96 General Care of Trees 
may be made quite close to the bud; if earlier, it will be safer 
to leave a stub of a quarter to a half inch in length. Or 
the stub may be left an inch or more at first cutting, and 
after the bud has started, the 
9 stub may be cut back to near 
the base of the new shoot. 
The rapidity with which 
wounds, especially large ones, 
are covered up by callus for- 
mation depends on various 
conditions. Different species 
behave differently in this re- 
spect, but finally the general 
vigor of the plant, its age 
and its condition of nutrition, 
2.e.,the amount of food ma- 
terials it can elaborate, de- 
termine the rate of progress. 
The size and number of the 
wounds, their smoothness or 
roughness, their location on 
Fic 26 — Correct method of trim- the bole. whether or not a 
ming a stub being left one-quarter ? . 
to one-half an inch above the next stump has been improperly 
lower bud or branchlet left and what its length is 
all these facts have an influence, indeed, conditions are 
so variable that it is impossible to give definite rules, save 
in a given case, as to how severe the pruning may be. If, 
however, the wounds have been properly dressed and kept 
covered against water and fungi, it does not matter how 
long it may take them to close, although the danger of the 
deterioration of the antiseptic covering naturally increases 
with time. 
Small wounds are covered relatively much more quickly 
