Ornamental and Shade Trees 



A Department for the Adxnce and Instruction of Members of the American Forestry Association 



Edited by J. J. Levison, 11. A., Ml". 



DAMAGE BY SPURS 



I'.v Joseph L. Richards, B.S., M.S.F. 



NOBODY loves a lineman." At least, that seems 

 to be the case among people who appreciate the 

 beauty and utility of roadside trees. 



Certainly, great numbers of the men in that trade 

 have done much to create this undesirable situation. On 

 the other hand, neither the men of the wires nor the 

 policies of the public utility companies which employ 

 them are entirely to blame for the condition of the shade 

 trees that have stood in the way of electrification. In 

 many instances the tree-loving public has blustered much 

 and done little to supply the means of preventing dam- 

 age to their trees from this cause. Too often it has relied 

 upon legislation instead of cooperation. 



In communities where a municipal arborist is able 

 to keep the wires clear or assist in doing so by detailing 

 the city's trained tree men to work with the line gangs 

 and do all the tree climbing, much damage and discord 

 is avoided. Such arrangements keep men who have 

 neither the training nor the equipment for doing scien- 

 tific tree work, and whose feet are shod for climbing 

 dead poles, out of living trees. Every wire-stringing 

 public utility company will maintain that it is unreason- 

 able to require it to supply to each of its line gangs the 

 arborist's outfit necessary to do proper tree work. The 

 great majority of them, however, will agree to cooperate 

 in undertakings that will free them from the interfer- 

 ence of trees either by planning the arrangement of the 

 trees and wires on the highways or by proper training 

 and care of the trees. 



For several years a number of tree wreckers were 

 at large whose activities were nothing short of crim- 

 inal. Even the excuse of the necessity for maintaining 

 right of way for transmitting messages and power was 

 lacking for the damage which they did in the localities 

 where they operated. These men represented them- 

 selves to be tree trimmers. Aft v er securing the assent of 

 an owner they proceeded to butcher his trees and trim 

 his pocketbook. The tree trimming consisted of stub- 

 bing off the branches without taking any precautions 

 against decay which the arborist takes when he cuts back 

 a failing old tree in order to reduce its top to correspond 

 with the lessened efficiency of the root system and so pro- 

 long the life of the tree for a few years. The amount 

 which the trimmer cut off depended largely upon his dar- 

 ing. The size of the stubs left was directly proportional 

 to his caution or fear of falling. In some places, docked 

 trees became stylish, and as a result of this service, the 

 trimmed trees sprouted vigorously for a few years and 

 228 



then began to fall apart owing to the decay that had got- 

 ten in through the unprotected wounds. 



The difference between the tree trimmer who uses 

 climbing irons (i.e., lineman's spurs) and the vandalis- 

 tically inclined lineman is only one of degree. The tree 





WOUNDED BY LINEMAN'S SPURS 



Section of trunk of Norway Maple, showing 4-year-old wound 

 started from two adjacent spur-marks, both of which are vis- 

 ible. Note the crack through the lower one caused by the dry- 

 ing out of the exposed wood. Cracks like this one hasten the 

 entrance of heart-rots. 



trimmer that uses spurs is a strange contradiction. He 

 is in a class with the M. D. who treats a wound and 

 then pricks his patient in several other places with on- 

 sterilized instruments. 



To get the force of this comparison it is necessary to 

 recall the structure and physiology of trees and point out 

 their relation to the disease organisms which attack 

 them. 



