THE SCOTS GARD'NER 



them regular or equally furnished round ; so may 

 you leave one storie, cut out the second, leave the 

 third, &c. Cut not their tops, yet you may crop some 

 of their side-boughes, if the tree be top-heavy, and 

 afterwards, as the tree gets footing, cut these clean 

 off. 



There be two seasons for pruning such as lose the 

 leaf: the first for those of little pith, is October and 

 November, or any time in winter; and for those of 

 soft wood and great hearts, and greens, let the frosts 

 be over, and before the sap in them rise, except firrs, 

 and other rosinous trees, which must be prun'd in 

 November ; because if prun'd in March they bleed, 

 and in September and October they have not given 

 over growing. 



The second time is mid-summer, which is ordin- 

 arily about the end of June ; this is a safe time to 

 prune those of great pith, and such as are unapt to 

 bleed; but especially for young shoots of this year: 

 extirpate all such buds and shoots as you desire not 

 to grow, and hereby you may make clean bodied 

 trees, albeit never so apt to break out in side- 

 boughes, as some elms are. For the diseases of all 

 trees, with their cures, see Chap. V. 



108 



