THE MAKING OF TREES 



33 



of the leaf the better it is. There can then be no possibility of loss 

 of sap through bleeding, and this is the chief consideration, for loss 

 of sap is loss of vitality. When pruning immediately precedes the 

 flow of the sap, so that the wound has no time to cicatrize and heal, 

 it bleeds, and how much it loses may be estimated by those who 



FIG. 19 



Two-year Feathered Stan- 

 dard on Crab 



FIG. 20. Three-year Standard 

 Apple 



will inspect a healthy spring-pruned tree. We can quite understand 

 a case where late pruning is resorted to for the express purpose of 

 checking redundant growth, but it cannot wisely be applied to a 

 tree just setting out upon its career, which needs to conserve every 

 energy for its own use in building itself into a strong tree. We 

 plump for autumn pruning ; more for young trees of two and 

 three years, and still in the making, we insist upon it. 



