TRIMMING ^METHOD OF COUNT DES CARS. 97 



advising to let natnre have her own way in suppressing the branches 

 that are no longer useful. 



The system of pruning proposed by M. des Cars has been opposed 

 and defended with much earnestness, and many arguments for and 

 against have been presented. The following observations presented to 

 the Central Society of Agriculture of France, by M. Delimoges, enumer- 

 ates some of these arguments, while it strongly defends the practice: 



The system of pruning close to the trunk, has had the lot of all useful discoveries' 

 that of being keenly criticised, especially at first. We should not complain of this, 

 because these strictures have served to call the attention of foresters to it, and have 

 led to some experiments everywhere. Now, thanks to these experiments, some of which 

 are now old, experience brings daily new favor to the method, and answers to the 

 objections become every day easier. It is scarcely necessary to recall all of them, as 

 those who experimented upon the method have been convinced, and have yielded to 

 the logical sequence, including myself, before I began to practice it on an extensive 

 scale. They said to me: "Have you counted on what you are about to do?" "Don't 

 you know that a tree lives by its leaves as well as its roots, and that they are necessary 

 for its growth, which is proportioned to their number and surface, quite as much as to 

 the activity of absorption by the roots?" "Will yon oppose nature and pretend to do 

 better?" "You will ruin your trees!" "And then, why cut close? Yon will waste the 

 sap, create decayed holes, and in ten years your trees will be rotten ; you will have 

 lost your forest, and the wood-merchants rvill not huy of you." The fatal word was said — 

 a phrase that was to end all further discussion. 



This fearful presage did not stop me, and in 1862 I began to apply trimming on a 

 high forest of thirty hectares, and the next year fifty-four, and have since continued 

 without interruption, except when hindered by the German invasion of 1870-71. I 

 have now about six hundred hectares submitted to the mode of trimming prescribed 

 by des Cars, and I ought to be allowed to speak of the result. The numerous and i)er- 

 sirttent observations I have made have led to the conviction that most of the vicious 

 knots from caries and decay that have been found upon trees thus treated may be 

 ascribed to a neglect, rather than to an observance, of the rules which have been 

 prescribed. 



It happens thus: The workman has before him an oak with dead branches — some of 

 them long dead — perhaps the stub of an old trimming, which, decaying itself, has 

 carried rottenness into the heart of the tree. He cuts it off, and, if not intelligent, he 

 pays little attention to its condition, and, without stopping to clear out the rotten 

 part, he will, unless watched, paint coal-tar over the spot and call it done. By and by 

 the tree is cut down, and a great rotten place is found at the knot and within the tree. 

 There is at once a great stir in the enemy's camp — a tree has been ruined by close trim- 

 ming ! Is this just ? I have made some careful experiments at closing such holes, and 

 in a few years have succeeded in closing them by paring the edges and starting new 

 growth. * * * The amputation of a branch done under normal conditions should 

 cause neither decay nor bleeding. Since 1862 I have carefully observed the effect of 

 this operation, and wish to give my report. I began by offering the guards a reward 

 of 0.25 francs for every diseased wound from trimming which they could find, but they 

 found none. I then raised the bounty to stimulate their zeal, one franc at a time, to 5 

 francs, but up to this day I have not Lad occasion to pay once. 



I should, however, explain by saying, that whenever the workmen employed in trim- 

 ming found a vicious knot-hole, beginning to decay, they brought it to the notice of 

 the foreman ; they let it alone, he examined it and informed me — it was visited, nnd if 

 really bad, and in no c mdition to remedy, the tree was cut down at once, as not likely 

 to be ever better. I will add that, having often need of timber about the farms, I 

 have, by preference, cut down such trees as had been wounded and healed, so that I 

 could study their sections. I have not found the trace of rottenness. These specimens 

 I have saved, and shown at exhibitions, the concentric layers covering the section and 

 only a thin black line to be seen, caused by the coal-tar, but not a trace of decay. 



There is still another thing to which the workmen should give greater attention. It 

 often happens that when the tar is applied the cold hardens it, so that it scarcely adheres, 

 and the brush drmvs, as they say. The pot should then be warmed till the tar is lique- 

 fied, but not too thin, for then the coating would not be thick enough to shield the 

 wound against the sun, and little cracks would appear, admitting water and insects, 

 and a wound badly covered would afford a strong argument to the enemies of this 

 method. This observation has with me very great importance. Very often the work- 

 men will do as here explained, and I am well assured that there are those who, meet- 

 ing with a defective cutting close to the trunk, would at once ascribe it to the fault of 

 the method, rather than the neglect of the workman. 



It is pretended that by close cutting the branches we reduce the surface of leaves, 

 and injure the growth of the tree for at least a year, because itneeds the materials for 



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