668 



Instrument for- Summer Pruning. 



Art. XIII. Description of an Instrument for Use in the Summer 

 Pruning of Forest Trees. By Mr. William Taylor, Gar- 

 dener, Thainston, Aberdeenshire. 



Sir, 



I here send you a sketch of a pair of 

 pruning-shears which I have invented for 

 checking rival leaders of forest trees. The 

 blades of the shears are 5 in. long : one has 

 a socket for a handle 1 ft. long ; the other 

 has a tail about 10 in. or 12 in. long (to give 

 it lever power) with a hole in the end, to 

 which a piece of garden line is fastened : the 

 line passes over a pulley of 2 in. diameter, 

 and is kept to the shaft by small staples : 

 the spring is for keeping the shears open, 

 and the pin in the socket is a stopper to 

 prevent the blades overlapping each other. 

 The end of the handle rests in a short strong 

 leather socket from a belt round the waist, 

 which gives the workman the use of his left 

 hand to guide the tool, and of his right to 

 work the cord with. It will cut a branch 

 fully one fourth of an inch thick. 



I use this tool for checking rival leading 

 shoots of young forest trees, principally in 

 their growing state, in June and July. Many 

 trees have three or four leaders, and it often 

 happens that the main leader is overtopped 

 by a side branch. I have been often vexed 

 because I could not reach such leaders ; they 

 being from 7 ft. to 14 ft. high, the tree 

 too slender to support a ladder, and the 

 shoots too small for a pruning-chisel : but 

 with these shears a man will do it in a moment; 

 and they could, by means of a longer handle, 

 be made to reach to the top of a tree 16 ft. 

 or 20 ft. high. Lateral shoots may be fore- 

 shortened back to the first or second twig. 

 Here, I hope, it will not be understood that 

 I recommend clipping trees to a uniform 

 shape. No : trees can be properly trained, 

 and yet their natural forms in a great mea- 

 sure preserved. 



This tool will be found useful in trimming 

 climbing and trailing plants against a wall, 

 when they are beyond the reach of persons 

 on the ground, or upon a too short ladder. 



