CARE OF OLD TREES 55 



collar slightly up or down the branch and readjust it to the increased 

 girth of the branch, which isx why a hinge is useful. The unfortunate 

 thing is, that this duty is so often neglected that the iron collars in time 

 become hopelessly embedded in the limbs. It is one of the commonest 

 sights in gardens. 



The collar and chain system is quite efficacious, but it is more or less 

 troublesome. I strongly advocate an entirely different plan, which has 

 been adopted at Kew for the last twelve or fifteen years with entirely 

 satisfactory results for dry-wooded trees. Instead of supporting the 

 limbs by connecting them together in the old-fashioned way described 

 above, a hole is bored right through the centre of each limb with an augur; 

 they are then joined together by a steel rod proportionate in thickness 

 and strength to the weight of the limbs. The outer side of the limb is 

 supported by an iron plate held on to the end of the steel rod by a screw 

 nut. This iron plate should be bent so as to fit the circumference of the 

 limb, and it should be let into it slightly by cutting out the bark with 

 hammer and chisel. If each end of the steel rod is threaded, the branches 

 can be braced together by screwing up the nut that holds the plate in 

 place. The advantage of this system is that no further trouble is involved 

 the job lasts as long as the rod and plate do. The bark may in time 

 grow over the plate on the outside, but that is an advantage rather than 

 otherwise. That part of the rod which passes through the limb should 

 be smeared with coal tar before being pushed in, and the openings should 

 be made water-tight. The augur-hole should, however, be only large 

 enough for the rod to be thrust through. The supports are very frequently 

 placed too low down on the branches. The strain on them there is 

 naturally much greater when the branches are swaying than it would be if 

 they were placed towards the summit, where a thinner rod, or chain and 

 band, would suffice. In most instances the tree really requires but little 

 artificial help, for Nature has endowed it with an enormous self-sustaining 

 power. The forking trunk alluded to on p. 47 is the commonest instance 

 of the need of artificial support. 



As an alternative to the use of these artificial supports for heavy 

 branches, there is often that of reducing their weight by pruning. It 

 should, of course, only be resorted to when it will leave the contours of the 

 tree unspoilt (See notes on PRUNING.) 



