244 



Principles of Plant Culture. 



toward the root (80), it follows that when a branch is cut 

 off at some distance from the member that supports it, 

 the wound cannot heal, unless there are leaves beyond 

 the wound to manufacture food, and thus make a growth 

 current possible (73). The cut should, therefore, be 

 made close enough to the supporting member so that it 

 can be healed from the cambium of the latter. In woody 

 plants, there is usually a more or less distinct swelling 

 about the base of a branch (Fig. 155), produced by the 



FIG. 155. FIG. 156. FIG. 157. 



Fig. 155. Showing the proper place to make the cut in pruning. A 

 wound made by a cut on the dotted line A-B will be promptly healed. One 

 made on the line C-D or E-F will not. In Fig. 156 the lower branch was cut 

 off too far from the trunk. 



FiG. 156. Showing hoiv to make the cut in pruning large branches. The 

 upper cut, all made from above, permits the branch to split down. The 

 left cut, first made partly from below, prevents splitting down. 



Fig. 157. Pruning to an outside or inside bud. Cut as in the figure, the 

 uppermost bud would form a shoot that tends to vertical. Cut on the 

 dotted line, the uppermost bud would form a shoot tending to horizontal. 



cambium of the supporting member and just beyond this 

 swelling, a more or less distinct line marks the point 

 where the cambium of the branch and of the supporting 

 member unite. In a healthy tree, a wound made by a 

 branch of reasonable size, cut off at this line, will usually 

 heal promptly, but if the cut is made much further out, 

 it will not. 



