254 PRINCIPLES OF PLANT CULTURE 



Pruning for stockiness is much practiced in the rasp- 

 berry (Figs. 160 and 161) and blackberry, in hedges and 

 in many ornamental plants. In some plants it tends to 

 the production of flower-buds, by checking growth of 

 wood (136). 



Pruning for slenderness 

 is seldom necessary, since 

 a slender growth may read- 

 ily be produced by close 

 planting. It is accom- 

 plished by persistently re- 

 moving or cutting back the lower branches, 

 and permitting only a few branches to de- 

 velop near the terminus of the stem. 



424. Pruning for density applies either to in- 

 creasing or decreasing the density of the head. In 

 ornamental and shade trees, a compact head is 

 often desirable, while in fruit-trees, a head that 

 admits abundant light and air (Fig. 165) is 

 important (242). To increase density, en- 

 courage lateral branching by pinching all FIG. I6i. 

 the more prominent terminal growing points 

 (Fig. 163). In some coniferous trees, such as pruned. 

 the Norway spruce (Picea excelsa), disbud- 

 ding of the terminal shoots (Fig. 162) in spring is ad- 

 visable, and in woody plants too tall for pinching, the 

 more prominent terminal growing points may be cut back 

 with the pole shears (431), which causes the head to grow 

 more dense. 



In pruning to form an open head (Fig. 165), it is wiser, 

 as a rule, to thin out the smaller branches at some dis- 

 tance from the trunk than to remove large branches at 

 their union with the trunk. The clearer the atmosphere 



