Part IV.] 
PRUNING AND THINNING. 
237 
with the second annual growth of the older 
shoot of the stem below the branch ; and each 
annual growth of the branch is continuous and 
the same with that growth of the stem above 
the branch which corresponds with it in number, 
but with the growth numbered one later below 
the branch. 
Here, then, it may be seen that branches are 
attached to the stem by increasing bases, not, as 
might be imagined from De Candolle’s state¬ 
ment, by decreasing bases ; that is, each annual 
growth of the branch joins a corresponding 
annual growth of the stem: and as each annual 
growth of the stem, besides the deposit from the 
annual growth of the branch, receives a deposit 
from the head above it, each annual growth of 
the stem is larger than its corresponding annual 
growth of the branch. The width of each an¬ 
nual growth of the branch at the point of con¬ 
fluence, that is, where it joins and mingles with 
the stem, may be seen to open out as the river 
becomes wider as it receives each tributary; 
and each growth of the branch may be seen to 
be attached to the stem by an increased , not a 
decreased base. Besides this increase in bulk 
of each annual growth of the branch where it 
joins the stem, each growth in succession more 
