ON PRACTICAL PLANS 
In connection with this removal of supple- 
mentary branches, which is in effect a sort of 
housecleaning operation, it will be well to scrape 
off the rough bark of trunk and limb wherever 
it scales in such a way as to afford snug retreats 
for insects. And blemishes of a more important 
order, such as knotholes and decayed surfaces 
where limbs have been cut away or broken off in 
the past, should be carefully excavated, all un- 
sound tissue removed, and the cavity filled with 
ordinary Portland cement or concrete. 
The latter process has been variously charac- 
terized as tree carpentry and tree dentistry. 
Both terms are more or less suggestive of the 
work achieved, regardless of names. The opera- 
tion may result in prolonging indefinitely the life 
of a valuable tree that would otherwise soon have 
decayed beyond restoration. 
The trunk and branches of the tree having been 
put in order, thought should be given to its root 
system. The casual observer is likely to forget 
that only about half the tree is visible, and that 
the aerial half is not fundamentally more impor- 
tant than the subterranean moiety. Yet it is ob- 
vious that the root system furnishes the all-im- 
portant source of supply of moisture and mineral 
matter, lacking which growth could not take place 
at all, let alone fruit bearing. 
[45] 
