AMPUTATING. 405 



*' All scientific planters," wrote Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Paxton, 

 several years since, " are of the same opinion as to the propriety 

 of removing dead or decayed branches. Whenever dead branches 

 are found on any tree, they cannot be too soon removed ; and 

 even Fir plantations, which when thickly planted are generally 

 self-pruned, will he improved by having all the dead wood 

 pruned off quite close to the stem." 



Some years ago, Lord Braybrooke submitted to the examina- 

 tion of Prof. Henslow, than whom no man possesses a sounder 

 judgment, a number of specimens of timber in which the 

 branches had been allowed to die back. The result of that exa- 

 mination, now before me, was as follows : — " In the specimens 

 sent for my inspection, the foreshortened branches were all in a 

 state of decay, and where the experiment was pronounced com- 

 plete, the stumps had become imbedded in new wood which 

 had closed over them, exactly asdt does over the surface of the 

 cut produced by close-pruning. Now the only difference between 

 the two results appears to me to be this : that in the dose-prwriing 

 we have two clean surfaces, the one of the old and the other of the 

 new wood, brought into close contact ; whilst in the case of the 

 foreshortened branch, we have the decayed remains of a rotten 

 stump surrounded by an irregular surface of the new wood." 



4. Amputating. — When a branch is broken and dead and 

 requires removal, it should be cut off close to the trunk ; but 

 this should never be done if it is possible to avoid it, and it 

 never is necessary except in consequence of previous mis- 

 management ; it is even doubtful whether it can ever be 

 justified. Assuming, however, that it is inevitable, then it is 

 certain that the amputation should be effected by as perpen- 

 dicular a cut as it is possible tcJ effect. It is an axiom in 

 physiology, that live tissue cannot form an organic union with 

 that which is dead. If in amputations shoots are not removed 

 close to the stem, the remaining part, or snag, dies ; and the 

 lips of the wound wiU not heal ; or if the wound is healed 

 externally, either a cavity or a piece of dead wood remains 

 ■ behind. On the other hand, if the branch is cut off close to 

 the trunk, the permanent injury sustained by the tree is a 

 disunion of the tissue for a space equal to the diameter of the 



