222 PRUNING. 



propagation of curious varieties of Georgina, Pcebnia, 

 and the like. 



SECTION IV. 



Pruning. The pruner should be a good vegetable 

 physiologist ; unless he has an intimate knowledge 

 of the components of the plant their tendencies and 

 functions in the system, his operations will always 

 be performed in the twilight of uncertainty. There 

 are, however, many expert pruners who have no 

 pretensions to be called scientific physiologists, and 

 who, notwithstanding, perform the work with the 

 utmost propriety, merely because they have been 

 taught the art by a good master. Practical experi- 

 ence will enable any man to become a proficient in 

 pruning and training, who may remain his whole 

 life in ignorance of the motion of the fluids, or 

 of the manner of the changes which take place 

 in the tree he prunes. But every practical man 

 will do well to study and make himself acquainted 

 with the physiology of plants ; it will enable him to 

 trace many effects which occur in his practice to their 

 real causes, and free his mind from all doubt as to 

 the practicability or impracticability of whatever he 

 may wish, or find it necessary to do. 



If we except the failure of the lowest branches of 

 trees, there are few indications in nature showing the 

 necessity of pruning. In natural forests trees gene- 



