32 



PRINCirLES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



are Boston ivy and grapevines ; the leaves completely hide 

 the flowers, fruit, woody parts and the supports. Among 

 trees, Norway and sugar maples, especially the former, 

 are very striking because, when, say, 30 or more years 

 old uninjured specimens growing by themselves show a 

 perfect envelope of leaves covering bare branches and 

 trunk beneath. In neglected fruit trees similar though 

 much less marked development may be observed. 



To carry the illustration and the lesson it teaches still 

 further, the same effects may be noted in trees and shrubs 

 that grow in close groups, whether in a state of nature 

 or in a plantation. This has two very striking applica- 

 tions, one in the forest, the other in the fruit plantation. 



FIG. 22— "LEGGY" PEACH TREES 



Adequate spacing and judicious pruning would ha\'e made these more stocky. They 



are far too tall and too likely to be injured by wind. 



Trees which grow close together in the forest produce 

 so much shade that their lower branches, being deprived 

 of light, die and ultimately fall off, and only the tops 



