FOREST SEEDS, SEEDLINGS AND CUTTINGS. 45 



badly pruned tree soon becomes hollow, and seldom lasts many years. 

 Prune when the trees are young and "be harmless as a dove." 



SEASON FOB PRUNING. 



All our foresters and horticulturists agree with J. S. Harris, that from 

 June 25th to July 10th, is emphatically the season for summer pruning 

 fruit and ornamental trees. The secret of good pruning is : Never permit 

 a useless limb to grow. The main part of the work consists in rubbing off 

 the sprouts that will make superfluous branches, and pinching in such as 

 are making excessive growth in the wrong direction, and will tend to 

 throw the tree out of symmetry. If necessary, branches less than a half 

 inch in diameter may be removed and the healing process will begin at 

 once, but care must be taken not to remove too much foliage at one time, 

 for it will injure the vitality of the tree. 



TREES GNAWED BY HORSES. 



"The gnawing of the bark by horses," says Thomas Meehan, "shortens 

 a tree's life considerably. If the bark is removed half around the tree, only 

 one-half the necessary amount of moisture and food that the tree requires 

 can be drawn. In a very dry time such trees suffer seriously, and either 

 die at once or dwindle gradually away." 



TBEATMENT OF TEEE WOUNDS. 



Discreet surgery is as necessary for our trees as for our teeth. Prof. C. 

 A. Sargent, of the Bussey Institution, translating from the French, gives 

 us practical hints. Cut away cleanly all loosened or injured bark. Cut 

 smooth a regular outline, especially on the lower side. Leave no dead 

 pieces for insects to hide under. Then apply a coating of coal-tar. 



CAVITIES IN THE TRUNK. 



Cut the edges of the cavity smooth and even; remove all decomposed 

 matter; apply the coal tar to the surface of the cavity; plug the mouth 

 with a piece of well-seasoned oak, securely driven in; smooth down the end 

 of the plug; cover the whole with coal-tar, and nail on a piece of zinc or 

 other metal, in such a way the growth of the new wood will in time com- 

 pletely cover it. "Coal-tar has remarkable preservative properties, and may 

 be used with equal advantage on living and dead wood. A single applica- 

 tion, without penetrating deeper than ordinary paint, forms an impervious 

 coating to the wood cells, which would, without such covering, under ex- 

 ternal influences, soon become channels of decay. This simple application 

 then produces a sort of instantaneous cauterization, and preserves from 

 decay wounds caused either in pruning or by accident. The odor of coal- 

 tar drives away insects, or prevents them, by complete adherence to the 

 wood from injuring it." 



COPYING NATURE'S METHOD. 



Experiments have been tried and with considerable success to raise 

 forest trees by sowing broadcast the seeds of the box elder, ash, oak, birch, 



