GROWING GOLD. 



99 



therefore the layers of new wood are formed 

 all over the tree ; hence it follows, that 

 the larger the original shoot and the more 

 vigorous it continues, the larger is the quan- 

 tity of wood matured in a given time. 



When the wind is strong, the leading 

 shoots of those trees which are exposed to 

 it, continue, perhaps for several days in suc- 

 cession, bending from a sixteenth to as much 

 as half a circle ; this impedes the circulation 

 of the sap, injures the tubes and vessels of 

 the shoots of the latest growth, and the 

 stagnation of the fluids is the consequence : 

 hence, the tree in reality becomes a mass of 

 disease. 



Matthews, it appears, from the foregoing, 

 is entitled to no commendation for his plan of 

 training plank timber ; because he cannot, by 

 merely cutting off a few side branches, force 

 trees to grow upwards. Indeed, so ineffectual 

 is this pruning, in almost every case where 

 a branch is cut off a tree, that two or three 



