232 PRUNING. 



has been transplanted ; but it must be admitted that 

 it occurs more frequently in the latter case than the 

 former. When this occurs with saplings, it may 

 appear a matter of the smallest importance, but it is 

 far otherwise in the case of a tree when it attains 

 considerable size ; thus, not only is the foliage defi- 

 cient on the inner side of the two limbs confronting 

 each other, but the tree, in consequence of the dimi- 

 nution of branches, is correspondingly injured in its 

 roots. The tree in this form occupies an undue extent 

 of ground, and instead of becoming a beautiful and 

 valuable object, with a compact massive trunk, devel- 

 ops into a mere ramification of limbs and branches, 

 radiating from two or more large ones, a subject, per- 

 haps, more suited to the artist than the mechanic. 



Nor is this the only evil that arises from tolerating 

 such a tendency in the growth of a tree to go on un- 

 checked ; for it must be borne in mind that it is now a 

 well-established fact that the roots of trees bear an 

 approximate relationship to the branches, the one ex- 

 tending above and the other beneath the surface of 

 the soil, so that in such cases the roots occupy as 

 undue a space underneath the ground as the branches 

 do above it. Another consequence of the above result 

 is, that the half of a tree which is unfavourably ex- 

 posed to the prevailing hurricane is often blown down, 

 and the remaining half shares a similar fate when the 

 wind changes round to the opposite quarter. As a 

 remedy, therefore, against this evil, timely pruning is 

 the desideratum. In operating upon a sapling, we 

 cut off at once the branch close to the bole of the 

 tree ; but if the limb or branches are too large in 

 proportion to the stem to admit of being cut off at 

 once, we shorten it by degrees till sufficiently small in 



