150 THE REARING OF 



first time ; and in fact, if young hard-wood trees be 

 properly attended to in pruning them in this man- 

 ner, and at this stage of their growth, they seldom 

 or ever require much pruning afterwards. The 

 great error which generally prevails among foresters 

 at the present time, in the management of young 

 hard-wood plantations at the stage above mentioned, 

 is, that they both thin and prune at the same time. 

 Now, no system of management can be more in- 

 jurious to the health of any plantation than this ; 

 for, when a few branches are lopped off a young tree, 

 it will often die when exposed suddenly to a tempe- 

 rature below that which it formerly used to exist in ; 

 and this invariably ensues when pruning and thin- 

 ning are executed at the same time. But if, when 

 a young tree is pruned, the temperature be increased 

 rather than otherwise, the tree is immediately im- 

 proved by the operation, and decidedly attains amore 

 vigorous constitution than it formerly possessed ; 

 and this again is exactly the case when pruning 

 is done in the early part of spring, and a consider- 

 able time previous to thinning : this at once point- 

 ing out the evil of both pruning and thinning at the 

 same time, and the great propriety of pruning trees 

 a considerable time before exposing them suddenly 

 by thinning. 



Having pruned the young hard-wood trees in a 

 plantation, as has been stated above, and having 

 allowed them to remain among the firs undisturbed 



