196 SUBURBAN GARDENS 
hampered. Rub off the little adventitious buds 
which appear on the trunks of trees as soon as 
they appear, never letting sprouts grow either 
along a trunk or at its base. These are rob- 
bers, for they are always of rank, lush growth 
that takes up more of the tree food on its way 
to the leaves and branches above than would 
seem possible. 
There are two principles involved in prun- 
ing which must be understood and remem- 
bered, if the work is to be done intelligently. 
These are fixed by the system of growth com- 
mon to all plants — that is, growth at the tips 
or extremities. Branches lengthen, branchlets 
lengthen, and new branches form always by 
means of terminal or tip buds, and all growth 
is invariably carried on in this way. The run 
of sap is always to the plant’s remotest part, 
and intermediate growth is taken care of in- 
cidentally rather than primarily. If a terminal 
bud is injured or destroyed, therefore, the sap, 
coming strong and full to the point where it 
was, stimulates the buds next below it into 
abnormal activity and these make haste to rush 
out into branches, each striving for the place of 
leader until one finally does gain an ad- 
vantage which nips the others because it then 
appropriates the leader’s share of nourishment. 
