be done at any convenient time, but the best period is
probably either just before the flow of sap in spring, or just after the
trees have fully developed their leaves in spring. Following the removal
of branches of any considerable size--three-quarters of an inch and
upward--the wounds should be carefully painted over with white lead
paint to prevent decay.

CARE OF BROKEN TREES.

When trees are broken or injured by wind-storms, the broken branches
should be cut off and the resulting wounds carefully trimmed and
painted. If the branches are only partly split off, the injury may be
repaired, in many cases, by pressing the branch back into place and
bolting it there, so as to hold it firmly in place. Trees with forked
trunks should be protected by passing a bolt through the two branches
some distance above where they divide to prevent splitting.

NURSERY ROOT-PRUNING.

Too frequently the root system of pecan trees, intended for planting, is
but poorly developed. The root consists almost entirely of one large
taproot destitute of laterals. Such trees are slow in starting and are
hard to transplant. Figure 33 shows an excellent root system on a
nursery tree. Such a tree should be almost as easily transplanted as an
apple tree. A little more care on the part of nurserymen would insure
good root systems.

In a former publication it was suggested that the young seedlings
intended for stocks be root-pruned "in the fall, after the trees are one
year old. It could easily be accomplished by running the tree-digger
down the row at a depth of nine or ten inches. The taproots could thus
be severed, and the following spring, or summer, the trees could be
worked (budded or grafted). This course of treatment would insure
greater success in transplanting, as it would have a tendency to develop
the lateral roots; and in addition to that, it would, in all
probability, induce earlier fruiting."

ROOT TRIMMING BEFORE PLANTING.

Two year old taproots should be cut to eighteen or twenty-four inches;
larger ones, in proportion. The old idea that transplanted pecan trees,
the taproots of which have been cut back, will not live and bear, is not
borne out by experience. They are in no-wise injured by its partial
removal, and it might all be removed were it not that so many would die
in transplanting.

[Illustration: FIG. 33. A nursery tree with a good root system.]

Figure 34 shows two pecan trees at two years. The one on the rig