THE ART OF PRUNING 



The cut should always be made parallel with the main branch 

 or trunk and as close to it as possible. A stub, even a short one, 



delays healing and leaves a place for rot-fungi. An 

 Making the Cut elementary rule of pruning is that the cut should 



be made just beyond a healthy lateral branch. 

 Large branches must be removed with exceeding care to avoid 

 splitting or stripping the bark from the remaining parts, leaving bad 

 wounds that can never heal. To prevent such a calamity, make an 

 undercut a few inches out from the main cut, and then cut above; 

 this leaves a stub which can then be removed, sawing close to the 

 trunk without fear of disaster to the tree. 



^^ Professional pruners make a great ado about salving 



/p^® d" ™ ^^^ wounds of pruned trees, for which purpose each 



Better than ^^^ ^ particular "Balm of Gilead" to his fancy. At the 



Man's New York Agricultural Experiment Station as many 



of these salves, ointments, paints, and waxes, as 

 could be collected were tried for a period of years on the apple, and 

 lo. Dame Nature's balm was better than any of man's — wounds 

 untreated healed more quickly and smoothly than any that were 

 treated ! If wounds, however, are larger than three inches in diameter, 

 there is a danger-spot in the center of the wound where decay often 

 sets in. It suffices to cover this spot with a good lead paint, keeping 

 the paint at least half an inch from the outer edge. 

 _, Pruning is often left to "time and chance," but there 



to Prune ^® ^ ^^^^ time, which is late winter before the sap 



flows. The objection to early winter-pruning is that 

 there may be injury to the tissues near the wound from cold or 

 from checking. The objection to late spring pruning is the loss of 

 sap, and because the sap, in running down the bark, keeps it wet and 

 sticky, making a suitable place for the spores of various rot-fungi. 



When a tree on the decline is severely pruned, a 

 Water-sprouts growth of long, vertical, nearly leafless shoots often 



follows. Such shoots may also arise from over-manur- 

 ing or other causes which upset the equilibrium of the tree. These are 

 suckers, or water-sprouts, and since the sparseness of foliage prevents 

 the shoots from elaborating food, they appropriate it from the parts 

 upon which they grow. Suckers are, therefore, robbers, true parasites, 

 and should be removed whenever and wherever found. 



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