1 Jan., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 27 
In pruning-shears or secateurs it always pays to get the best, as inferior 
makes soon get out of order and do inferior work—bruising off rather than 
cutting the twigs or branches they sever. The lower or thick blade should be 
faced with hardened steel, as if of soft metal it will soon gap, and conse- 
quently do bad work. The cutting blade of the secateurs should be thin and 
of the best steel, and should be kept very sharp, as this will enable the work 
to be done much easier and more rapidly. For a pruning-saw the best I know 
of is that introduced into the colonies by myself, and sold by Messrs. Lassetter 
and Co., of Sydney and Brisbane, as the “California Pruning Saw.” (See Fig. 7.) 
Fic. 7.—*‘ California Pruning Saw.” 
This saw is easy to work, does good clean work ‘rapidly, does not buckle, and 
should a blade be broken another can be put in its place in a few minutes. 
All heavy pruning of deciduous trees should be done during the winter, 
when the sap is down; and this applies also to evergreens, as the trees are then 
in a partially dormant condition. Lemons, oranges, or other citrus trees that 
require thinning out should be pruned as soon as the crop has been gathered 
in winter and before spring growth takes place. Watersprouts, by which is 
meant the strong shoots starting from the main branches and growing right 
up through the tree, should be removed from all trees, both deciduous and ever- 
green, whenever they make their appearance, and excessive straggling growths 
of all kinds should be shortened in, No suckers should be allowed; there 
should be only one main stem, and this should be kept free of all growths 
other than the head of the tree. Inthese general remarks I have endeavoured 
to show how best to shape the trees so as to get a strong, well-grown 
tree able to carry its fruit without support, and of such a shape that the ground. 
can be cultivated right up to the trunk, with the improved implements of cuiltiva- 
tion referred to under the heading of “ Cultivation” in a previous number of 
this Journal. 
