2i8 PRACTICAL TREE REPAIR 



ruin of trees, have their origin in the stubs left by 

 wrongly sawing off limbs. Yet the fundamental 

 rule of pruning is that every branch must be cut 

 off close to the trunk or limb from which it is 

 growing. The cut ought to be made so close 

 that, seen in silhouette, it is hardly 

 possible to tell at what point the 

 branch was cut off. The reason 

 for this is obvious from our study 

 of the nature of the cambium and 

 of the healing process. If the 

 cut is made close to the trunk the 

 forming callus is close to the main 



fl W f Sa P* The cambium which 



is building the callus is well nour- 

 ished and does its work quickly. 



For the same reason, a main trunk which has 

 to be cut off must always be cut just above a 

 healthy limb, and usually not horizontally, but 

 slantwise, not only so as to shed water, but also 

 so that none of the remaining bark may be very 

 remote from the current of sap flowing from the 

 trunk into the limb. If an adventitious shoot, or 

 water sprout, should appear at the lower edge of 

 the cut, its healing will be accelerated. 



A limb must be cut off at its actual base, which 

 is sometimes not the apparent base, as often when 

 a branch leaves the trunk at an acute angle. If 

 when a limb is removed the resulting wound is 



