THE PKAOTICE OF PEUNINGf. - 395 



instead of allowing them to stand till the winter or spring ; this removes 

 an unnecessary incumbrance, and at a season when sun and air are of 

 infinite importance to the young canes, consequently to the succeeding crop 

 of fruit." 



In autumn, or the early part of winter, the young canes should be 

 shortened to about four-fifths of their original height, or to the place where 

 the growth of the upper part of the shoot forms a sort of bending or twisting. 

 They may then be either tied to stakes or arched, by tying their tips to 

 those of the adjoining plant. When a late succession of fruit is desired, 

 some plants may hare all their shoots cut back to within a few inches of the 

 ground. 



B. Pruning for Timber. 



To procure flowers or fruit forming no part of the object of 

 those who grow trees for the sake of their timber, the 

 principles which ought to guide the forester are of quite 

 another class from those just explained. The forester desires, 

 1. to obtain the greatest possible quantity of timber in the 

 shortest possible time ; and, 3. to secure trees with tall straight 

 stems, except in those cases where crooked timber is required 

 for ship-buildiug. Of the latter there is generally no deficiency 

 in consequence of the accidents to which trees are liable ; or it 

 may be readily provided by artificial methods that must 

 suggest themselves to every one practically, if not theoretically, 

 acquainted with the laws which regulate the growth of trees. 

 The two first objects are all that need be considered on the 

 present occasion. 



Timber is the woody texture of a tree. The woody texture 

 does not form itself; it does not grow independently of aU other 

 parts ; it is only a portion of a living system, arising from 

 the action of other organs ; it is to a plant what flesh and bones 

 are to an animal. The bones and flesh of cattle are not 

 increased in quantity of themselves, but by means of food 

 swallowed by the mouth, and digested by the stomach. To 

 swallow food without digesting it is an entix-ely useless opera- 

 tion both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The 

 digesting organs of trees are their leaves ; it is the foliage 

 which constitutes the stomach of a plant; therefore, to deprive 

 a plant of its leaves is like depriving an animal of its stomach. 



