PARK AND CEMETERY 
23 
Pruning and Care of Ornamental Trees. 
By John Dunbar. 
It is not too far-fetched to say that trees and shrubs 
are as much diversified, variable, and capricious in 
their good and bad habits and characters, as human 
being's. On account of this differentiation in habitual 
characteristics, the extent, nature and time of pruning 
must be accordingly governed, in all trees and shrubs. 
A few trees possess excellent, clean, good habits 
and characters, so that pruning is rarely necessary 
after they are once established, and when it has to be 
done, one needs only to remove a few cross branches, 
where they rub against each other, and shorten back 
six feet, gives a bad foundation to build up such a 
result. Of late years there has been a demand from 
the growers fot ornamental trees branched down to 
the ground, and the demand is now being more or less 
met. 
It is a horticultural axiom that winter pruning 
strengthens, and summer pruning weakens. It was on 
this principle that the gardeners of the old school used 
to summer prune their fruit trees to compel them to 
produce fruit spurs. No doubt this was done in many 
cases empirically, but this practice and theory has an 
CONSTANTINOPLE HAZEL, CORYLUS TULIP TREE, PIN OAK, 
COLURNA, Which has received and required no pruning’ From which a few branches have 
From which a large number of congested branches since planted thirteen years ago. been removed, 
have been thinned out, but cannot be detected. 
some where they project too far. Such trees are the 
Chinese Magnolias, Magnolia acuminata, Tulip tree, 
most of the oaks, Cornus florida, etc. Given a good 
start, and other conditions being equal, trees of the 
above general habits are usually fairly independent 
of the surgical aid of the pruning knife or saw, and 
will round up beautiful forms, without much extrane- 
ous aid. 
It seems needless to say that ornamental and “flow- 
ering trees” other than street trees, on lawns and mead- 
ows, away from contact with the lines of traffic, should 
be branched down to the base. A handsome sym- 
metrical tree with the base of its branching system 
resting on the ground is always attractive. The prac- 
tice, therefore, in many commercial nurseries in grow- 
ing all trees closely pruned from the base to five or 
intelligent connection with the reciprocal relations of 
leaf growth and root development. 
The ideal time and season to prune trees is in the 
fall just after the leaves have fallen. We, however, 
prune any time during the winter, except in severe 
frosty weather, but, of course, in extensive street tree 
pruning the circumstances demand that a great deal 
of it must be done in the summer time. Some trees, 
such as the birches and the yellow wood, that “bleed” 
profusely when cut in late winter or early spring, 
should better be pruned in summer or early in the 
fall. It is quite true that trees in vigorous healthy con- 
dition, that require a little pruning, if it is done in the 
summer time, will immediately cover up a consider- 
able part of the wound the same season. Wherever 
pruning of a light nature is necessary, and requires 
