136 



PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



summer favors "bleeding" from the exposed surface. 

 The author, though he has looked for instances and has 

 searched horticultural literature, knows of only one case, 



that reported by Newman 



15), to support this claim 

 that plants which "bleed" 

 when cut are injured there- 

 by. Grapevines, maples, 

 Japanese walnuts, box eld- 

 ers and many other woody 

 plants bleed profusely when 

 wounded, especially in 

 early spring. But these 

 trees appear to suffer no in- 

 jury from the process. Yet 

 one well authenticated case, 

 such as that of Newman's, 

 supports the contention that 

 injury does result from 

 such cutting. It is there- 

 fore well to err on the safe 

 side and avoid cutting after 

 or just before growth of 

 such plants starts. 



As the result of several 

 series of experiments in 

 pruning trees during every 

 month in the year, it has been 

 concluded that season is of 

 far less consequence than 

 the length of the stub and 

 the position of the wound 

 with respect to the trunk 



from which the limb was removed. Of these two, the latter 

 is the more important. Wounds on actively growing 

 limbs heal most quickly, and when the limbs are erect 

 or nearly so. the healing is quicker than on horizontal 



FIG. 95 



LABEL WIRE MAKES GIRDLED LIMB 

 BLOOM PREMATURELY 



