24 TREES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
infect and weaken the whole tree. It should rather be taken 
off at the distance of a foot or more from the stem, just above a 
vigorous shoot, which shall be left to grow towards a space in 
which it will find a plentiful supply of air and light. The 
shoot thus left will sustain the life of the shortened branch, and 
will continue in action the root by which it had been nour- 
ished.* 
The mode of thinning and pruning, will be governed in some 
measure by the endin view. If the object is to produce a full 
stown tree, in its true character, developing itself according to 
its natural tendencies, all or most of the branches will be left, 
and care be taken to give them space; and, as cvery branch 
swells the trunk, a similar course will be pursued, where it is 
an object to get the greatest possible amount of wood. In both 
cases, those stems and branches only will be removed, which 
interfere with the rest. A crowded growth will be allowed, 
and the lower lateral branches will be removed, where it 1s 
desirable to get a lofty trunk and head. 
In many hard wood trees, shoots spring vigorously from the 
stool or stump, after the trunk is cut down; and this mode of 
reproduction is chiefly relied upon in most of the woodlands in 
the State. It becomes, then, of great importance to ascertain 
what are the best modes of felling, whether by thinning out the 
forest or cutting it entirely down; in what period a wood, so cut 
down, will renew itself, so as to be profitably cut again; at 
what age of the tree the stump will shoot most vigorously ; 
at what age, if any, trees cease to shoot from the stool; what 
trees will not thus shoot; what season of the year is found 
best for felling a forest, when the object is to have it renew 
itself speedily; and what season, when the object is to de- 
stroy the forest. In 1838, I addressed circulars to gentlemen 
interested in the forests, in all parts of the State, asking these 
questions and others. In answer, I received many communi- 
cations, from which I now proceed ta extract some of the valu- 
* See a “Treatise on the Management and Cultivation of Forest Trees. By 
John Smith, Gardener and Forester to the Earl of Bute.” The chapters on thin- 
ning and pruning are interesting, as giving illustrations, by a practical man, of 
Scientific principles which he had learnt only from observation. 
