130 Restoration by Pruning. 
as already promised, in following chapters. Leaving these 
wholly out of consideration at this time, it is safe to advise those 
who wish to secure symmetry or any particular form in any kind 
of a tree, that they can resort to summer pinching with advan- 
tage, and can sometimes to advantage remove wood too large for 
the thumb and finger to sever. 
Constant watchfulness should be maintained for adventi- 
tious shoots starting out on stem or limb at points where 
branches are not desired. Wherever they start out strongly, 
they should be pinched, or entirely removed, according to the 
best judgment to be formed in each case. Suckers, which, 
properly, according to Downing, are ‘shoots sent up from the 
root or from parts of the stem below the surface of the soil,” 
should be removed whenever discovered. 
RENEWING OLD TREES. 
Improving and renewing trees by cutting back and graft- 
ing has already been considered under the head of propagation. 
It is often desirable to renew trees of a satisfactory variety, and 
this is done simply by cutting back when the tree is dormant. 
Cutting back was formerly done early in the winter, before the 
rise of the sap begins, but more recently it has been seen that 
the exposure of large cut surfaces for weeks or months before 
growth begins, results in drying and shrinkage of the bark and 
checking of the wood, both of which are avoided by amputa- 
tion later in the dormant period or during the early part of the 
growing ‘season. In cutting back, of course, those stumps 
should be left to support new branches which will secure the 
best balance and symmetry in the new head. When the new 
growth starts, there generally appear many more shoots than 
are desirable, and selection of the best-placed and most vigorous 
should be chosen, the others either being rubbed off in the bud 
or pinched back when a few leaves are put out. In cutting back 
trees, the exposed trunk and branch stumps should be wrapped 
in old sacking, or carefully whitewashed as protection from sun- 
burn. 
in removing large limbs it is desirable that the cut should 
be made in the right place so as to secure quick covering of the 
scar with new growth. Cutting so as to leave a long stub results 
in an unsightly piece of dead wood on the tree, and this, in de- 
caying, carries the decay deep into the center of the trunk or 
branch. Cutting too close prevents covering with the new 
bark, and also results in a hole in the branch. Cutting just to 
the right mark, which is the outer edge of the little collar or 
swelling which will be found at the base of all branches, enables 
the wound to grow over quickly, and if the wound is properly 
