The Locust. 



think that they, themselves, shall not see the trees come to 

 perfection. 



371 . In the above accounts of expenses, I have omitted 

 the expense of pruning, or, at least, of felling and trim- 

 ming the poles and trees. These expenses will fall greatly 

 short of the amount of the fire-wood. The lop, however,will 

 not be very great, seeing that the trees are to be constantly 

 pruned, whether for poles or for timber. My trees of the 

 two last plantations would have run out into limbs, like the 

 two trees of the first plantation, if I had not been careful 

 about the pruning. You must, also, be careful to prune 

 in time ; and sometimes to give, not only a winter pruning, 

 but a summer pruning also. This, however, is a very 

 trifling matter ; for a clever man, with a good knife, will 

 go over an acre in a day, and pick up his cuttings into the 

 bargain ; though, perhaps, the summer cuttings are hardly 

 worth picking up. 



37*2. I have only one thing more to observe as to the cul- 

 tivation ; and that is, that I advise to cut down the trees, early 

 in the month of May, the year after having planted them out in 

 April. Early in May they begin to show their leaves, and 

 then I cut them down within an inch of the ground, taking 

 care to have a very sharp knife, and to hold the stem of the 

 plant firm, so as to prevent the root from being loosened by 

 the operation. If the plant be of a tolerable size when 

 planted 5 if the ground be well prepared, and the planting 

 Avell performed, the tree will send up a shoot of full four 

 feet the first year. You must have your trees looked over 

 in about a fortnight after cutting them down, and again, in 

 about a month, to see whether there be more than one 

 shoot coming out from each stem. If there be, you must 

 rub off all but the strongest. If this should be neglected^ 



