PRUNING AND TRAINING. 



409 



required length, so as to reach the branch to be 

 removed. This saw differs from the common 

 saw in operating by pulling instead of thrusting, 

 so that a person stand- 

 Fig. 164. ing on the ground can 

 work the saw to every 

 advantage, while it is 

 sufficiently stiff not to 

 break while passing 

 through the wood. The 

 common pruning-saw, , 

 fig. 164 b, is about 2 feet 

 in length, and varies 

 from 1 inch to 3 inches 

 in breadth. It is used 

 on branches within 

 reach and of ordinary 

 dimensions, and also 

 where the chisel could 

 not be conveniently 

 applied. The cuts made 

 by saws, of whatever 

 description, should have 

 the wound smoothed 

 by the knife or small 

 plane, and in most 

 cases be painted over 

 with some mild paint, 

 to exclude the air and 

 moisture. 



Priming-bills may be 

 described as large knives, 

 and in the hands of an 

 expert workman are 

 valuable in cutting off 

 branches larger than the 

 pruning-knife could sever. The stroke should 

 always be given in an upright direction, and, if 

 possible, one blow should perform the operation. 

 They are very useful in pruning thick and over- 

 grown shrubbery, as they can be wrought with 

 greater effect in thick jungles than almost any 

 other cutting implement. Sometimes they have 

 only one cutting face, and that is in general 

 somewhat crooked towards the point; at other 



times they 

 Fig. 165. have an axe- 



like face of 

 several inch- 

 es in length 

 upon their 

 back — see 

 fig. 165 — 

 useful in 

 cutting large 



branches; and at others they have, instead of a 

 cutting face upon their back, a set of teeth or 

 serratures, by which the operation of sawing 

 may be performed. 



Of averuncators— from the Latin averunco, 

 to prune — there is a considerable variety, differ- 

 ing little in principle, however they may in 

 form. Their use is to remove branches at a 

 considerable height from the ground without 

 the aid of ladders or the trouble of ascending 

 the tree. Fig. 166 exhibits one of the best of 

 them. It may be described as a cutting imple- 

 ment, with a compound blade attached to a 

 handle of greater or less length, and operating 



by means of a lever acted upon by a cord pass- 

 ing over a pulley. The branch, which should 

 rarely exceed the diameter of H inches, is taken 

 between the cutting faces ; the cord, on being 

 pulled smartly down, acts upon the lever so as 

 to bring these cutting faces together, severing 

 the branch at the same time. 



PRUNING SAWS. 



PRUNING-BILL. 



Fig. 166. 



Fig. 167. 



AVERUNCATOR. 



Priming-shears are also still greater in variety. 

 Fig. 167 shows one of the most powerful. The 

 blades or cutting faces move on a centre at a, 

 by which one of them opens and encloses the 

 branch to be removed, which it does by making 

 a clean draw-cut, leaving the section of the por- 

 tion remaining on the tree as smooth and as 

 little lacerated as if it had been removed by a 

 knife or a chisel. They are very usefully em- 

 ployed in reducing the size of shrubs or orna- 

 mental trees, less frequently, however, in the 

 case of fruit trees. The subject before us is 

 capable of severing a branch from 1 to 2 inches 

 in diameter. An implement 

 on much the same principle 

 is made smaller in size, and 

 therefore adapted more for 

 smaller amputations. Fig. 

 168 is a newly-invented prun- 

 ing implement, by Mr Under- 

 wood, Haymarket, London, 

 Cutler to the Government 

 Offices, &c. It is powerful in 

 its action, and of excellent 

 material, the best of its kind. 

 a, fig. 169, is one of the small- 

 est of its kind, and useful for 

 pruning off tender shoots. It 

 is, however, more an instru- 

 ment for the amateur than for 

 the practical pruner. b and 

 c are of similar use. d is in operation somewhat 



UNDERWOOD S 

 PRUNTNG-SHEaKS 



