306 On pruning Forest Trees. 



taken from the stem : whether they live or die, they cannot 

 deteriorate the timber. 



Forest tree pruning should be done gradually, and conti- 

 nued till the business becomes inconvenient, or too expensive ; 

 and, if judiciously done during the first ten or fifteen years, 

 sufficiently fine forms will have been given, and proper length 

 of bole secured. A great deal has been written relative to 

 the propriety of reducing the head of a tree, as a means of 

 increasing the bulk of the trunk. The question lies in a nut- 

 shell : the larger the head, the larger must the trunk be also. 

 The diameter of the latter is increased by the number of 

 branches which are, or have been, produced by the former. 

 In proportion as the roots are increased and extended, in like 

 proportion are the stem and head. Severe mutilation of the 

 head paralyses the energies of the roots, and vice versa. Re- 

 ducing the number of branches, to give magnitude to the 

 stem, is ridiculous. Regulating the growth of the branches, 

 by stopping or cutting out such as are over-luxuriant, gives 

 supremacy and direction to the leader, but no addition to the 

 stem or any other part. Every individual twig of the head is 

 a part of the stem, and the former could not be developed 

 without the assistance of the latter ; which, while it conveys 

 support, is itself enlarged by this very function. 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 is an accidental luxuriance, sometimes 

 exhibited by a single branch, and a certain division of the 

 root, which progress together for several years before the rest 

 of the tree. For such irregularity, however, no good reason 

 can be assigned. 



The foregoing remarks are applicable to deciduous trees 

 only : on them if the forester bestow timely attention for a 

 few years, by properly directing the juvenile vigour, he will 

 seldom fail in raising valuable timber. 



As the different kinds of forest trees are used for various 

 purposes, the forester endeavours to supply the various de- 

 mand. It is wrong that any advantage derivable from wood- 

 lands should depend on, or be left to, chance. Oak of the 

 straightest and cleanest grain is required for planking, beams, 

 posts, &c. ; but, besides this description of oak, in the dock- 

 yards, cross-grained buts and knee-timbers are in request, 

 and consequently valuable. The former quality of oak, beech, 

 and other kinds of forest timber, is obtained in the shortest 

 time by rather close planting, early and careful pruning, and 

 timely thinning, if necessary ; the latter, by open planting, 

 and partial pruning, i. e. not by aiming at a tall smooth bole, 



