Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/56

 PRUNING PRUSSIA fulness, and to allow the tree to be trans- planted. Some trees, especially forest and ornamental ones, produce long roots with very few fine fibrous rootlets, and are difficult to remove unless prepared a year beforehand ; the long roots being cut off within a moder- ate distance of the trunk, the shortened roots will form numerous rootlets, and at the end of a season may be transplanted with safety. Root pruning is one of the readiest methods of checking the too vigorous wood growth of trees and throwing them into bearing ; it con- sists in opening a circular trench around the tree, at a distance governed by the kind and the vigor of the individual, and cutting off with a sharp spade all roots which extend out- side of this circle; sometimes half the roots are operated on one year and the other half the next. The proper time for pruning trees has been the subject of much discussion; wounds heal over most rapidly if made after the season's increase in length is completed, and the fully developed leaves are engaged in maturing the buds and preparing for the growth of another year. This time, since it occurs in summer, is usually an inconve- nient one, and the end of winter or very early spring, before vegetation starts, is the season generally selected; this has reference to the removal of branches. Summer pruning, or pinching, is done at the time when its objects can be best accomplished. "Whenever it may be performed, the utility of pruning will de- pend upon the intelligence of the operator, who should understand the laws of plant growth and the peculiar habit of each tree. The peach, for example, produces its flowers and fruit along the branches which grew the preceding year, and is generally much benefited by hav- ing these branches shortened in, or cut back, for one third or more of their length ; the horse chestnut, on the other hand, produces its flowers and fruit from buds at the ends of branches of the previous year, and if the cut- ting back so useful to the peach were practised on this, all the flowers would be destroyed. In some plants, like the grape, there are several different methods of pruning to obtain the same result. With the grape, pruning is so in- timately related to training that it is difficult to treat of the two separately, and this is espe- cially the case with fruit trees grown upon walls and trellises, whether as espaliers or by the cordon method. In this country the cli- mate does not require the highly artificial methods of training, and the pruning to effect them, so common in Europe ; these are given in various English and French works upon fruit culture, and with special completeness in Du Breuil's Court ilementaire d 1 arboriculture. As a mechanical operation, pruning requires some skill and care ; large cutting is done with a saw made for the purpose, the teeth of which are set wide. An axe should never be used. The wound made by the saw should be smooth- ed with a drawing knife or other tool, and covered with shellac varnish, melted grafting wax, or thick common paint, to prevent decay before a new deposit of wood and bark covers it. Every branch should be cut close- to the trunk, or other branch to which it is attached ; if a stub, or projection of a few inches, be left, this will not heal over, but in time decay will set in, which may extend to the whole interior of the tree. The decay of many orchards may be traced to this fault in pruning. For the removal of branches two inches in diameter or less, a heavy chisel made for the purpose, and driven from below upward with a mallet, makes quick and neat work. A heavy knife is used for the removal of twigs, and for shortening young growths ; shears made for the work do it quicker, but do not leave so clean a cut as the knife, though in many cases they answer. In shortening a twig or small branch, the cut should be made at a bud, and as the shoot from this will continue the upward growth of the branch, it is of some importance to cut to a bud pointing in the desired direc- tion, as the future shape of the tree will be materially influenced by it. Cutting must not be done too far above a bud, as this will leave a stub which, having no leaves to sustain it will die down to the bud ; if the cut is made too close to the base of the bud, there is danger that it will dry out or be otherwise injured ; the proper, cut is made by placing the knife at a point opposite the base of the bud, and bringing it out, with a slightly upward slanting cut, opposite the apex of the bud. FBI'S A, or Prnslts. See BRCSA. PKl'ssi. the largest and leading state of the German empire, occupying a northern central Eortion of the European continent, between it. 49 and 56 N., and Ion. 5 45' and 23 E. It is bounded N. by the North sea, Denmark, and the Baltic ; E. by Russia ; S. by Cisleithan Austria, the kingdom of Saxony, the Thurin- gian states, Bavaria, Hesse, and Alsace-Lor- raine; and W. by Luxemburg, Belgium, and Holland. Its greatest length, from a point near where the Niemen or Memel crosses the N. E. frontier to the point of junction of its boundaries with those of Luxemburg and Al- sace-Lorraine, is 800 m. ; the longest line that can be drawn on its soil in a direction nearly at right angles to this extends from the Baltic coast N. W. of Stralsund to the 8. E. extremity of the province of Silesia, and measures a little more than 400 m. The area of Prussia, ac- cording to the official figures which are made the basis for the land tax (but which, owing to very recent territorial changes, are perhaps not absolutely accurate), is 186,656 sq. m. in- cluding the area of all the principal gulfs, bays, and arms of the sea, and 184,496 sq. m. ex- cluding all bodies of water except inland lakes. The kingdom is divided into 12 provinces (in- clusive of the detached Hohenzollern, and ex- clusive of Lauenburg), and these into adminis- trative districts named after their respective chief towns, as follows.