Pruning Mature Trees 115 



and difficult to apply. Other materials have been used, 

 some successfully and some disastrously, and the grower 

 is to be cautioned about experimenting; better adhere 

 to materials known to be safe and efficient. Growers 

 often overdo the matter and waste time in treating small 

 wounds. Surely a wound less than one and one-half inches 

 in diameter is not worth bothering with, if the wound 

 is properly made. 



These suggestions apply to wounds made by the care- 

 less cultivator as well as those made by the pruner. 

 Unsightly wounds and permanent injury may often be 

 avoided by proper treatment of trunk wounds. When 

 the body of the tree is injured, the ragged edges of the 

 bark should be pared off to sound tissue and the whole 

 injury covered with paint or grafting-wax. If promptly 

 done, this prevents drying out of the tissues, and new bark 

 will readily form, except on parts where the outer wood 

 cells are actually destroyed, and in time this will grow 

 over. Wrapping the part with cloth, or, if 

 it is near the ground, mounding earth up 

 over it, will often answer the same purpose. 



Pruning Tools 



Every pruner shou d be furnished with 

 good tools; they encourage him to do good 

 work. This does not necessarily mean that 

 he must have every tool on the market, for 

 many of them are useless; it does mean, 

 however, that the ax and a dull saw have 

 no place in the catalogue of pruning tools. FlG 32 _ Prun . 

 The pruner needs a good sharp saw, a good ing Saw. 



