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f4 



GEXESEE FARMER. 



Ma 



the art of removing scir'ntifically certain branflips, or parts 

 of them, for tiic purjio.se of iiicrfasin,!:!; productiveness or 

 .size, or of iiiif.rovirig the pcncral liealtli of tlie individual 

 (ip;nU('d upon. Sucii is itis true meaning, and v«c douln 

 w iu'thrr the definition can be extended. 



.^kilfnl gardeners have but one way of performing this 

 operation. Their method rnay he called " the clean cut''; 

 and fonsists in removing a shoot by in aiis of a sloping 



HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 



C"Oi\nUCTEl) BY P. BARRY. 



Pruning. 



" The object of the pruner," says Lindley's 

 Tlieory of Horticulture, "is to diminish the num- 

 ber of leaves and branches ; whence it moy be 

 at once understood how delicate are the opera- 

 tions he has to practice, and how thorough a 

 knowledge he ought to possess of all the laws 

 which regulate the actions of the organs of veg- 

 etation. ,lf well directed, priming is one of the 

 most useful, and if ill directed, it is among the 

 most mischievous, operations that can take place 

 upon a plant." 



Admitting that, in thiscountry, pruning is not, 

 nor need not be regarded of such importance as 

 it is in many parts of Europe ; yet it is more or 

 less necessary — and as flir as it may be necessa- 

 ry it is of the utmost importance that it be prop- 

 erly i)erformcd. Every man who undertakes to 

 cultivate trees should endeavor to make himself 

 acquainted with the theory and j^ractice of pruning. 



Every aj)plication of the knife, on a tree, should 

 bo made with skill and precision, and with a 

 thorough appreciation of the results. For the 

 benefit of those of our readers interested in these 

 matters, we extract the following excellent sug- 

 gestions and illustrations from the " London Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle," which we presume are from 

 the pen of Mr. Thompson, the head of the fruit 

 department of the London Horticultural Society's 

 Garden : 



The principles tliat should govern the practice of I'RDNJNG 

 arc sadly neglet ted or misiinderstood ; and this by garden- 

 ers as well as amateurs. At our saying this, no really skil- 

 ful pruner should feel oflendcd ; for of course he is iiot in- 

 cluded in the criiicisni. On the contrary, we doubt wheth- 

 er in any country can bo found men so thoroughly conver- 

 sant with the subject as in our own. The following remarks, 

 indeed, arc founded upon their experience and example, and 

 can only be regarded as an exposition of the present state of 

 Knglish priuiing. Hut it do,-s not follow, because many 

 men nnderstaml thoroughly the use of the knife, that thou- 

 sands are not in want of instruction, and it is to the latter 

 that we address ourselves. 



Jn all branches of science it is found convenient to com- 

 mence by a few definitions. We shall follow the example. 

 L^l it be understood, then, thai by pruning we do not un- 

 derstand hacking or mutilating trees merely to reduce their 

 bulk, nor that sort of random cutting out which is often sup- 

 posed to bo expressed by this name. 'J'hoso operations be- 

 long to plashing and slashing, not to pruning. Pruning is 



Fig. G. Fig. 5. Fig. 4. 



wound, forming an angle of about 45", just at the back of a 

 bud, as at fig. 1. The reason is, that as soon as the bud 

 liushes, this wound is readily and rapidly covered with new 

 wood. In some trees it will, in fact, heal over in a few 

 weeks. 



An awkward way of performing this, represented at Fig, 

 2, we shall name " the cut to the quick." Here the wound 

 is made too low down, and exposes to the drying action of 

 the air the communication between the base of the bud and 

 tlic interior of the stem ; the consequence of whfch is that 

 the bud dies, and the new shoot not only does not couio 

 where it was expected, but is surmounted by a dead joint, 

 which will afterwards have to be removed. 



In order to avoid the risk of " the cut to the quick," some 

 gardeners make use of" the snag cut," (Figs. 4, 5, and G,) 

 iu which the wound is made on the same side of the branch 

 as that occui)ied by the bud, slanting downwards towards 

 it, Of that plan we do not approve ; for it involves the ne- 

 cessity of leaving behind a dead portion of the branch to be 

 removed at a later i)ritning, so that work must be done twice 

 over ; moreover, it is an admis.sinn of a want of the skill re- 

 quired to make " the clean cut" skillft;lly. 



Lastly, there is " the slivcriiig cut,' (I'ig. U,) in which a 

 long, ragged, miequal shave is taken off the branch, much 

 too low in the beginning, and much too high at the end. It 

 is the cut made by young ladies and maid servants, and 

 mere garden laborers. It has no excuse. It is clumsy, ngly, 

 awkward, and dangerous, for it is ayil to injure the branch 

 on which it is made, if it does not extend to the operator's 

 left hand. So much for delinilions. 



In all cases the amputation should be made by one firm- 

 drawn cut. The clean cut can be performed by a dexterous 

 operator to within a shaving of the right line : and the mas- 

 tery of this art is no mean acquisition. We have seen ex- 

 pert primers gr.isp a branch in their left hand, and with one 

 sharj) (|uii-k draw remove a shoot as thick as the thumb.— 

 Rut for this purpose a knife must be keen. Those things 

 which some men call pruning knives, blunt and notched, 

 a sort of crob^s between a file and a handsaw, used for grub^ 



