126 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



divide the branch with a clean, smooth cut, and not 

 bruise it on the side next the stem. 



Mode of Operating upon the Branches. They should 

 be so cut that they will heal kindly. If it was desired to 

 cut off a branch as- at fig. 54, it is cut as near to the bud 

 as possible, without injury to it. The knife is entered 



directly opposite to the base 

 of the bud, and comes out 

 even with the point of the 

 bud. In this way the bud 

 will not suffer, and the cut 

 quickly heals. In fig. 55 

 the cut is so far above the 



bud that the shoot will die 

 Fig. 54. Fig. 55. Fig. 56. down to near the budj and 



require to be again cut off that it may heal over. If the 

 cut is made, commencing too far below the bud, as at fig. 

 56, the bud is badly nourished and will be less vigorous, 

 and perhaps perish. In cutting off a branch it should not 

 be cut so close to the stem as to wound it, or make the 

 cut larger than the base of the branch, neither so long as 

 to leave a snag to decay slowly for years, if it do not send 

 out new vigorous shoots again requiring removal. 



Considered mechanically, the great art is to make a 

 clean, smooth cut, so as to leave the bark in a healthy 

 state to cover the wound, and to prune so near a bud as 

 to leave no dead wood. Hence, if the branch be removed 

 with the saw, the cut must be smoothed over with the 

 knife. In cutting off large branches, the wound should 

 be covered with grafting wax, or painted over with Mr. 

 Downing's preparation of shellac dissolved in alcohol, in 

 order to exclude the air. 



General Principles of Pruning. The secret of prun- 

 ing judiciously consists in 1st, " Calculating intelligently 

 the proportion one ought to establish between the 



