawed 



