Book II. PRUNING TREES. 651 



cation of healing at the edges till the following spring ; and if the tree is delicate, or the 

 winter severe, they will then be in a worse condition than if they had not been pruned 

 at all ; the lips of the wounds will have begun to decay. The only seeming contradiction 

 to this general law in trees is where what are called second growths are produced, as in 

 the oak and some other trees, and in such cases there is of course a second returning 

 sap, for the same reason that there was at first. ( Gard. Mag. vol. vi. p. 94. ) 



3995. In spring pruning, desist when bleeding takes place. As a general rule, Pontey thinks " summer 

 preferable to winter pruning; because, in proportion as wounds are made early they heal so much more 

 in the same season." {Forest Primer, 236.) Sang suspends pruning from the end of February to the 

 middle of July, but carries it on during every other month of the year; pruning the wild cherry, or any 

 other tree very apt to gum, only in July and August. {Plant. Kal. 268.) 



3996. JFith respect to the implements to be used, Sang observes, " In every case where 

 the knife is capable of lopping off the branch in question, namely, in the pruning of 

 infant plants, it is the only instrument necessary. All other branches should be taken off 

 by the saw. A hatchet, or a chisel, should never be used. Every wound on the stem or 

 bole should be quite into the quick, that is, to the level and depth of the bark ; nor 

 should the least protuberance be left. The branch to be lopped off by the saw should, 

 in all cases, be notched or slightly cut on the under side, in order to prevent the l)ark 

 from being torn in the fall ; and when the branch has been removed, the edges of the 

 wound, if anywise ragged, should be pared smooth with the knife. If the tree be vigorous, 

 nature will soon cover the wound with the bark, without the addition of any plaster to 

 exclude the air. In the shortening of a strong branch, the position of which is pretty 

 upright, it should be observed to draw the saw obliquely across it, in such a manner as 

 that the face of the wound shall be incapable of retaining moisture ; and afterwards to 

 smooth the edges of the bark with a knife." {Plant. Kal. 181.) In every case where 

 the branches are too large for the knife, Pontey prefers the saw, as the best and most 

 expeditious instrument ; and one, the use of which is more easily acquired by a labourer 

 than that of either the bill or axe. In " large work " he uses the common carpenter's 

 saw ; for smaller branches, one with somewhat finer teeth, with the plate of steel, about 

 twenty inches long. 



3997. The pruning of all deciduous trees should he begun at the top, or at least those branches which 

 are to be removed thence should never be lost sight of " Having fixed upon what may be deemed the 

 best shoot for a leader, or that by which the stem is most evidently to be elongated and enlarged, every 

 other branch on the plant should be rendered subservient to it, either by removing them instantly, or by 

 shortening them. Where a plant has branched into two or more rival stems, and there are no other very 

 strong branches upon it, nothing more is required than simply to lop off the weakest clean by the bole, 

 leaving only the strongest and most promising shoot. If three or four shoots or branches be contending 

 for the ascendency, they should, in like manner, be lopped off, leaving only the most promising. If any 

 of the branches which have been left farther down on the bole of the plant at former prunings have become 

 very strong, or have extended their extremities far, they should either be taken clean oft" by the bole, or 

 be shortened at a proper distance from it, observing always to shorten at a lateral twig of considerable 

 length. It is of importa^ice that the tree be equally poised; and, therefore, if it have stronger branches 

 on the one side than on the other, they should either be removed or be shortened. Thus, a properly 

 trained tree, under twenty feet in height, should appear light and spiral, from within a yard or two of 

 the ground to the upper extremity, its stem being furnished with a moderate number of twigs and 

 small branches, in order to detain the sap, and circulate it more equally through the plant. 



3998 The subsequent prunings of trees of this size, standing in a close plantation, will require much 

 less attention ; all that is wanted will consist in keeping their leading shoots single. From the want of 

 air, their lateral branches will not be allowed to extend, but will remain as twigs upon the stem. These, 

 however, frequently become dead branches ; and if such were allowed to remain at all on the trees, they 

 would infallibly produce blemishes calculated greatly to diminish the value of the timber : hence the im- 

 propriety of allowing any branch to die on the bole of a tree; indeed, all branches should be removed 

 when they are alive ; such a method, to our knowledge, being the only sure one to make good timber. 

 From these circumstances, an annual pruning, or at least an annual examination, of all forests is neces- 

 sary. {Plant. Kal.) 



3099. Heading dawn such non-resinous trees as stole, we have already stated to be an important oper- 

 ation. After the trees have been three or four years planted. Sang directs, that " such as have not begun 

 to grow freely should be headed down to within three or four inches of the ground. The cut must be 

 made with the pruning-knife in a sloping direction, with one effort Great care should be taken not to 

 bend over the tree in the act of cutting. By so bending, the root may be split, a thing which too often 

 happens. The operation should be performed in March, and not at an earlier period of the season, because 

 the woufided part might receive much injury from the severe weather in January and February, and 

 the expected shoot be thereby prevented from rising so strong and vigorous." {Plant. Kal. 297.) liuffon, 

 in a Memorial on the Culture of Woods, presented to the French government in 1742, says he has repeated 

 this experiment so often, that he considers it as the most useful practice he knows in the culture of 

 woods. 



4000. For the purpose of producing bends for ship.tiiyiber, various modes of pruning have been proposed, 

 as such bends always fetch the highest price. According to Pontey, " little is hazarded by saying, that if 

 plenty of long, clean, straight, Iree-grown trees could be got, steaming and a screw apparatus would 

 form bends." 



4001. Monteith, a timber valuator of great experience, and in extensive practice, says, the value of the 

 oak, the broad-leaved elm, and Spanish chestnut, depends a good deal on their being crooked, as they are 

 all used in ship building. He says he has seen trees successfully trained into crooked shapes of great 

 value, in the following manner : " If you have an oak, elm, or chestnut, that has two stems, as it were, 

 striving for the superiority, lop or prune off the straightest stem ; and if a tree that is not likely to be of 

 such value be standing on that side to which the stem left seems to incline to a horizontal position, take 

 away the tree, and thus give the other every chance of growing horizontally. At this time it will be 

 necessary to take away a few of the perpendicular shoots off the horizontal branch ; and, indeed, if these 

 branches, which is sometimes the case in such trees, seem to contend, take away most of them ; but if 

 they do not, it is better at this time not to prune over much, except the crooked shoots on the horizontal 

 branch, till they arrive at the height of fifteen or even twenty feet. By this time it will be easily seen 



