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trees  which  once  showed  great  vigor.  Many  of  your  old  mango 
and  alligator  pear  trees  are  not  the  trees  of  a few  years  ago;  it 
is  true  that  the  Avocado  does  suffer  severely  from  the  attack  of 
scale  insects,  but  this  is  not  the  entire  cause  of  the  lack  of  vigor, 
the  trees  must  be  fed.  Another  phase  of  failure  is  attributable 
to  too  close  planting,  especially  is  this  true  where  extra  planting 
has  been  done  after  certain  trees  have  grown  to  good  side.  These 
trees  had  spread  their  roots  in  all  directions  and  when  the  young 
tree  was  set  out  and  cared  for,  and  the  care  given  in  the  first  few 
years  is  always  better,  the  large  tree  got  more  benefit,  being 
directly  in  line  to  get  the  extra  care  of  the  little  one,  through  its 
ever  ready  root  system  so  well  established.  Very  often  the  shade 
of  the  larger  trees  prevents  replants  from  becoming  strong  and 
vigorous  trees.  The  growth  of  these  is  always  more  or  less  long 
and  feeble  and  at  times  very  brittle,  the  foliage  although  scanty 
is  generally  large,  but  flowers  and  fruit  are  beyond  the  efforts  of 
the  tree. 
In  talking  with  some  of  your  older  settlers  I am  given  to  under- 
stand that  pruning,  except  perhaps  a little  thinning,  and  there  is 
a vast  difference  between  pruning  and  trimming,  is  almost  un- 
known here.  There  is  perhaps  no  more  interesting  and  fascinat- 
ing phase  of  horticultural  work  than  pruning  trees  and  plants. 
We  cannot  remove  a single  part  of  a tree  or  plant  without  the 
remaining  parts  being  affected  by  it.  A tree  is  capable  of  being- 
shaped  and  balanced  by  pruning  and  he  who  prunes  will  get  re- 
sults, very  good  results  if  pruning  is  correctly  done,  if  wrongly 
done  we  can  at  times  expect  serious  loss.  Pruning  cannot  be 
learned  from  books,  but  must  be  learned  by  studying  the  habits 
and  growth  of  plants.  It  is  comparatively  easy  for  a skillful 
horticulturist  to  prune  a tree  or  even  a rosebush,  so  as  to  secure 
the  desired  results.  It  is  a very  difficult  matter  for  him  to  tell 
others  how  to  prune,  and  in  pruning  it  is  more  difficult  to  formu- 
late fixed  principles  than  in  any  other  branch  of  agriculture. 
What  makes  pruning  a difficult  task  is  in  the  fact  that  no  two 
trees  for  example  are  just  alike  and  this  places  pruning  in  the 
category  of  intelligent  pursuits  rather  than  in  a matter  of  fact 
rule  of  thumb  motion. 
At  certain  periods  of  the  tree’s  life  pruning  tends  to  invigorate 
the  plant;  more  pruning  then,  on  judicious  lines,  will  do  much 
to  help  improve  the  looks  of  things  generally  speaking.  We  know 
from  practical  experience  for  instance  that  the  fig  tree  will  bear 
better  and  the  fig  wasp  will  do  better  work,  when  the  fig  tree  is 
pruned  in  such  a manner  so  as  to  cover  its  branches  thickly  with 
foliage.  We  often  see  fig  trees  with  long  bare  branches,  with  a 
cluster  of  leaves  at  the  end  and  we  may  get  a few  figs  at  the  ends 
of  the  limbs.  By  correct  pruning  we  can  produce  figs  all  over  the 
tree ; we  have  produced  a large  bearing  surface. 
In  pruning  roses  under  certain  methods  we  are  able  to  produce 
abundant  blooms  and  good  specimens,  whereas  by  no  pruning  or 
