BENEFITS OF PRUNING. 239 



learn. So presumably, also, in regard to pruning ; and 

 until ocular demonstration is given of the errors of the 

 past and truths of the present, there is but little hope 

 of introducing any better or more improved system, but 

 it will be our best though humble endeavour to try. 



"When pruning is done upon trees which actually 

 require it, they are benefited by it in various degrees. 

 Some are benefited immensely, and others very little. 

 Some trees are so grown that unless pruned they are 

 utterly worthless, and constitute mere cumberers of 

 the ground, while if pruned in the right way and at 

 the proper time, they are thereby increased in value 

 manifold. 



In order to be plain and practical, however, it is 

 also necessary to be pointed, explicit, and go into 

 details. 



Take the oak-tree, for example, which is generally 

 regarded as the king of forest-trees, and see how and 

 in what manner that tree can be benefited by pruning. 

 Those who have seen the two historical trees in Jed 

 Forest, near Jedburgh — the Capon-tree and King of 

 the Wood, the latter (fig. 8), which also constitutes our 

 frontispiece, and the former, as here shown in fig. 9 — 

 will observe how differently the two trees are grown, 

 and how much more commercial value the one is than 

 the other. 



The King of the Wood is as fine a timber tree as 

 the eye can rest upon or the heart desire, with an"lm^ 

 mense upright trunk, beautifully branched on all sides ; 

 the first tiers of branches begin at 10 feet from the 

 ground, well clothed, equally balanced, and finely pro- 

 portioned all over. It is all but certain this tree was 

 never pruned, and in all likelihood it is grown direct 

 from the acorn. Its early history is, of course, a 



