CHAPTER VII 



MAINTENANCE* 



Requirements. The maintenance of trees, shrubs, and vines, since 

 they are almost invariably planted where they are expected to re- 

 main permanently, presents fewer difficulties than the care of perennial 

 plantings, except where plants become diseased or subject to insect 

 attack. Maintenance is confined mostly to cultivation, feeding, water- 

 ing, pruning, and spraying. 



Trees — ^Tree Surgery. Pruning has been discussed in Chapter 

 III, but there is an analogous practice often followed by "tree doc- 

 tors," namely, the scraping of bark from trees, which should be 

 touched on here. The main object and accomplishment of tree 

 scraping seems to be the providing of work for "tree doctors" during 

 dull seasons. The ultimate consequences to the tree are seldom 

 beneficial, and often fatal. Instances have occurred where handsome 

 shade trees were scraped down to the cambium by ignorant "doctors'* 

 and promptly died. The outer bark of trees is placed by nature as a 

 protective covering and should not be removed, except in the case of 

 those trees, such as hickory and plane tree, which naturally shed bark 

 in large scales, and then only when these scales are harbouring insects 

 which cannot be otherwise destroyed. The criticism of the so- 

 called tree doctors is, however, not intended in the least to discredit 

 really expert tree surgeons nor to discourage the employing of them. 

 Quite to the contrary, it should be noted that these men can render 

 most valuable service and that often a greatly prized tree can be 

 saved for many years and its growth greatly improved by having it 

 wisely cared for. The supporting of branches where a crotch might 

 cause a splitting of large limbs is too often neglected. The removing of 

 broken branches often prevents decay from entering into the heart of 

 the tree. The taking out of crossing limbs often makes possible a 

 symmetry of development that otherwise would never be reahzed. 



♦See also Chapter III on "Pruning" and Chapter VIII on "Winter Protection and Mulching." 



73 



