APPLICATION OF THE SYSTEM. 



33 



carefully removed by cutting off the branch bearing 

 it. 1 



The necessity of commencing the operation of prun- 

 ing at the top of the tree must be insisted on ; in no 

 other way can the form proper to the tree be es- 

 tablished or the safety of the operator preserved. 

 The disregard of this rule was followed not long 

 ago by what might have been a severe accident. An 

 excellent workman was about finishing the pruning of 



Fig. 27. Pruning badly commenced. 



a Beech tree ; two long, slender branches (A and B, 

 Fig. 27) remained to be operated on. He cut the 



l ln some portions of the United States where the American 

 species of Mistletoe flourishes, especially in the Mississippi States 

 south of the Ohio, great damage is done to different trees by this 

 plant. The destruction of the Black Walnut from this cause has 

 become very general, and causes serious loss in some portions of 

 Kentucky and Tennessee. c. s. s. 



