April 10. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
27 
degree, and thus the escape of the life-sap is, in a 
great measure, prevented. We may consider, then, as 
! settled, that the pruning must be performed as soon as 
J the leaves have dropped. The next consideration is at 
j what age should the Larch be pruned. If it be injurious 
I to prune late in the season, it must be evident that 
' large wounds are more likely to give out larger quantities 
' of sap, even if cut early, than smaller ones. Hence, 
the branches to be cut off should never be large. In 
J fact, no thicker than the pruner could cut them off with 
a strong, sharp knife. That being the rule, the trees 
will require pruning tire third, or, at the farthest, the 
fourth year after planting. It is a sad mistake to leave 
them to take their chance for seven or more years, 
merely to save trouble and expense. If they are pruned 
whilst young they are much more quickly done. A 
sharp, good hand will prune three times as many trees 
in the time, and the tree will thrive much better for 
being thus early pruned. 
The manner of pruning is the next point to be 
considered. The woodman examines the tree before 
him. If it has three or four tiers of branches, he should 
only cut off the lowest tier. Each shoot, or branch, 
must be pruned quite close to the stem. If the tree has 
five or six tiers of branches, he should prune off the two 
lowest tiers, at the same time observing if the young tree 
has two leading shoots. If it has, he should prune close 
the weaker one, unless the stronger one is crooked, or 
otherwise deformed, then the weaker may be left, and 
the other cut clean away. The great object of pruning 
being in the least possible time to form a clean, straight 
stem. Many, sadly too many, proprietors of Larch 
woods think that pruning is of no use; they imagine 
nature will prune for them, by the upper branches 
smothering the lower ones, which then will die away, 
and gradually drop off, and thus save the trouble 
and expense. A more mistaken notion cannot be. 
Let any person examine the timber of such non- 
pruned trees when it is sawn up, and they will find 
dead branches enclosed by the sound wood, which dead 
branches will allow wet to get into the timber, and soon 
cause it to decay. I have frequently seen such timbers 
I with holes right through them, the dead shoot having 
dropped out. This is a great evil, which will always be 
prevented by pruning off the shoots with the knife in 
an early stage. 
Every alternate year two more tiers of branches 
should, without fail, be cut off. When the trees have 
become too high for the woodman to reach the 
shoots with his knife, then he should use a broad 
chisel with a short handle, and a wooden mallet to 
strike the handle of the chisel with. Place the chisel- 
blade close to the stem, and give the handle a smart 
stroke, sufficiently strong to cut off the branch at one 
stroke, in order to prevent cracking the branch. If it 
cracks, the wet will get into the stem and materially 
injure it; hence, all tools used in pruning should be of 
the best material, and be kept quite sharp and bright. 
As the tiers of branches not cut off become higher from 
the ground, the handle of the chisel should be lengthened 
in order to reach them It may be necesssary, in after 
years, to have a step ladder to reach them. The tree 
will then be strong, and able to bear a ladder and a 
man upon it to prune the higher branches. 
Thinning. —This important point requires considerable 
judgment. The following concise rules will guide the 
operator. 
1st. Thin early. The first thinning should take place 
as soon as the branches of one tree begin to interlace or 
touch its neighbours. 
2nd. Thin gradually. That is, cut down first about 
half the trees on a given space. If more than that is 
done, with a view either to make money of the thinnings, 
or to save a second going over afterwards, the trees that 
are left will sustain such a check by being so much 
exposed suddenly, that their growth will be stopped for 
many years. 
3rd. Continue to thin till it may be fairly supposed 
the trees that are left have space enough to form timber 
of the largest size the land can produce. Then cease 
thinning entirely, and leave the trees standing to come 
to full maturity. 
Diseases .—The Larch, if injudiciously thinned, or 
grown in too rich sandy soil, is subject to wbat is 
called the heart-rot. This is a great evil; there is no cure 
for it, excepting cutting down, and replanting, and 
managing better the next crop. It is also subject, in wet 
climates, to a kind of gangrene, which spreads through¬ 
out the whole tree, rendering it fit for nothing but fire¬ 
wood. I have seen trees of considerable size so diseased 
that the roots died, and the first hurricane of wind blew 
them down. This is also a sad evil, and shows the 
necessity of choosing good, dry soil, on elevated districts, 
for this tree. There is also a white kind of aphides which 
attack the Larch in such numbers as to cause a complete 
stoppage of growth, and in a year or two to kill the 
tree. There is no remedy for this disease; but it may 
be checked considerably by cutting down all trees so 
affected, clearing every stick and branch away, and 
consigning them to the firo. These insects come 
periodically. When I was a young lad in the nursery, 
I remember the nurserymen in Yorkshire were quite in 
a panic about their Larches, but it passed away, the 
insects disappeared, and most of the trees recovered. I 
have not observed them so numerous since. 
T. Appleby. 
GARDEN-WALKS AND THEIR FORMATION. 
There is nothing in a garden, nor connected with it, 
that affords a greater amount of comfort or gratification 
than a good walk, for in it “ beauty and utility” ought to 
be strictly united, and, in fact, it cannot justly be called 
a good one, unless it possesses both these qualifications; 
and for such walks as intersect the kitchen-garden, utility 
may be regarded as of paramount importance, for it is 
reasonable to suppose that the walks in a kitchen-garden 
have a much greater amount of hard work to do than 
those in the pleasure ground ; their structure must be 
regulated accordingly,—a larger amount of stone being 
used in their formation. But before engaging on this 
duty, let us take a view of walks in general, and see 
what alterations the last few years have made in the 
way these have been brought about. 
An examination of one of our ancient highways will 
easily convince us that our ancestors were more liberal 
in the materials they used in those days than we are 
now. The same, in fact, as they were in their buildings, 
furniture, and other things. Indeed, it does not appear 
that in the good old golden times, there was any 
lack of materials, and there are few objects now re¬ 
maining that evince any niggardliness in their con¬ 
struction. Old roads, for instance, contain many cart¬ 
loads of large stones for their foundation, which the 
disciples of “ Mr. McAdam” regarded as little short of 
downright waste. Be this, however, as it may, certain it 
is, that some of their old roads had withstood a deal of 
wear and tear, and it is questionable if our present 
economical plan, as we call it, is not accomplished at a 
certain amount of loss in the stability of the road. 
However, as the cartage of stones and other things 
always forms an important item in the expense of the 
whole, we may set it down as a paramount duty to make 
these go as far as possible, which may be accomplished 
in many ways with better effect than tumbling them 
into a pool or dirty hole; for it often happens that 
