branches. You can 

 prune with safety from 

 this time till the leaves 

 fall, and the work can 

 be executed with 

 pleasure. 



Don't depend on 

 "hobos," adventurers 

 and imposters who 

 have "nerve" enough 

 to pose as "tree trim- 

 mers." There is a 

 story of an Irishman 

 who claimed to under- 

 stand the art of "trim- 

 ming" trees. He was 

 sent, one morning, to 

 trim the orchard. At 

 noon his boss inquired 

 how he was progress- 

 ing. "An' fath, sur, 

 Oi've got them all cut 

 down, an' Oi'll trim 

 them up this after- 

 noon," was his report. 

 It would be about as 

 well for the average 

 tree-butcher to follow 

 Pat's example as to cut 

 off one-half and start 

 the other dying. Study 

 the life of your plants and trees and learn to do your own tree surgery, or direct it per- 

 sonally. The wind sometimes will split a branch clear to the ground. Photo 25 is an 

 example . The wood, however, was painted and is being preserved in a solid condition. 

 Photo 26 is another specimen, but the wound has not been dressed. It is a sickening 

 sight of dead wood fibre and haunts for innumerable hosts of insects. It is a Rambo tree, 

 but the fruit has scarcely a trace of that delicious variety; it has a flat, soggy, dead-wood 

 taste. Photo 27 is also an apple tree, and some years ago was struck by a plow, drag or 

 something of the kind. The fruit is about as worthless as the preceding Rambo. Peo- 

 ple are sometimes very thoughtless when working around trees, but the penalty must be 

 paid for all violation of nature's laws. In planting orchards, farmers would do well to 

 use the simple tree guard shown in photo 100. It will pay you well to keep your trees 

 clean. Photo 28 shows a boy " currying the tree. " He is using an old currycomb, and 

 the little folks are around him learning how to do it. A tree will thrive by being cleaned 

 just as much as a horse will; besides, you destroy the shelter of your enemies, the insects. 

 An acquaintance of mine told me that some years ago he climbed into an old apple tree 

 to remove some branches. He had on an old pair of buckskin gloves. He commenced 

 to rub off the old bark, and he fussed and zvorked and rubbed till he had cleaned the 

 whole tree. This destroyed the abode of insects and admitted light, air and moisture to 

 the hide-bound tree. The result was, as he said, "a new lease of life to the tree, and an 

 abundance of fine fruit." Keep your trees clean. 



Photo 18. 



14 



