Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 161, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1916 — How to Use the Pruning Shears. [ARTICLE]

How to Use the Pruning Shears.

Double-cutter shears used In orchard pruning give good satisfaction when used upon limbs smaller than three inches in diameter, writes M. G. Kains in Farm and Home. When car© is taken to cut through the bark all around the branches to be removed,’'' the wounds heal over much better than when the growing layer of bark and young wood are crushed by being squeezed from opposite sides without being cut all around first. One caution is necessary in using this implement: When making cuts of forked limbs it is necessary to avoid bearing down, because the main branch to be left is likely to split and a heavy load of fruit the following summer is almost sure to break the limb at this point. Effort should always be made to lift when making such cuts. Indeed, it is a good plan always to cut off the branch a foot or so beyond the point where the crotch is and then to remove the stub with a second cut