Practical Tree Repair; The Physical Repair of Trees--Bracing and the Treating of Wounds and Cavities

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1913. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... PRACTICAL TREE REPAIR Chapter I A PROGRAM FOR SAVING THE TREES THE welfare of trees is now a subject of universal interest. Our cities are growing so big that it is not so easy as it once was to get out into the woods, and every bit of green is a relief from the glare of the city pavements. Around the city, too, suburbs are reaching out into the country, greatly increasing the value of the land, and in even greater proportion, the value of the trees standing on the land. The spreading meadow oak which ten years ago shaded the farmer's cows and escaped his ax only because its hollow bole gave little promise of fuel, has now become the priceless glory of some surburban garden. The old "maple bush" is now a well-kept park. But the trees have not been treated with the consideration justified by their increased value. Their fellows have been cut away, exposing them suddenly to wind and sun. Their roots have been chopped off in digging roadways and cellars; the soil-water level to which they have become accustomed has been lowered by deep drainage pipes. Barren soil has been piled over their roots, robbing them of the air which is just as essential to them as water. Graders, teamsters, builders, and telephone men have treated the trees as their convenience suggested, tearing out their roots, bruising their bark, tying guy-wires to them and lopping off their branches, as if they were the dead and worthless things which, by the time the new suburban home is turned over to the owner, they too often are. Is it any wonder, then, that in most of our suburbs half the large trees are decayed and dying? Out in the open country the conditions in the tree world are often much the same, though for different reasons. A good many groves, for instance, are now in existence solely by...