240 APPLICATION- OF PRINCIPLES. 



communement a des ouvriers peu instruits, observe 

 dans les resultats d'une pratique trop souvent irr£- 

 fiechie, elle a du necessairement trouver des de"trac- 

 teurs mfime parmi les physiologistes. H en eut sans 

 doute 6te" autrement, si on 1 'avait e"tudiee dans les j ardins 

 du petit nombre de praticiens qui ont su de nos jours 

 la bien comprendre. Sagement basee sur les lois de 

 la vegetation, elle contribue, entre leurs mains, non 

 seulement a regulariser la production des fruits, a en 

 obtenir de plus beaux, mais encore a, prolonger l'ex- 

 istence et la fecondite des arbres." 



Nothing can be more just than these words, 

 addressed to the Horticultural Society of Paris, by 

 their President, M. H&xicart de Thury ; and, if they 

 do not apply with as much force to our gardeners as 

 to those of France, they do most fully to our forest- 

 ers. 



The quantity of timber that a tree forms, the 

 amount and quality of its secretions, the brilliancy of 

 its colours, the size of its flowers, and, in short, its 

 whole beauty, depend upon the action of its branches 

 and leaves, and their healthiness (64). The object of 

 the pruner is to diminish the number of leaves and 

 branches ; whence it may be at once understood how 

 delicate are the operations he has to practise, and how 

 thorough a knowledge he ought to possess of all the 

 laws which regulate the action of the organs of vege- 

 tation. If well directed, pruning is one of the most 

 useful, and, if ill-directed, it is among the most mis- 

 chievous, operations that can take place upon a 

 plant. 



