FIRST STEPS TOWARD THE HOME 45 



Cutting may be another part of your preparatory 

 work, only whatever you do of this sort do very slowly 

 and deliberately. Possibly you have bought an old 

 homestead with trees already on it. These, having 

 probably been neglected for many years, will need 

 judicious trimming, and no doubt some of them will 

 have to be cut out. Walk around a tree thought- 

 fully half a dozen times, on half a dozen successive 

 days, before you use ax or saw. Study each tree in- 

 dividually and in its relations to its neighbors, and 

 then cut conservatively. You can destroy the work 

 of fifty years in a single day, but you cannot restore 

 what you have removed. Trees are the work of 

 time and are not to be dealt with lightly. 



Do not let a professional trimmer get at the work. 

 He is almost sure to be a hireling, whose interest is 

 to cut as long as he is paid for it. When I think of 

 cutting a tree I examine it from every point of view 

 and aim to comprehend its relations to other trees 

 and to the outlook. Then I go when I am in a dif- 

 ferent mood and at a different time of day. There 

 is lots of character in some of these old orchards 

 and groves, and we must not haggle them into 

 modern conventionalism. One huge old apple tree 

 or a giant elm hanging its limbs over your house is 

 sacred property, and a row of ancient butternuts is 

 as full of history and poetry as it is full of nuts. 

 Be careful also when it comes to trimming or graft- 

 ing; these will be necessary, but cut with conscience 

 and tenderness. The old Saxon word for thorough 



