274 PRUNING. 



branchlet large enough to attract sufficient sap to 

 ensure a healthy growth. 



"Double or Forking Branches. In the case of a 

 double branch, or of a branch forking close to the 

 trunk of the tree, one of these branches should always 

 be removed, that the base of the branch may not be- 

 come disproportionately large. If, however, such double 

 branches are objectionable near the trunk of the tree, 

 they are of great importance at the extremities of main 

 branches ; and whenever it is possible branches should 

 be shortened in such a manner as to secure forking 

 branchlets at their ends. 



" Use of Coal-tar in dressing Wounds. All wounds 

 made on the tree in pruning should be covered with 

 a coat of coal-tar, applied with an ordinary painter's 

 brush. 



" The importance of observing the directions which 

 have been given, however trivial or unimportant they 

 may seem, will be apparent when it is understood that 

 the entire success of the operation of pruning, and of 

 the future production of timber, depends on the proper 

 application of these rules. 



" It should always be borne in mind that a cut 

 perfectly smooth, and as closely following the line of 

 the trunk as circumstances will permit, is soon re- 

 covered with healthy straight-grained wood. In this 

 connection it is well to quote from De Courval, who 

 speaks with the authority of experience, and who has 

 shown with many varieties of trees the correctness of 

 his statements. ' A casual examination,' he says, ' will 

 show that between the surface, which has been cut 

 smooth and treated with coal-tar, and the new tissues 

 which soon cover it, there is only the thinnest crack 

 or fissure analogous to the natural cracks or openings 



