30 THE CULTIVATED EVERGREENS 



The pruning of coniferous evergreens. (John Dunbar.) 



The pruning of conifers is, perhaps, a Httle more difficult to 

 explain than the pruning of any other woody plants. It seems 

 needless to say that removal of the lower branches is a serious 

 mistake, and, if healthy, they should be retained to the base. 

 Pines, spruces, firs, and hemlocks have conical pyramidal 

 outlines, some more so than others, and the elements of beauty 

 consist in accentuating these attributes. Pruning or disbudding 

 can be intelligently performed to add much to the natural 

 symmetry. The extraction or removal, early in spring, of the 

 central or terminal bud, will tend to compel the branches 

 which start from the side buds to spread apart and form a 

 much denser growth. Cutting back the previous year's ter- 

 minal growth to a strong bud or branchlet on the main limbs 

 over the tree, if the plant is inclined to be thin in its branching, 

 always produces a much denser lateral growth. In the case of 

 hemlocks, owing to the nature of their terminal growths, the 

 removal of the central terminal bud cannot be accomplished 

 very well, as the bud is very minute. The best method is to 

 cut back the terminal branches to strong branchlets or buds, 

 and a much denser growth will soon follow. 



Pyramidal junipers and arbor-vitse, in which the object is 

 to develop very dense pyramidal habits, are often clipped with 

 shears in spring before growth starts to produce density of 

 growth. In nurseries in which there are thousands of such 

 plants, it may be a matter of business to treat them in this 

 way, in order to facilitate the work. However, on private 

 plantations it is better to use a sharp pruning-knife, or good 

 standard pruning-shears, and cut the branches or projecting 

 shoots back in "shingling" fashion. When carefully pruned in 

 this way, the trees present a more pleasing appearance and do 

 not show such a stiff aspect as when shorn with the shears. 



