Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands, 235 



should always do our pruning with the knife 

 while building the young tree, making all the 

 necessary changes in its growth while the wood 

 was young and the tree growing rapidly, so 

 that the wounds would heal quickly. 



We do not always have or keep our ideal 

 tree well enough in mind, however, and we 

 find that we have left this or that limb that 

 should have come out a year or two before. 

 By this time they have grown too large to be 

 removed with the knife, so the pruning shear 

 is used. We find their work more satisfactory 

 when a shear is used which cuts from both 

 sides, as this avoids bruising the limb on the 

 under side, or the barking of the body as some- 

 times occurs when a shear or clipper is used 

 where the blade cuts down on an iron jaw or 

 lip. In later years of the orchard's growth, we 

 may find that we have made several mistakes 

 which will have to be corrected, or from some 

 other cause large limbs may have to be re- 

 moved, so that it will be necessary to use the 

 saw. The ax or hatchet should never be used 

 as a pruning tool. We prefer a fine tooth, 

 narrow bladed saw, in a strong, stiff steel 

 frame, with handle or handles — as some are so 

 constructed as to be easily shifted to diflferent 

 lengrth handles — to suit the convenience of the 



