16B 



MANAGE31ENT OF WOODS. 



large, it must be displaced, should it be in the high- 

 est part of the tree ; if it is not too large it must 

 remain, though it be close to the ground. 



But how will this method, the reader may be^ 

 ready to ask, ever produce a clean stem ? By re- 

 peating the pruning, it is answered, as often as the 

 growth of the branches may make the operation ne- 

 cessary. Suppose the first time a tree undergoes 

 the process, that the branches removed are a consi- 

 derable distance from the ground, and that there 

 are several smaller ones left growing farther down 

 the stem ; these last will gradually increase in size, 

 till they, too, must be lopped off, and thus the stem 

 will be in the end as effectually cleared, though 

 more gradually, and consistently with the health of 

 the tree, as by the absurd method reprehended 

 above. 



If any branches that were left at a former prun- 

 ing low on the stem, appear at the next repetition 

 of the process not to have increased in size, we may 

 safely conclude that they have had no influence on 

 the tree either good or bad ; and as it would be in 

 vain to leave them with the hope that they will any 

 longer assist in the elaboration of the sap, they 

 should be removed as unsightly objects which it is 

 no longer useful to preserve. 



