560 ON USEFUL AND BOOK I. 



by nature fitted for certain purposes in the arts of life ; and 

 this again tends to prove that pruning is unnatural and often 

 unnecessary. From different circumstances, however, it fre- 

 quently becomes necessary to use trees for purposes which 

 they are not naturally designed for. Before the larch was in- 

 troduced into this country, and in places where it could not 

 be obtained, it might be necessary to train the oak for wain- 

 scotting ; and where the larch alone will grow, and ship-timber 

 is requisite, it may prove advantageous to prune or bend it to the 

 form that will suit the ship-carpenter, as is explained in Chap. II. 

 Sect. 2. The ash, the elm, and the beech, planted in soil 

 that accords with their respective natures, are, without pruning 

 or culture, wonderfully adapted to the various useful purposes 

 to which they are applied. But, reverse or intermingle their 

 applications, and pruning then becomes necessary. 



In performing this operation, two things require to be at- 

 tended to; first, the general principles of vegetation*; and, 

 second, the purposes for which the timber is to be ap- 

 plied. In artificial plantations, however, a good general rule 

 may be, to consider pruning as the means of throwing more 

 timber into the trunk or principal stem, whatever direction 

 that may have assumed by nature. Pruning, when requi- 

 site for these purposes, should commence after the trees have 



* See MirbtVs Work; Knighfs, Experiments; and also Chap, IL Sect. 2. 



