40 



TREE PRUNING. 



development of the lower branches (Fig 33). It may 

 be well to add too, perhaps, that in pruning a young 

 reserve tree twenty years old the main branches 

 should be shortened to about three feet, not including 

 the branchlets left at their extremities to provide the 



Fig. 33 Young tree 

 twenty years old correctly 

 pruned. 



Fig. 34. Method of forming 

 a leader for a young tree by 

 straightening up a lateral branch. 



tree with a sufficient supply of sap. Proportion- 

 ately larger branches must of course be left on older 

 and larger trees. 



Young trees grown in poor or imperfectly drained 

 soil, or under the unfavorable conditions arising from 

 want of light, are often destitute of proper leaders. 

 Generally, as has already been explained, a leader can 

 be formed by straightening up a branch either by the 

 aid of a withe fastened to one of the shortened branches 

 (Fig. 34), or more simply by a small branch twisted 

 round the branch selected for the leader (Fig. 35). 



