EXPERIMENTS IN PRUNING. 



285 



particular stages of growth, and may assist in guarding 

 the inexperienced against the many allurements which 

 beset them in regard to pernicious pruning. 



After a fair inspection of each tree in all its parts, 

 and especially of the annual concentric rings by which 

 the annual deposit of wood is known, it was found 

 that the general defect was too few branches, and that 

 it was difficult to find trees in masses sufficiently 

 clothed to meet the requirements of a perfect tree. It 

 is quite apparent, which can be seen in any piece 

 of dressed and polished wood, that where the zones or 

 rings exceed one-eighth of an inch in thickness, it is 



