CHAPTER XXIII 



The Pruning of Trees 



A tree exists in the first place for its own 

 preservation, and only in the second place for 

 the preservation of the species, effected by 

 the seeds. This is natural, for its own 

 existence is a necessary preliminary to the 

 production of posterity. The tree then lives 

 in the first place for its own existence, and 

 does this by producing shoots which turn 

 into branches covered with leaves. It is by 

 means of the leaves that the fundamental 

 process in the life of plants is carried on ; it 

 is in their substance, in the sunlight, that the 

 descending sap is prepared, the liquid food, 

 the blood of the plant. The propagation of 

 the species comes in the second place. It is 

 left to the flowering shoots, or to those which 

 flower and produce fruit, in the centre of 

 which are the seeds. 



Thus, if left to its own devices, a strong 

 tree in favourable conditions first uses all its 



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