118 



PRUNING. 



quires a little more time, but not nearly so much as 

 an inexperienced person v/ould suppose, as the sec- 

 tion a foot out is made very quickly, and the pruner 

 generally takes as much time to reach the branch as 

 to cut it off. The neatness and advantage of this 

 method will be acknowledged by those who have 

 seen it practised, to compensate for the longer time 

 it requires. 



We find the saw, shears, and knife, the best in- 

 struments for prvming ; in some cases of difficult ap- 

 proach, the long-handed pruning-iron may be resort- 

 ed to. When the lopping is performed by a percus- 

 sion tool, the wood and bark at the section is often 

 shattered by the blow, and thence is less likely to 

 cicatrize soundly ; and even when executed in the 

 best manner, the surface of the section is smooth and 

 hard, consequently a good conductor of heat, dries 

 much, and thence shrinks and cracks near the centre 

 of the cut, opening a deep crevice, into which the 

 rain penetrates, and often rots deep into the stem. 

 When the section is made by the saw, a slight fi- 

 brous clothing is left upon the place, which in some 

 measure protects the ends of the cut tubes from the 

 frost and drying air, and excludes the heat ; in con- 

 sequence the wood at the section does not lose its vi- 

 tality so far inward, and is not so liable to shrink 



