Ornamental and Shade Trees 



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



Edited by J. J. Levjson, B. A., M. F. 



THE TREE FAKER 



Hermann W. Merkel 

 President American Academy of Arborists 



THERE arc various kinds of tree fakers. All who 

 have lived in the country will probably remember 

 the appearance at your door of a venerable gentle- 

 man, more or less seedy in appearance, who had with him. 

 carefully tucked from sight, a book of chromos, repre- 

 senting the latest atrocities of the color press, alleged 

 to be faithful reproductions of all that was best in fruit 

 and flower, tree and vine. This volume would usually 

 not makes its appearance until after the bearer had 

 assured himself that he was talking to the "lady or gentle- 

 nrm of the house," but after that it would be a most dim- 



ALLEGED EXPKRTS PRUNED THIS TREE 



Tree badly pruned by men who posed as experts. Such trees are 

 common sights in every locality and are a daily, example of the 

 need of ascertaining if tree surgeons and tree repairers are com- 

 ; -rent men. 



2<<4 



cult task to get rid of him and his book for a long time, 

 and usually he would take with him an order for a golden 

 elder, a purple-leaved plum, a Carolina poplar, and a 

 Ben Davis apple tree, from all of which deliver us. How- 

 ever, I have no quarrel with this gentleman, for he 

 filled the proverbial long-felt want, and he was really the 

 first propagandist who worked towards the beautification 

 of the surroundings of many dwellings. 



The real tree faker is harder to describe. His tribe 

 is large and varied. Sometimes he owns a ladder and a 

 saw as his whole stock in trade. Sometimes he has arrived 

 at the dignity of owning a spray pump, and others have 

 real offices, and get out beautiful literature which is 

 sent broadcast into the hands of an unsuspecting public. 

 Then again he may only own a pot of some mixture, the 

 ingredients of which are a deep mystery to everyone 

 except the mixer, and he won't let the secret out because 

 by means of this mixture, this particular faker is able 

 to cure everything that ever ailed a tree from blind 

 staggers to pip. 



I met the work of one of his species one day while in 

 company with Mr. Solotaroff, then of East Orange, when 

 we noticed that a number of beautiful elms on a private 

 place in East Orange, had assumed a reddish bark, and 

 upon inquiry it was discovered that a suave individual 

 had called at this place the day before, and persuaded 

 the owner to let him treat the elms in question by means 

 of a compound which he, the tree faker, had discovered 

 and would paint upon the bark for a consideration. He 

 had stated that he was willing to guarantee that no 

 pest of any kind would ever attack the elms after they 

 had been treated by him, and as a guarantee of good 

 faith, he would collect only one-half the cost of treat- 

 ment per tree, and come back for the other half the 

 following year. It is hardly necessary to say that he 

 has not yet returned to collect the remainder of his fee. 



Another individual, and I think he was the first of his 

 kind that I ever saw, once came to me with a proposition 

 that he would kill any tree that I wanted to get rid of 

 for the sum of one-half dollar. Being pressed as to what 

 means he would employ, he stated that he would bore a 

 hole right into the heart of the tree "where it lived," and 

 then pour in a spoonful of another mystery, which 

 would kill it, and that I could then sell the owner a new 

 tree on which I could make much more than the fifty 

 cents that I would have to pay him. 



