20 MANURING AND PRUNING. 



The pruning of a tree should be conducted with a view to- 

 the production of fruit. Unless we have a plentiful supply of" 

 good healthy leaves, evenly distributed over the tree so as to 

 obtain a maximum of the light and air they require, we cannot 

 xpect to secure large crops of fruit, in fact unless the machinery 

 is in good working order and the supply of fuel abundant, w$- 

 cannot expect a good output. The leaves and roots represent 

 the machinery ; and water, sunlight, air and manure, acting; 

 together, may well represent the fuel supplied. 



The branches of a Cacao tree therefore, should be evenly 

 distributed, so that the leaves they carry may be maintained iii ( 

 good health, and just thinly enough distributed to admit 

 sufficient sun and air to mature the fruit. 



It should be a rule when pruning that too many branches- 

 should not be removed at once. It is a mistake to prune- 

 heavily at any one time, as it gives the trees too great a check, 

 and causes too great a disturbance of the growth. The effect of" 

 heayy pruning may be seen by the large growth of young: 

 shoots which appear at or near the place where branches hav<$- 

 been removed. These in most cases, are quite useless and have* 

 to be removed, causing a waste of plant energy, for if properly 

 directed the material used in this growth would have con- 

 siderably added to the health and strength of the tree. Iu 

 pruning neglected trees, the first thing to be done, is to cub 

 out useless wood, or wood which can never be expected to bear 

 or to produce bearing branches, or again, wood that is diseased^ 

 >r cankered. The next thing is, to equalize or balance your 

 trees, and last, to thin out the branches and foreshorten them. 

 nrhere required. 



In removing branches the greatest care should be exercised? 

 not to make jagged, ragged, splintering or slivering cuts, but to* 

 nrnke clean and even cuts close to the wood and near to a bud! 

 or young branch into which the sap will be presently directed if" 

 the operation is well performed. 



The young branches which are often found growing erect 

 (commonly called gormandizers from the rapidity of their- 

 growth), are productions which show that the parent stem, as. 

 -it stands, does not provide sufficient channels for the expenditure- 

 of the sap supplied by the roots, and in consequence this sap- 

 provides for itself an outlet and expends itself upon the produc- 

 tion f rapid growth in a' dingle direction. It shows that the- 

 channels for the conveyance of sap are clogged or contracted, 

 and that the amount **f sap produced cannot pass into the more- 

 matured portion of the tree. It M also an effort of nature to 

 recover itself from liard worlr. Every physiologist knows fhat- 

 ,f|ihltt^ branches art* produced, roots cannot be, and the produc- 

 tion uf root in in -exact ratio to the producti< n of branch, and 



