212 PRUNING. 



buds, and the lateral brandies below it to one bud ; but 

 when the buds are small and backward, or when the 

 branchless space is over two feet in length, the two year 

 old wood must be cut back to within eighteen inches to 

 two feet of the base. We find that in the case of imported 

 trees, or those carried a great distance, and more or less 

 injured, nothing short of this severe cutting can ensure 

 branches low enough to form a pyramidal tree. It seems 

 a great pity to cut back a tree in this manner, and lose a 

 year or two of its growth and bearing, but it is absolutely 

 necessary when the pyramidal form is wanted. There is 

 still another class of trees that we sometimes see sent out 

 from the nurseries. These are two or three years old ; 

 have been cut back, and are pretty well furnished, in all 

 their length, with lateral branches ; but from the want of 

 proper care, those on the upper parts have acquired greater 

 vigor than those below, presenting the tree in a situation 

 just the reverse, in this respect, of what it ought to be. 

 In pruning this subject at the time of planting, the lower 

 branches must either be shortened very slightly in order 

 to get a strong bud for a leader, or they must be left 

 entire, while those above will be cut close ; where we Avant 

 the longest and strongest branches, there we leave the 

 most wood. 



The most important pruning performed upon a tree is 

 the first one, for it is this which makes all future manage- 

 ment easy and successful, or difficult and unsatisfactory. 

 This is the reason why it has appeared necessary to treat 

 of it so minutely. Having encountered all the difficulties 

 that others are likely to encounter, and having described 

 them and pointed out the means by which they are to be 

 overcome, it is believed that the matter has been made so 

 plain, that any man of ordinary intelligence, and possess- 

 ing the slightest knowledge of tree culture, can take his 

 knife and prepare his trees in such a manner as to give 



