PRUNING. 227 



of the roots, and vice versa. Reducing the number 

 of branches to give magnitude to the stem is ridicu- 

 lous. Regulating the growth of the branches by 

 stopping or cutting out such as are over luxuriant 

 gives supremacy and a direction to the leader ; but 

 this gives no magnitude to the trunk. Every indi- 

 vidual twig of the head is a part of the stem ; the 

 former could not be developed without assistance 

 from the latter, which, while it conveys support, is 

 increased in some degree to enable it to do so. In 

 fact, every member of a tree depends on, and in its 

 turn lends assistance to, every other, when all are in 

 perfect health. The only exception to this as a rule 

 is an accidental luxuriance, sometimes exhibited by 

 a single branch and a certain division of the root, 

 which will progress together for several years before 

 the rest of the tree. (Fig. 54.) For such irregularity, 

 however, no good reason can be assigned. 

 Fiff. 54. 



