GAVIN CREE'S system OF PRUNING. 263 



high, their growth is proportionally retarded. Trees 

 pruned close to the stem, when the circumference at 

 the part is under 15 inches, take in damp, so that the 

 tree, if dissected after a certain period at the part 

 where the branches have been cut, will be found 

 black into the pith. This department of pruning, 

 when improperly managed, is the principal cause of 

 rot, more particularly in the larch. The reason is, the 

 wood in young trees is more open in texture than 

 older ones." 



With a belief in what Mr Cree holds as truth, short 

 experience, and limited practice, no marvel that he 

 and many others went astray in the practice of prun- 

 ing, especially conifers; and what has been but too 

 justly charged against Pontey in regard to ruining the 

 English woods, may equally be charged against Cree 

 in ruining those in Scotland — with this difference only, 

 that the former was done upon a very extensive scale, 

 while the latter was but comparatively limited. 



Having had frequent opportunities of witnessing 

 the baneful effects of Cree's system of pruning con- 

 iferse, it may be well to describe what some of the 

 results are, after a lapse of fifty years. It may be 

 repeated that his practice was to cut off one-half the 

 length of all the branches from root to top of the tree, 

 which, as he informs us, made their growth much 

 slower than before, and kept the branches in all future 

 time slow of growth. In this the theory and practice 

 but too cordially agree ; for the branches, after being 

 cut, cease to grow to any appreciable extent for 

 several years, and seldom, if ever, resume their former 

 vigour. 



This being the case with the branches, it becomes a 

 very important inquiry how the stem of the tree is 



