The Pruning of Trees 



The cutting off of lower limbs to overcome the interfering of 

 neighbouring trees in an orchard is a bad practice. It elevates 

 the bearing area, until ladders are necessary to reach the lowest 

 fruit. Better take out alternate trees, or best of all, plant origin- 

 ally at the proper distances, setting short-lived fruits between. 



Yearly pruning will prevent interference by training the 

 orchard trees to a narrower habit. By the "thumb-and-fmger" 

 pruning mentioned before, a tree may be shaped to the low, round 

 head, or sent upward into a tall, narrow one. It takes the heaviest 

 tools to convert them into the Japanese parasol form. Such an 

 orchard tree makes life miserable for the pickers and is a living 

 witness of the obtuse and neglectful character of the owner. 



PRUNING FOREST TREES 



This is a practice that belongs to intensive forestry. It is a 

 part of a type of silviculture that crops land with trees as the 

 careful farmer does with grain. If a dense stand does not "clean 

 itself" of lower limbs by Nature's pruning, there is cheap labour 

 to do the work, and sale for the limbs as fagots, or as charcoal. 

 Thus in various European forests it pays to prune trees. In 

 America it rarely pays yet. The illustration of pruning white-pine 

 seedlings in small woodlots (see page 477) is a notable exception. 

 White pine does not clean itself of branches, even dead ones, 

 as most trees do. This fact greatly impairs the quality of the 

 timber, for dead knots abound in it. Only trees intended for a 

 mature first-grade crop can be pruned with profit. 



Judicious selective cuttings which keep the forest cover 

 intact bring about natural pruning by the choking out and chafing 

 of lower limbs. 



GENERAL TREE SURGERY 



Capital operations in tree surgery are performed with notable 

 success nowadays. When a great limb cracks away from the 

 trunk, threatening the admission of water and disease germs 

 into the cleft, an iron bolt of proper length and strength is pro- 

 vided. An auger hole is bored through the limb a foot or two 

 above its base, and another in line with it through the main trunk. 

 Inserting the bolt, through both limb and trunk, the nut is 



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