PRUNING 



best to remove the limb with two preliminary cuts, 

 trimming the stub down to the proper level of the trunk 

 afterwards. This prevents any splitting down of 

 the limb as it gives way and makes a much neater and 

 better job. 



The first of these two cuts should be made from the 

 under side of the limb up, about five or six inches from 

 its rise on the trunk ; this should extend more than half 

 way through the limb. Then half an inch nearer the tree 

 trunk make the second cut, from the upper side of the 

 limb down; and the branch will fall to the ground without 

 splintering or tearing the bark in the least. Then lay 

 the saw flat against the main trunk and take off the 

 stub. This levels the surface and prepares for the heal- 

 ing process which Nature will immediately take up. 



Shoots and small branches should always be severed 

 just above a bud, as near to it as possible yet far enough 

 away to avoid injuring it. And in plants on which the 

 buds alternate, an outward setting bud should be the one 

 left at the top of a pruned branch; in this way an out- 

 ward growing branch will be assured and that is the 

 thing to be aimed at. 



All plant growth is carried on by the terminal buds 

 the buds at the end of the branches and twigs. Back 

 of these and ranged on either side of the stem or branch, 

 usually at regular intervals, are what are called the 

 Mteral buds. From these, new branches spring but 

 only from comparatively few of them. Thus there are 

 always a lot of seemingly useless buds ranked along 

 every main stem. 



43 



