i 
BOTANICAL FRAGMENTS. 
be done with a knife, or the finger while young;. We would adopt what we have called preventive 
pruning;, allowing; no unnecessary growths to require lopping by becoming too large. We think that, 
in the case of a young tree whose stem we wish to increase, it is desirable to spur in the side branches 
for a year or two, as the nurserymen do with the Pear and Apple stocks, gradually and annually 
removing a tier or two of the lower spurs till a sufficient length of clear stem is obtained. It is con- 
tended by some, that every branch of a tree is of service to it, and should not be removed. When it 
becomes really a branch, such removal is always attended with mischief. The great point for the 
pruner to bear in mind is, that the secretions of trees do not depend upon the quantity of shoots and 
foliage, but more upon the latter having full exposure to the action of light. The quality of timber 
grown in the dense gloom of the interior of a wood, is, for this reason, inferior to that afforded by the 
marginal trees. 
We would deprecate (unless in very exposed situations) the system of introducing what are called 
"nurses," but which are rather destroyers as generally employed. We say, plant forest trees with the 
roots nature has given them ; plant while very young, or sow the seeds, and commence pruning almost 
immediately ; spur in the young side shoots, remove rival leaders, and annually remove some of the 
lower spurs from the stem before they are large enough to cause a wound. In vigorous trees, choose 
the spring for the operation, when the wound is quickly healed. 
In illustration of the good effects resulting from the practice we recommend, we refer to the accom- 
panying figure of a portion of the stem of a young Elm — the stem from which it was taken being about 
eight feet in height, and its diameter, midway up it, four inches. Fig. 1 represents about a foot of 
its trunk as taken from the middle; it is cut longitudinally down the middle, and the grain is clear, 
straight, and free from blemish. Fig. 2 is another section of a similar tree, showing a knot which has 
resulted from allowing the side shoot to become too large before removal. The benefit of early or pre- 
ventive pruning, and the evil of late or remedial pruning, is here plainly shown. Fig. 3 represents 
the stem of a young tree in process of pruning — the lower branches removed, the upper spurred in. 
In pruning cone-bearing trees (conifers), it is good practice to fore-shorten the branches before re- 
moval. It is impossible, however, to lay down rules for every contingency, and much must be left 
after all to the judgment of the operator. But of this we may rest assured, that if primers are mere 
automatons, and not observers, much that is fundamentally correct in theory may be misapplied in 
practice. 
In conclusion, then, we say to the fruit-pruner, remember the delicate fabric with which you have 
to deal. Think that it is yours to assist, and not to do violence to nature. Ever reflect that it is to 
preventive treatment and close observation of cause and effect that you must look for success ; and, in- 
stead of leaving young woods unpruned for twenty years, and till they are utterly ruined, begin be- 
times " to train them up in the way they should go." So shall j'ou acquire lasting honour, and your 
country reap benefit. 
BOTANICAL FRAGMENTS. 
fJlR,. LINDLEY proposes to separate the Tree Peeonies from the genus Pa?onia, on account of 
i the tough leathery coat which is drawn tightly around their carpels, allowing nothing but the 
stigmas to project ; this organ, properly referred to what botanists now call the disk, has no existence 
in the true Pzeonies; " it is in all probability an innermost row of abortive stamens, the filaments of 
which are united into a cup, while the anthers refuse to appear." The new genus is named Moutau. 
and the common species M. officinalis. — (Paxt. Fl. Gard., i. 161). 
The beautifully marbled-leaved plant described as Eriocnema marmorntum at p. 13S (vol. ii.), is 
properly a species of Bertolonia, named B. maculata by Martins, according to Sir W. J. Hunker, who 
observes : " The fruit or capsule is an elegant object, especially when the eye is aided by a small power 
of the microscope ; for it is singularly inflated, with three very prominent angles, and several ribs, and 
every rib, as well as the margin of the lobes of the calyx, is beset with bristles terminated by a gland." 
— {Bob Mag., t. 4551). 
Professor Goppert has described the lower end of a trunk of Pinites protolarix. a gigantic fossil 
free, which was found in the brown coal of Laason, in Silesia, in lsi'.i. It measured mure (ban ol' 
feet in circumference, and about \ feet in length ; erect, perfect in form, but stripped of bark : 16 vast 
roots ran out at right angles from its base. The interior was filled with Structureless brown coal : but 
(jL in sections of the outer parts, one lii inches broad, the other 3 feet ii inches, Professor Goppert counted 
respectively 700 and 1300 rings of wood; so that for the half diameter of 5 J feet at hast 2200, but 
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