278 AGRICULTURE. 



ference of opinion among these authorities as to 

 whether this work should be done as soon as 

 the leaves are shed in the fall or before the 

 buds have begun to swell in the spring. 



I. Fall Pruning. 



1. The advantages of fall pruning are : (i) 

 that a greater amount of food would then be 

 distributed over a less number of branches ; for 

 by spring, owing to the slow dissemination of 

 food taking place through the winter months, 

 the nutriment would already have been distrib- 

 uted to all the branches of the tree, particularly 

 to their terminal portions, which would be re- 

 moved by spring pruning;" (2) that immature 

 branches, which would probably be frozen and 

 tend to injure the tree, would thus be removed. 



2. However, there is one decided disadvan- 

 tage in fall pruning ; that is, that the wound 

 does not readily heal. This is due to the fact 

 that healing is affected by the growth of the 

 cambium layer, and as this is inactive in winter, 

 healing cannot take place at that time. Hence, 

 the exposed surface is liable to dry out or freeze, 

 thereby inducing decay of the wood and invit- 

 ing disease. 



II. Spring Pruning. 



I. The main advantage of spring pruning lies 

 in the fact that the wound readily heals, owing 

 to the active condition of the cambium layer. 



* Authorities are not agreed upon this point. 



