12 



STRUCTURE OF VESSELS. 



fibre. There are many salves, panaceas, and pig- 

 ments in use for covering over tlie section of remov- 

 ed branches, which in ordinary cases may occasion 

 no injmy, but they ai'e unsightly. In womids of 

 beech trees where the cut tubes are so prone to die 

 downward a considerable way into the stem and to 

 generate rot, an antiseptic quickly- drying pigment 

 might be beneficial. This and the time of the sea- 

 son for pruning, at which the cut tubes or fibres 

 are least liable to die inward, deserve attention. 

 We consider the spring the least dangerous time. 

 Should a number of small shoots spring out in con- 

 sequence of this last pruning, they may be swept 

 down if good plank be desired ; if not, they may 

 remain, as their presence will not greatly injm*e 

 the plank, and they occasion the stem to thicken 

 considerably faster where they grow : yet it is pro- 

 bable that, in doing this, by obstructing the flow of 

 the sap downwards, they may interfere mth the na- 

 tm-al enlargement of the roots, and ultimately be 

 injmious. Some varieties, or rather some indivi- 

 duals of oak, are much more prone to this sprouting 

 upon the bole after pruning than others ; where the 

 disposition exists in a great degree it ought to be 

 encoui'aged, and the tree set apart for the construc- 

 tion of cabinet work. 



