268 PRUNING. 



— we are simply shocked, and breathe the fervent 

 petition, " Save our trees from the French and the 

 French system ; if this is it, let it be no more heard 

 of." Fig. 13 is an illustration of scientific French 

 pruning which speaks for itself in language not 

 easily to be mistaken, and which, it is hoped, will 

 be a warning against all such practice in all time 

 coming. 



For example, the writer says : — 



" The appearance of many trees, their trunks covered 

 with gaping wounds, protuberances, and the stumps of 

 dead branches, clearly indicates that they have received 

 careless or ignorant treatment. It is evident, even to 

 persons little familiar with the art of sylviculture, that 

 such trees are decayed to the heart, and of little value 

 for industrial purposes. The number of trees thus 

 affected is very great, and the annual aggregate loss 

 to the community from the bad management to which 

 trees are everywhere subjected is enormous. Such a 

 condition is the result generally of entire neglect of 

 pruning, or often, perhaps, of an unnatural, and there- 

 fore improper, system. 



" The idea of increasing the productive capacity of 

 forests by systematic pruning is not a new one ; no 

 process of sylviculture has been more often discussed. 



" A more serious objection to pruning, which is 

 often made by timber dealers — the persons perhaps 

 most interested in the matter, and therefore most com- 

 petent to judge — is that trees which have been pruned 

 lose by the operation 25, 30, or even 50 per cent of 

 their value — that is, a quarter to a half — and that 

 such trees are generally decayed. This cannot be 

 denied ; but it proves that such trees have been badly 

 pruned, not that all pruning is bad. Opponents of 



