;i2 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part H. 



or file ; and a previous precaution in large trees is to cut a notch in the lower part 

 of the branch immediately under and in the line of the section, in order to prevent any 

 accident to the bark, when the amputated part falls off. Sawing is a coarser mode 

 of cutting, mowing, or shaving ; or a finer mode of raking, in which the teeth follow all 

 in one line. 



3151. Cutting is performed by means of a very sharp wedge, and either by drawing 

 this through obliquely or across the body to be cut, as in using the knife; or by 

 pressing or striking the axe or hedge-bill obliquely into the body, first on one side 

 of an imaginary line of section, and then on the other, so as to work out a trench 

 across the branch or trunk, and so effect its separation. The axe, in gardening, is chiefly 

 used in felling trees, and for separating their trunks, branches, and roots, into parts. 

 The knife is extensively used for small trees, and the hedge-bill and chisel for those of 

 larger size. In amputating with the knife, one operation or draw-cut ought generally 

 to be suflScient to separate the parts ; and this ought to be made with the knife suf- 

 ficiently sharp, and the motion so quick as to produce a clean smooth section, with the 

 bark uninjured. 



3152. Every draw-cut produces a smooth section, and a fractured or bruised section ; and one essential 

 part of cutting living vegetables, is to take care that the fractured section be on the part amputated. 

 Another desirable object is, that the section of the living or remaining part should be so inclined {fig. 

 514. a), as not to lodge water or overflowing sap, and so far turned to the ground (d), or to the north, as 



not to be struck by the direct rays of the sun. To accomplish both these purposes, as well as to make 

 sure of having the fractured section on the part amputated, the general practice is to cut from below, or 

 from the under edge of the branch or shoot, unless the position of the leading bud occasions a deviation 

 from the rule [b). The cuts should also be made, in all shoots of not more than three or four years old, 

 within from one fourth to half an inch, or a little more, of the bud intended to take the lead; when this 

 is not done, and half an inch or more of shoot is left without a bud (c and e), the consequence is, the stump 

 dies back to the bud in the course of the season [g], and if not carefully cut off (/), will end in a decaying 

 orifice both unsightly and injurious. The bud selected for a leader ought always to be a leaf-bud, and in 

 general the plane of the section ought to be parallel to the angle which the bud makes with the stem (d). 

 Exceptions occur in the case of plants with much pith {h), as the vine, elder, &c., in ci.tting the year-old 

 shoots of which, an inch or more ought to be left, as these always die back a few lines; and thus the leading 

 bud might be injured, if this precaution were not taken. In pruning roots, the same principle, as far as 

 applicable, ought to be attended to ; the trunk or stem, when cut over, ought to be sloped to the north (?), 

 and the lateral roots cut so as the section may be on the under side (A), and therefore less likely to rot than 

 when the cut faces the surface of the ground {t), or is bruised by neglecting to form the smooth section on 

 the attached extremity. 



3153. In like manner, when pruning a large tree, the section of amputation ought to be made so oblique 

 as to throw off the rain ; as generally as possible, it should be turned from the sun, and rather downwards 

 than upwards, in order to shield it from heat and cracking; and, whenever it can be done, it should be 

 made near a branch, shoot, or bud, which may take the lead in the room of that cut off, and thus, by 

 keeping the principle of life in action at the section, speedily heal up the wound. 



3154. In cutting with the chisel, the blade is applied below the branch to be amputated, so as to rest on 

 the trunk or main branch, and a quick blow with a mallet is given to the handle of the chisel by the 

 operator or his assistant. If this does not effect a separation, it is to be repeated. In forest-pruning it is 

 often advantageous to make one cut with the chisel on the under side of the branch, and then saw it 

 through with the forest-saw from the upper. 



3155. Clipping is an imperfect mode of cutting, adapted for expedition, and for small 

 shoots. The separation is effected by bruising or crushing along with cutting, and, in 

 consequence, both sections are fractured. In agriculture, it is chiefly applied for keep- 

 ing hedges in shape; but the hedge-knife, which operates by clean rapid draw-cuts 

 given always from below, is generally preferable, as not crushing the live ends of the 

 amputated shoots. The new pruning-shears and the averruncator, it is to be observed, 

 by producing cuts much more like the draw-cuts of knives, are greatly to be preferred 

 to the common hedge-shears. 



3156. The best seasons for saiving, cutting, or clipping living trees, are early in spring 

 and in midsummer. Early in autumn, trees are apt to bleed ; later, and in winter, the 

 section is liable to injury from the weather : but trees pnmed early in spring remain only 

 a short period before they begin to heal ; and in those pruned at midsummer, wounds 

 heal immediately. There are, however, exceptions as to spring-pruning in evergreens, 

 cherries, and other gummiferous trees ; and summer-pruning is but ill adapted for forest- 

 work or trees in crowded scenery. 



