CHAPTEE XXIV 



TREE-PRUNING 



SELF-PEESERVATION is the first law of a 

 tree's life, and next to that the preservation 

 of its species, which is to be perpetuated by means 

 of seeds. All this is perfectly natural, for no pos- 

 terity would be possible to the tree unless its own 

 existence were maintained in the first place. Ac- 

 cordingly the tree lives first for itself, accomplishing 

 this object by covering itself with buds that develop 

 into branches covered with leaves. It is indeed on 

 the leaves that the fundamental principles of the 

 plant's life are based; it is in their substance that, 

 with the sun 's help, the descending sap is elaborated, 

 this sap being the nutritive fluid, the life-blood as 

 it were, of the vegetable organism. The propaga- 

 tion of the species comes next in importance. This 

 duty devolves on the flower-buds or those that blos- 

 som and produce fruit, in the center of which are the 

 seeds. 



' ' Thus, left to its own impulses, a tree, if vigorous 

 and enjoying favorable conditions, at first uses all 

 its sap in making buds for the increase of its own 

 woody structure ; it covers itself with stout branches 

 and abundant foliage before making up its mind to 

 blossom. Later, when its limbs are strong and the 



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