38 



I'RI.NC IIM.HS AND PRACTICE OF FRUNINC, 



inches and produced 370 buds. The terminal branch or 

 shoot grew 36 inches long. 



Here, then, is a little tree two years old and 4 ] / 2 feet 



high which has made 

 an effort to bear 409 

 branches. It is plain 

 that more than 90 per 

 cent of these efforts 

 must be futile. Many 

 of the buds will not 

 start, but the tree 

 now has a total of 27 

 branches and subdivi- 

 sions as a result of its 

 first year's growth, if it 

 makes a proportional 

 number this year from 

 the growth [of last 

 year], it will bear 21G 

 branches at the close of 

 this season and will 

 have made a total effort 

 of about 3,500 branch- 

 germs or buds. This 

 little tree will undergo 

 a severe pruning in the 

 coming years, although 

 a knife does not touch 

 it. 



But the natural thin- 

 ning of the top will 

 continue in geometrical 

 ratio as long as the tree 

 grows ; and after a time 

 this pruning will be- 

 come more severe, for larger branches will be sacrificed. 

 Probably less than a fifth of the buds upon any tree ever 



FIG. 26 WHITE PINE PLANTATION 



AFTER THINNING 



Compare with Fig. .25. Note piles of brush 

 and the trunks pruned of dead branches 



