A PROGRAM FOR SAVING TREES 7 



as they call them) and then they drive nails into 

 the wood, opening up a hundred little cracks, ideal 

 resting places for spores. Sometimes they put 

 elaborate filling into one side of a tree and com- 

 pletely neglect an incipient bark decay on the other 

 side, though that decay may girdle the tree and 

 kill it in a few years. 



The large " tree surgery " and " forestry " 

 companies have at least a more intelligent idea of 

 what they are trying to do, and most of their men 

 are experienced and skilled in their trade. They 

 have a tendency, however, to concentrate their 

 efforts upon the conspicuous cavities, neglecting 

 the smaller but not less important injuries. They 

 do their work at great distances from their head- 

 quarters, and their work does not often receive 

 that skilled yearly care which is essential to its 

 ultimate success. The most regrettable feature of 

 all has been that the " tree surgeons," enthusiastic 

 about their art, and familiar with scarcely any 

 other phase of arboriculture, have advised the fill- 

 ing of almost every diseased tree about which they 

 have been consulted, regardless of expense or of 

 the tree's " expectancy of life." 



Every effort has been made to surround the 

 work with an air of mystery. It appears that 

 some mysterious inner harmony between the 

 doctor and his arboreal patient is a prerequisite 

 to successful treatment. As a result of these con- 



