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CHAPTER 11. 



WHY PKUNE ? 



A TREE stands before me as it came from the hand of 

 nature, and I ask myself, What is to be done to the 

 tree ? If it is to grow up simply and exclusively as 

 a natural object, without other consideration, I would 

 unhesitatingly say. Do nothing to it at all ; let it alone, 

 — for if I touch it in any way so as to produce an 

 effect, I so far violate that law of nature under which 

 it now grows, and was designed in time coming to 

 continue growing. 



But if we are fully aware of what this specific prin- 

 ciple involves, we must also be prepared for all the 

 consequences naturally arising from such obedience of 

 natural laws. The same law that produces the leaf- 

 moving zephyr, produces also the hurricane ; and that 

 which gives us the soft sweet rays of light and heat, 

 gives us also the rolling thunder and flashing lightning. 



But before determining that a tree for purely natu- 

 ral purposes is not to be pruned at all /or any reason, 

 let it be first thoroughly understood what is involved and 

 comprehended in the term natural, and when that is done 

 it will be found that to the term natural we require 

 to add another term — namely, appropriate. A tree with 

 a fractured limb, or broken branch, or split stem, may 



