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CHAPTEE VII. 



THE FRENCH SYSTEM OF PRUNING. 



A TREATISE, emanating from a high authority, 1 and 

 from a quarter whence many foresters are looking 

 for light and guidance in tree-culture, induces us to 

 give the following extracts at considerable length. The 

 translation from which we now quote was published 

 in the ' Journal of Forestry,' October 1881, December 

 1881, January 1882, and February 1882, where it 

 can be found in extenso, and should be read through, 

 more, certainly, for its warning than as a guide and 

 example to imitate and follow. The leading feature of 

 the subject is its recommendation to prune close to the 

 trunk, small and large limbs alike, and to dress the 

 wounds with coal-tar. 



What surprises one in this recommendation is the 

 circumstance that we have placed before us great and 

 numerous illustrations, hideous enough to alarm and 

 warn any one against the very practice recommended. 

 Suffice to say that we condemn, in the most emphatic 

 manner, the whole practice of cutting off large limbs 

 with a view to improve timber trees thus recom- 

 mended and illustrated by the figures before us. 



1 Translated from the French of A. des Cars, by Charles S. Sar- 

 gent, Professor of Arboriculture in Harvard College, U.S. 



