PRUNING OF FOREST TREES. 67 
there is no better time than in summer, after the leaves 
have become fully formed and the tree has commenced to 
make a new growth. The wound made will have sufficient 
time for healing over, or partially so, during summer, and 
few tiees will bleed at this time, and none enough to 
injure them. 
Pruning may also be done any time in summer, fall, or 
early winter, but should not be performed in the latter 
part of winter or just as the spring approaches, for at this 
season there is more or less danger of the trees bleeding. 
Some varieties may be pruned at any time without any ap- 
parent injury, and those kinds from which the sap flows 
but very little may be pruned in winter, any time before 
the cold weather has passed, as one cold night will so dry 
the wounds that no sap willexude. There are other kinds, 
like the Maple, which, if wounded in winter, will be most 
sure to bleed at the approach of warm weather. Mid- 
summer is the best time to prune all resinous trees, as well 
as those that produce gum. 
When trees are transplanted, they should be pruned at 
the time, as no tree will bleed after the roots have been 
separated fiom the soil. If we cut off a branch of the 
Birch or Maple in early spring, the sap will flow very 
rapidly from the wound; but if we dig up the tree, the 
sap will cease flowing in a few moments. 
IMPLEMENTS USED IN PRUNING. 
The common pruning-knife is the best implement for 
pruning small trees; but when large branches are to be 
removed, a fine tooth-saw may be used, always smoothing 
