Shade Tree ' Suggestions. 



f ul pruner examines his tree before he begins, discovers the 

 possibility that it presents and cuts accordingly. The health of 

 the tree may be promoted by removal of dead and dying mem- 

 bers and the destruction of germ and insect infected tissues. 

 Wherever cuts occur the tree .puts forth new tissues at. a rate 

 and in a manner which tends to cover up and heal over the 

 newly made wound. If this be not accomplished in a reason- 

 ably short time the wound becomes filled with germs, causing 

 disintegration of the tissues. To facilitate the healing of 

 wounds, dead branches should be cut back to the healthy tissue 

 and smoothed down. Stumps of branches with loosened bark 

 are always points of infection. Large wounds can never safely 

 be made, but where it is necessary to make them the cut should 

 always be water-proofed by the application of thick coats of 

 lead-paint or coal-tar. The best pruning is that which watches 

 a tree, from the start, so closely that the removal of small twigs 

 here, the pinching out of a bud there, and the foreshortening 

 of some branches elsewhere is all that is necessary to the for- 

 mation of a symmetrical tree. As time goes on it will, of 

 course, be necessary to remove some of the branches, possibly 

 some of the lower ones, usually some of the interior ones, in 

 order to open up the crowded crown. Under the conditions 

 that prevail in Wyoming, it should be said, NEVER CUT OUT THE 

 MAIN AXIS, if it can possibly be avoided. An ignorant, indiffer- 

 ent and careless pruner can and will do far more harm than 

 good. Broken and bruised branches, and large, open, unpro- 

 tected wounds are all sources of infection and decay against 

 which our trees, with their slow growth, struggle unsuc- 

 cessfully. 



All things considered, it seems that pruning may be done 

 with the greatest safety in late winter or early spring. Large 

 wounds especially should be made only while the tree is dor- 

 mant, so that the surface of the cut tissues may dry and harden 

 before the rise of the sap. If this drying of the wound does not 

 take place, or if the cutting is done during the growing season, 



