THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING. 273 



nings, cut while the wood is small, and spare to the 

 tree all the foliage you can consistent with the ob- 

 ject you have in view. By pruning when the tree 

 is young, and pruning often, we may secure a hand- 

 some stem and a well-formed head, and we cause 

 no wounds that do not speedily heal. 



The common practice is to prune in autumn or 

 spring, when the tree is divested of foliage. To this 

 practice we make two objections. In the first place, 

 the wounds are exposed (unless covered with a suit- 

 able composition) to the searching and corroding in- 

 fluence of the sun, wind, and rain, there being no 

 leaves to shield nor circulating pulp to heal them. 

 In the second place, it causes the multiplication of 

 suckers, and often increases the evil which it is de- 

 signed to cure. The sap is arrested in the spring* 

 when its flow is greatest, in its natural course to 

 the amputated branches, oozes out and corrodes the 

 bark and wood, or exhausts itself in the production 

 of a prolific growth of suckers, more detrimental to 

 the tree than the parts that have been lopped off. 

 If pruning is performed the last of June, when the 

 exuberant flow of sap has abated, the wounds are in 

 a measure protected by the foliage from the weath- 

 er ; much unelaborated has then become elaborated 

 sap, transformed into cambium or pulp, whose heal- 

 ing qualities soon cover the edges of the wound; 

 few or no suckers are generated, and the heart of 

 the tree is preserved from canker and decay. These 

 opinions as to the propriety of summer-pruning have 

 been confirmed in our mind by three years' practice 

 and observation. 



Another common error in pruning is the practice 

 of cutting all the lateral shoots from a young tree 

 except a few at the top ; and to cut young, vigorous 

 wood from the tops of old trees, leaving long, ex- 

 tended, naked branches, which are often broken by 

 the winds. In the first case, we obtain long, spin- 

 dling stems, incapable of supporting, when trans- 



