16. Is it correct to suppose that "anybody" can prune a tree?
17. The cut surfaces made by pruning large limbs from trees are often covered with thick paint, tar, or Bordeaux mixture. What is the purpose of this?
18. Why is it better to prune a little every year than a great deal once in five years?
19. When is the best time to prune shade trees? Why?
20. Does a tree carry the bases of its branches upward as it grows higher, or does the base of every branch remain at the level from which it started originally? Observe many trees in different situations before making up your mind on this point.
LEAFLET XLVII.
A STUDY OF A TREE.[64]
By ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK.
The Sugar Maple.
The maple puts her corals on in May, While loitering frosts about the lowlands cling, To be in tune with what the robins sing, Plastering new log-huts 'mid her branches gray; But when the autumn southward turns away, Then in her veins burns most the blood of Spring, And every leaf, intensely blossoming, Makes the year's sunset pale the set of day.