76 



GARDENING FOR THE SoUTH. 



shoots, or pincliing the extremities of those shoots which 

 are making too much wood. 



The implements required in pruning are the common 

 pruning knife, a small saw with very fine teeth, and a pair 

 of pruning-shears with a sliding joint to make a draw cut, 

 in order to divide the branch with a clean, smooth cut, and 

 not to bruise it on the side next the plant. 



When a branch is pruned it should be generally cut as 

 near a bud as may be without injury to the bud, or to 

 speak more definitely, not more in length than the branch 

 is thick should be left beyond the bud. The cut should 

 slope downward from the bud, to prevent the water from 

 lodging in the angle, and that the sun and air may excite 

 the bark to cover the wound. 



If a long piece of branch or snag be left beyond the 

 bud, it withers and decays, seriously injuring, not only 

 the branch to which it is attached, but the general health 

 of the tree. 



The great art is to make a clean smooth cut, so as to 

 leave the bark in a healthy state to cover the wound, and 

 to prune so near a bud as to leave no ^ead wood. Hence, 

 if the branch be removed with the saw, the cut must 

 be smoothed over with the knife. In cutting off large 

 branches the wound should be covered with grafting wax, 

 or brushed over' with Mr. Downing's preparation of shellac 

 dissolved in alcohol, in order to exclude the air. Pruning 

 is most commonly intended either to improve the form of 

 the tree by directing the growth from one part to another, 

 to renau the growth of stunted trees, to induce or diminish 

 fruitfulness, to remove diseased or decaying branches, and in 

 cases of transplanting iQ proportion the head to the roots. 



In pruning to improve the form cf the tree, as in pleasure 

 grounds, the object is to preserve its natural shape, so that 

 it may be an agreeable object on the lawn, or when com- 



