COMPETITION IN THE TOP 7 



every other branch; and there are more germs of 

 branches that is, more buds than there can be 

 branches upon any tree. So it comes that no two 

 branches of a tree are exactly alike, but are what 

 their position or condition makes them to be. 

 Some are strong and some are weak. That is, 

 there is no definite or proper size or shape for 

 any branch, as there is for the different mem- 

 bers of an animal or flower. The limbs and 

 organs of an animal are not competitors but co- 

 partners, each performing some function or office 

 which another does not, and they all obtain a defi- 

 nite maturity of size and shape. But a branch 

 never attains its full size until it ceases to grow 

 and thereby begins to die. Branches are not or- 

 gans, but competing individuals. If all these 

 statements are true, then three conclusions fol- 

 low: there is struggle for existence amongst the 

 branches of a tree, and some of the contestants 

 perish; the destruction of these branchess must 

 conduce to the betterment of the remaining ones; 

 all the branches of a tree are not necessary to 

 it, but some of them may be a detriment to it. 

 In other words, pruning is a necessity. 



Two years ago a wild black cherry tree came 

 up near my door. The first year, it sent up a 

 single straight shoot nineteen inches high, which 

 produced twenty -seven buds and one branchlet 

 eight inches long. This branchlet bore twelve 

 buds, At the end of the first season, therefore, 



