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sudden falling weight, or a dagger wound of some important organ will 
produce the same effect. The philosophy of all this is simply, that nature 
finding that a material injury has suddenly befallen some particular part 
abandons her general duties, and rallies all her powers to the restoration 
of the part thus suffering; and this abandonment of general duties for 
the reparation of particular injury is proportioned to the extent of the 
damage done, or to the importance of the part which has suffered, and 
the sinking of the system which is induced is called the “ shock of injury.” 
In the philosophy of pruning, this principle should be ever kept in 
mind. 
One other fact, from which valuable conclusions may be drawn, should 
not be lost sight of—the wood-making , and the fruit-making functions 
of the tree, are not only different but antagonistic ; and neither can be 
pushed beyond a certain point without at least temporary injury to the 
other. Now the shock of injury caused by the pruning of the tree falls 
almost wholely on the formative or wood-making function, at least 
until the shock has become so severe as to injure permanently the vital 
powers. 
I now proceed directly to the subject, with the premise that you might 
-as well expect the farmer to give a general rule applicable to particular 
-cases of feeding his stock, as for the horticulturist to lay down a rule of 
pruning applicable to all kinds of trees. What if the former should turn 
his horses, cattle, hogs and sheep into the same pen, and feed them to¬ 
gether on some general principle, he would succeed about as well as the 
latter applying one rule of pruning to the hardy plum and tender peach. 
The habits of the tree, and its duties, at particular seasons must all be 
considered, for it has duty for every season—a season for every duty. 
The warmth of spring expands the buds into leaves with their thousands 
of little mouths collecting nourishment from the surrounding air. It opens 
the countless sporules of the roots to receive whatever of food the earth 
may provide, and thus prepared it undertakes the rapid and triple duties 
demanded by the short summers of this northern latitude—the produc¬ 
tion of new wood, the formation of buds which are to produce the fruit 
of the next year, and the growth of the present. This triple duty accom¬ 
plished, autumn presents the more tardy but not less important one of 
ripening its burthen of fruit. Having thus done its duty to the world. 
