The Pruning of Trees 



the greatest importance ; for the distribution 

 of the sap and the sunlight, the chief factors 

 in the life of the plant, is closely connected 

 with it. If the tree is allowed to develop 

 freely and assume its natural form, the sap 

 coming from the roots, in its natural impulse, 

 will tend to reach the highest parts, which will 

 grow vigorously, while the lower portions will 

 waste and perish for lack of sufficient food. 

 If the branches do not receive sufficient light, 

 those in the centre, deprived of the life-giving 

 rays of the sun, will remain sickly, puny and 

 more or less etiolated. On the other hand, 

 the tree must derive all the benefit from the 

 situation allotted to it in the garden so that 

 there may be no wasted or unproductive 

 space. 



The form is determined by these conditions. 

 In the first place it must be symmetrical, so 

 that there may be an equal distribution of 

 food, and that some of the branches may not 

 overflow with sap, while others have none at 

 all. In the second place it must allow the 

 sunlight to penetrate to every part in order 

 to ripen the fruit and to carry out the im- 

 portant process of the preparation of the sap 

 in the leaves. In practice three forms have 

 been selected with the object of attaining 



133 



