156 



TRINCiri^ES AND PRACTICE OF PRUNING 



During the past decade much expcrimentuig has been 

 done by botanists, foresters, pomological investigators 

 and others to determine the desirable and the undesirable 

 dressings. Many experiments are as yet incomplete; 



FIG. lis— GOOD, BAD AND INDIFFERENT PRUNING SAWS 

 No. 1. Long, heavy saw for large limbs. No. 2. General purpose saw. Both 

 these styles are good. Compare lengths with the 18-inch ruler. No. 3 is the 

 "made to sell" saw with the "lumberman's" tooth on one side and the ordinary 

 tooth on the other. It is a dangerous weapon both to trees and operators. The 

 best place for it is in a museum of torture implements. No. 4 is a pole saw with 

 swivel blade. Where branches can't be reached easily it serves fairly well because 

 the thin, small-toothed blade makes clean cuts. No. 5 differs from No. 4 only in 

 the handle. It would be better with a handle similar to No. 1. No. 6 is a heavy 

 affair with an iron handle. It is a mean thing to use on a cold day, because the 

 handle chills the hand in spite of the exercise of sawing. 



some have been reported upon. In order to present all 

 sides of such an important question the author has quoted 

 freely from several of the already published writings. 

 Hitherto the author has favored pure white lead in pure 

 raw linseed oil, but this is too expensive as well as too 

 risky. At present, the case appears to him in favor of 



