PRUNING 83 



youthful side branches had long since vanished. 

 In the forest the tree prunes itself. The lower 

 branches, being deprived of light, and air, sim- 

 ply give up the ghost, die, and in time fall on 

 account of their own dead weight. In horticul- 

 tural practice we anticipate this natural prun- 

 ing because it is a waste of energy for the tree 

 to produce a lot of wood that is to die and fall 

 off later. You may prove this matter for your- 

 self more easily with a peach tree than with an 

 apple because life processes are somewhat more 

 rapid in the peach. Neglect a peach tree for a 

 few years, or visit the neglected orchard of a 

 neighbor, and notice how the branches in the 

 center and on the under parts of the tree are 

 either dead or dying. In most cases they are 

 simply " shade killed." Perhaps some fungous 

 disease has helped but that disease would thrive 

 only in the shade. Consequently one of our 

 first reasons for pruning is to remove wood 

 that is not needed — wood that is in some way 

 interfering with the functions of the tree. In 

 this work we can supply more intelligence than 

 the tree would use if left to take care of the job 

 all by itself. (And do not smile over the infer- 

 ence that the tree has intelligence. I wish that 

 all pruners had as much.) Instead of depend- 

 ing on the natural selection of the branches to 

 be cut off we can often have our choice as to 

 which of several to take. Often this choice will 



