from John Evelyn's Sylva--
"Of Pruning.
I. Pruning I call all purgation of Trees from what is superfluous. The Ancients found such benefit in Pruning, that they feign'd a Godess presided over it, as Arnobius tells us: And in truth, it is in the discreet performance of this Work that the Improvement of our Timber and Woods does as much consist as in any thing whatsoever. A skilful Planter should therefore be early at this work: Shall old Gratius give you Reason and Direction?
Nunquam sponte sua procerus ad aera termes
Exiit, inque ipsa curvantur stirpe geniste.
Ergo age luxuriam primo f_tusque nocenteis
Detrahe: frondosas gravat indulgentia silvas.
Post ubi proceris generosa stirpibus arbor
Se dederit, teretesque ferent ad sidera virge,
Stringe notas circum, & gemmanteis exige versus.
His, si quis vitium nociturus sufficit humor,
Visceribus fluit, & venas durabit inertes
.
And his incomparable Interpreter thus in English:
Twigs of themselves never rise strait and high.
And Under-Woods are bow'd as first they shoot.
Then prune the boughs; and Suckers from the root
Discharge. The leavy wood fond pity tires;
After, when with tall rods the tree aspires,
And the round staves to heaven advance their twigs,
Pluck all the buds, and strip off all the sprigs;
These issues vent what moisture still abound,
And the veins unimploy'd grow hard and sound.
2. For 'tis a misery to see how our fairest Trees are defac'd, and mangl'd by unskilful Wood-men, and mischievous Bordurers, who go always arm'd with short Hand-bills, hacking and chopping off all that somes in their way; by which our Trees are made full of knots, boils, cankers, and deform'd bunches, to their utter destruction: Good husbands should be asham'd of it. As much to be reprehended are those who either begin this work at unseasonable times, or so maim the poor branches, that either out of laziness, or want of skill, they leave most of them stubs, and instead of cutting the Arms and Branches close to the boale, hack them off a foot or two from the body of the Tree, by which means they become hollow and rotten, and are as so many conduits to receive the Rain and the Weather, which perishes them to the very head, deforming the whole Tree with many ugly botches, which shorten its life, and utterly marre the Timber.
3. By this Animadversion alone it were easie for an ingenious man to understand how Trees are to be govern'd; which is in a word, by cutting clean, smooth, and close, making the stroke upward, and with a sharp Bill, so as the weight of an untractable bough do not splice, and carry the bark with it, which is both dangerous and unsightly.
4. The proper season for this work is a little after the change in January:
_____ Tunc stringe comas, tunc brachia tonde:
_____ Tunc denique dura
Exerce Imperia, & ramos compesce fluenteis.
But this ought not to be too much in young Fruit-trees, after they once come to form a handsom head; in which period you should but only pare them over about March, to cover the stack the sooner, if the Tree be very choice: To the aged, this is plainly a renewing of their Youth, and an extraordinary refreshment: Besides, for Interlucation, exuberant branches, & spissae nemorum come, where the boughs grow too thick and are cumbersome, to let in the Sun and Air, this is of great importance."
