48 TREE WOUNDS AND DISEASES 



sufficiently wide not only to afford the neces- 

 sary support, but to prevent friction with the 

 bark or wood. 



For a branch, say, up to six inches in 

 diameter, the band may be three or four inches 

 wide. It should be made collar-shape, with 

 a quarter-inch circular hole at each end, to 

 which, when bent around the branch, the 

 supporting wire from the main stem is 

 attached. When a branch is small and readily 

 supported or tied back to the desired distance, 

 a band of stout leather or roofing-sheet may be 

 substituted for the metal, the double wire 

 being used as before for connecting it with 

 the main stem or one of the larger branches. 

 This is a simple and inexpensive method of 

 dealing with obtruding branches, and in practice 

 has been found to answer well. By a careful 

 manipulation neither the band nor wire need 

 appear obtrusive. 



That the preservation of trees by bracing is 

 receiving more attention than in the past is 

 evident from the number of old elms and oaks 

 in the London district that have been operated 

 upon of late years. On one estate about fifty 



