ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 



12t 



wish to know what happens to a stump thus left, we 

 have only to look at it immediately after the pruning, as 

 in engraviug 110, p. 123, and then four years afterwards, 

 when it has lost its bark, eng. Ill, same page. Two or 

 three years later, it will look like eng. 112, same page, 

 where it is shown half-devoured by the rot. In a few 

 years more, it will show as in engraving 113, p. 124, where 

 we see the stump rotted away, and surrounded by a 

 cavity which retains the wet, and where the decay^ 

 which finally attacks the heart of the tree, first develops 

 itself. Should you see fit to fell the tree to observe the 



105. — Prvning large branches. 





106. — Formation of new bark. 



progress of the evil, it will present the aspect seen on the 

 right of the eng. 114, same page ; whereas, had the prun- 

 ing been judiciously carried out, we should see nothing- 

 more, at that time, than the scar which appears on the 

 left of the same engraving. 



I must not leave this subject of pruning, without 

 speaking of the season in which it should be done- 

 Opinions differ on the subject : mine goes in favour of 

 winter, that is to say, from November to March. The 

 only exception is the conifers, which should be pruned 

 at midsummer. 



As I am speaking of the care to be taken of planta- 

 tions after they are established, I may as well mention a. 



