28 On pruning Forest Trees. 



with it." I have given it to the public in proof that I am no 

 impostor, but a man in full practice. I should like to ask 

 those who disapprove of pruning trees, particularly the pine 

 and fir tribes, what can be their reasons ? Should they say the 

 extra trouble and expense, I answer that all trees must be 

 pruned before they are brought to the sawyers : and which 

 is easier, to prune off small twigs, or large limbs ? When a 

 fir tree is once pruned, it never wants pruning afterward at 

 the same place : and which does the carpenter prefer finding ; 

 a small twig, not so thick as a straw, in the heart of his balk ; 

 or a large knot, as thick as his arm, at or near the out- 

 side of it ? When a bough is cut off from a tree in its green 

 state, though as thick as my thumb, by the time the tree 

 begins to heart the knot will be squeezed to a less substance 

 than the grey goose- quill with which I am writing this letter ; 

 whereas, if allowed to remain growing, it would not only 

 grow thicker, but even form a heart of hard wood which no 

 squeezing could diminish. When trees are pruned young, 

 they may stand thicker on the ground before injuring each 

 other, or injuring themselves. Trees planted i ft. apart may, 

 if properly pruned, stand till they are 9 ft. rails : every other 

 row should then be taken out, and the year following every 

 second row, crosswise. In a few years more they may be 

 further thinned in the same way, leaving the trees 16 ft. apart. 

 Strong oaks, and other hard- wooded- trees, 6 or 8 ft. high, 

 should now be brought from the nursery, and planted in the 

 centre of each square space : these should be treated as 

 carefully as if they were fruit trees ; and if the soil is not good, 

 a barrow-load of good soil should be brought to each of 

 them. Every person who has forest-planting to do should 

 have a nursery of his own, on as good land and as near the 

 intended plantation as possible. The oaks, &c., should be 

 twice transplanted : at two years old they should be removed 

 fi-om the seed bed, and planted in rows 1 ft. apart, and 4 in. 

 in the row ; and at the end of four years they should be again 

 removed and planted in rows 4 ft. apart, and 1 ft. in the row. 

 Here they should stand four years longer, when they will 

 each remove with a ball of earth to them : for, observe, an 

 oak is but a young tree or plant at ten years old, and though 

 the larch fir and Scotch pine overshadow them, they will grow, 

 not the worse, but the better, for it for a few years ; when the 

 Scotch may be all cleared out, and the larches pruned a little 

 higher. I would recommend chiefly for hard wood, in rows, 

 an oak, an ash, a Spanish chestnut, an elm, an oak, &c., fol- 

 lowing one another ; as the ash and elm are excellent under- 

 wood, or will become good timber trees where the oak or 

 Spanish chestnut may not succeed. As old Philip Miller says. 



