CHAPTER XV 

 PRUNING ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS AND TREES 



265. Shade trees — lliosc whose flowers arc incon- 

 spicuous — rarelv recei\ e tlie attention they deserve. They 

 are planted and left to Ihenisehes with the result that 

 ihey dcxclop Y-crotches, Imibs too near the ground (Fig. 

 2!t2) or too high up, or too irregular or other faults. The 

 same principles used to form the heads of fruit trees will 

 apply "with more or less modification to the development 

 of shade tree heads. The results of neglect apparent on 

 every hand are especially noticeable when winter storms 

 load the branches with heavy coatings of ice. One of 

 these storms recenllv more or less seriously broke several 

 score of shade trees, principally Norway maples, on the 

 campus of the PennsyUania .'~itate College. Several trees 

 with Y-crotches ^vere thus liroken down : and many 

 others were cracked so se\'erely that another such storm 

 will break them because of the activity of decay that has 

 gamed entrance through the cracks then formed or ex- 

 tended from previous splitting. Figure 94 shows a char- 

 acteristic \iew on the campus just after the storm. The 

 beauty of this tree has been ruined. 



Be3'ond the removal of dead, dying and broken parts 

 and the occasional shortening of too rampant or too low- 

 hanging branches, shade trees properly started demand 

 \-ery little pruning. The time required to give the trees 

 an annual inspection will be well spent, for it should 

 lead to the adoption of measures that will prevent in- 

 juries Avhich if incurred might be incfTcctive and ex- 

 pen si\'e. 



266. A good hedge depends for its success upon the 

 kind of plant, the thickness of the planting, the choice of 

 form, the regular periodic attention and, to a less extei.f. 



354 



