268 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



in the process of nutrition and growth ; and, other 

 circumstances being alike, the increase in the growth 

 of the plant will he in proportion to the number of 

 its healthy leaves : if one half of these be destroy- 

 ed, the growth will be only one half as great as if 

 the whole had remained ; and, if complete defolia- 

 tion takes place, the growth will entirely cease. 

 Hence pruning decreases growth in proportion to 

 the extent or severity with which it is practised. 



" Whenever a tree has a live spray cut from it, an 

 injury is inflicted on that tree that can never entire- 

 ly be repaired. Every wound received is stored up ; 

 and if wounds be constantly added, they will accu- 

 mulate to a degree too great to be borne, and the 

 tree will sink under its infirmities. It is useless to 

 attempt to transfer the timber of the boughs to the 

 stem, or to confine the growth entirely to it. How- 

 ever desirable it may be to the pruner to have all 

 the growth diverted to the increase of the stem, he 

 never will be able to effect it. He may, like the 

 dog, snap at the shadow and lose the substance ; 

 but never will he b'e able, by pruning off the boughs, 

 to increase the growth of the stem one jot. No : 

 the size of the stem will be in proportion to the 

 head it has to support. The stem is not, as he may 

 imagine, a production formed merely for the use of 

 man ; it is the canal or passage in which the juices 

 pass between the roots and branches ; and the size 

 of this passage is always in proportion to the offices 

 it has to perform. If the number of branches [mean- 

 ing to include leaves] be increased, the quantity of 

 sap passing between them and the roots will be in 

 creased; a greater space becomes necessary for the 

 increased quantity of sap, and, consequently, the 

 stem is increased. Let the head of the tree in- 

 crease, and, depend upon it, there will be a corre- 

 pj ending increase of the stem. 



" It is said to be right to cut away a small propor- 

 tion of the weaJter branches, and thus turn the cur- 



