106 General Care of Trees 
leader, should afford sufficient leaf surface to elaborate the 
sap necessary to insure rapid growth. 
2. MuppLe-AGED TREE. The trunk should equal about 
two-fifths of the entire height of the tree. The head should 
be a shorter ovoid than that recommended for trees of the 
first class. .A vertical branch upright on the trunk, or any 
part of the trunk, should if necessary be made to replace 
the original leader; all other vertical branches should be 
shortened to encourage the growth of the leader. If a 
single branch cannot be converted into a leader, a regular 
well-balanced head may be made with several branches. 
As the tree grows some of the lower branches should be 
removed to increase the length of the trunk. Not more 
than three or four branches should be removed in any one 
year. The amputation of a branch should be carefully 
performed; the cut should be made perfectly smooth and 
rounded, to coincide with the form of the trunk, thus bring- 
ing its whole circumference into direct communication with 
the leaves by means of the layer of living cells. ‘These 
distribute the descending sap, which alone forms the new 
wood destined in time to cover over the wound. Wounds 
made in this manner heal in a short time; but, to preserve 
them from external influences which induce decay, they 
should be covered as soon as made with a coat of coal-tar. 
All dead or dying branches, and all stumps of branches, 
should be cut off, and the wounds treated in the same manner. 
3. Op Tree. The length of the trunk should nearly 
equal one-half the entire height of the tree. All decayed 
portions of the tree should be carefully removed. A few of 
the lower branches may be removed or shortened. 
4. VETERAN. ‘The tree having ceased to grow the head 
gradually becomes flat-topped. Such lower branches as 
might, by their too great size, injure younger trees growing 
