542 Pruning of Forest Trees, and 



Mr. Main (VIII. 303.) stands preeminent; to which is appended 

 a very proper eulogium by yourself. There are two principles 

 in this subject, which I have laid down as resulting from experi- 

 ence : first, that nothing is to be gained in bulk by pruning ; 

 secondly, that much is to be gained by early pruning, towards 

 obtaining fine timber with straight boles. To these principles a 

 third may be added, namely, that little or nothing is to be gained 

 by pruning, to increase the picturesque effect of tre^s themselves. 

 With regard to the first principle, it appears obvious, that what- 

 ever wood a tree shall have made by the end of the season of 

 growth, it will, by that period, have also made a sufficient number 

 of roots or fibres to carry on by their extension, when the fol- 

 lowing season of growth commences, vegetation in every part of 

 the tree, so as to cause a greater or less degree of growth, ac- 

 cording to the tree's health, and the quality of the soil it in- 

 habits. It is also reasonable to suppose that in proportion as 

 the tree may be lopped or pruned, so will the action of the roots 

 in rendering the necessary supplies be ; unless it were pos- 

 sible for the sap vessels to be so enlarged or multiplied at once, 

 as readily to receive and conduct all that the roots are capable 

 of obtaining, which cannot be, unless a sudden enlargement of 

 the tree were to take place in all its parts, which is quite out of 

 the question. 



Upwards of twenty -five years ago, I made several experiments 

 in this way, particularly upon a beech and an evergreen oak. 

 The beech stood in a group with others of more than twenty 

 years' growth, all of which were forked from the bottom, owing 

 to the neglect of early pruning. I made choice of one, and 

 took off all its branches except the one which I considered the 

 most promising, that is, the one most likely to make a fine tree. 

 This tree is now standing, together with the forked ones, and 

 the bole which was left is not in the least degree larger than the 

 several branches on any of those that are forked. The result 

 has been exactly the same with the evergreen oak ; others near 

 it, of the same age, being as large as the one operated upon. I 

 found also that by taking off large branches in order to make 

 handsome boles, nothing was gained towards accelerating an 

 increase in the size of the trees, as others that had been left 

 untouched, had made a progress in bulk equal to, if not greater 

 than, those that had been thus pruned. Thus far has my ex- 

 perience gone upon the principle of pruning or lopping, to the 

 end of obtaining bulk in timber. 



With regard to pruning for the purpose of making handsome 

 boles and fine straight timber, that is quite another thing ; but 

 upon this subject I need not dwell, as it has been ably handled 

 already by several of your correspondents, who, I believe, all 

 agree as to the efficiency of pruning, when practised at an early 

 age of the tree, towards producing this end : all I would say is, 



