1G 
TRUNING FOREST TREES. 
which would have been expended in both, di- 
verted into a more eligible channel; and thus 
the tree becomes in every respect more useful. 
By pruning, however, you weaken the power 
of a tree to thicken its stem; hence it is that 
unpruned trees, and such as stand wide apart 
from each other, have a greater circumference 
of bole than those which stand close to each 
other. The removal of- a branch at bottom 
will of course send the sap to parts higher 
up, and hence a greater elongation of stem. 
This elongation of trunk is almost in all 
cases desirable and necessary, for without a 
bole a tree is of Uttle use either in home 
carpentry, ship-building, or in any other art. 
It consequently follows that pruning, or some 
other means of displacing the side branches, 
is absolutely necessary. 
The perfection of pruning is to carry up as 
much thickness and strength in the bole as 
you can, and yet to produce in all cases a 
sufficient length of trunk. A nicer process 
than this is not to be found in the vegetable 
kingdom. The leaves are all wanted to draw 
up the sap, prepare, and send it back fit to 
be taken into the general system, dispersing 
health, beauty of colour, and rigidity of fibre 
through all its parts, and yet you w r ant to dis- 
place a great part of them, so as that the cen- 
tral stem may be heightened, and the same 
completeness of strength and beauty main- 
tained. Plow then is this delicate and critical 
work to be performed ? Inexperienced prac- 
titioners who are sent indiscriminately into 
the woods, consider not how much depends 
upon the process they are about to perform ; 
and I cannot help again expressing astonish- 
ment that those who are ignorant of the first 
principles of vegetable life, should have been 
so long employed in taking charge of our 
plantations. 
Section I. — Pines, firs, cedars, yews, and 
all other cone-bearing or resinous trees. I 
am averse to the ordinary systems of pruning 
being applied to this class ; first, because they 
are apt to bleed excessively ; and, secondly, 
because when planted wide apart so as to 
permit large healthy branches to proceed from 
the bottom of the bole, the lopping off of 
such branches causes a defect in the timber- 
when in the hands of the carpenter. In the 
natural pine forests of Abernethy, in the north 
of Scotland, the trees rise in thickets, so close 
to each other that no side branches of any 
size can grow out of the stem, so that the 
vigour of the tree is directed upwards to the 
light and air. Be it remembered 1 that in the 
district referred to, there is not any continuous 
forest without interruption, but open spaces 
surrounding the thickets, hreathing places, as 
it were, where the air circulates freely. Now 
in forming plantations of coniferas, I should 
in a great measure follow nature, by planting 
the trees at first so close to each other as to 
prevent vigorous lateral branches, and by a 
process of thinning and lopping off such under 
spray as grow from the trunk, gradually intro- 
duce the air to the stems so as to render the 
wood hard and durable. This air I should 
introduce from open spaces, which should be 
left in every wood of considerable extent; for 
it is unquestionable that the more air that can 
be allowed to circulate about a tree, the harder 
its timber will be. It may be observed that 
the cutting out of a branch under such circum- 
stances will not cause the stem to bleed; for 
trees so planted send out spray at the bottom, 
which in a season or two becomes dormant and 
quite useless to the stem. 
The season at which all pruning should be 
performed is winter — early in winter — because 
if deferred until the roots have sent a supply 
of sap all over the tree, the quantity in the 
branches to be lopped off will be lost. This 
remark, however, will apply with greater force 
when I come to speak of the pruning applic- 
able to broad-leaved trees. 
Close pruning, or pruning close to the stem, 
should be invariably practised. "When a stump 
is left on a pine, which is sometimes done by 
those who are afraid of the tree bleeding, it 
generally dies and rots, and in the course of 
time is covered over by the bark, and thus 
gets incorporated with the wood, though gene- 
rally forming a flaw. A hand-saw and chisel 
are the best instruments to use in general 
pruning ; and for young trees with a slender 
bole, a large pruning knife is equally efficient. 
From what has been said, it must not be 
supposed that pruning is in any case recom- 
mended for such trees as are designed for 
ornament only. The effect of scattered groups 
on a lawn, or in any situation where beauty 
is the chief consideration, would instantly be 
destroyed were the branches to be removed ; 
and the same remark is applicable to borders 
of such plantations and woods as come into 
view in any landscape. 
Section II. — Broad-leaved trees, such as 
the oak, elm, beech, plane, and sycamore. 
No tree is furnished with more leaves or 
spray than it absolutely requires to perfect its 
structure, so that any degree of pruning, 
however moderate, appears to be hurtful to a 
healthy tree. But as trees without boles are 
of little use, it is absolutely necessary that 
they should be subjected to man, and fashioned 
as much as possible to his purposes during the 
period of their growth. It is not meant to be 
said that a tree, after having been moderately 
pruned, will not regain its original vigour; yet 
it is indisputable that such an operation dis- 
turbs the delicate organization of that object, 
just in the same way that the amputation of a 
