THE GIRTH-INCREASE OF DECIDUOUS TREES. 67 
Taking the rate for the last two or three years as the criterion 
of recovery, the most obvious fact is that only five of the trees 
have recovered their original rate before pruning, and only one 
of them, the evergreen oak, has exceeded it by an appreciable 
amount. Six have recovered about half their original rate ; four 
rather above a third of it; four rather under a third; while in 
two the recovery is only to about a sixth, and in one to a six- 
teenth. 
The question what practical lessons, if any, can be deduced 
from the tabulated results is not easy to determine. Do they 
show that the trees generally were over-pruned? At first sight 
it would seem so, from the great diminution in the girth-increase 
of the stems; but if the object desired—the promotion of growth 
upwards—was obtained, this sacrifice of girth increase may have 
been natural and proper. To me, however, it seems that this 
object was not fully obtained, because, in most instances, the 
stems above the bole appear to taper too suddenly upwards. But 
I have no experience to guide me in forming a definite opinion. 
One conclusion is clear, that the pruning carried out in 1896 
has been followed, in the majority of instances, by a serious 
falling-off in the girth-increase in the stems for at least eleven 
years. It has also been proved that a tree so over-pruned as to 
have its head of foliage reduced to a “ spear-point,” and its girth- 
increase reduced for several years almost to nil, may gradually 
recover and give promise of becoming eventually a handsome 
specimen. 
