234 PRACTICAL TREE REPAIR 



be. It is not easy to have small jobs attended to 

 promptly. The quality of the work inevitably 

 suffers from the fact that the men who do it, for 

 the most part, never see their work again. For 

 the same reason, the work rarely receives the in- 

 telligent annual care which is so often essential 

 to its permanent effectiveness. The men must do 

 their work quickly and move to the next town. 

 As a result the processes which require consider- 

 able time, such as the drying out of a moist cavity, 

 are pushed through faster than is well. The men 

 are instructed and hired to do cavity work, and 

 the other branches of tree repair, especially pre- 

 vention, are often neglected. 



It would be highly desirable if, instead of this 

 system, there were in every town a man or a 

 group of men, thoroughly skilled in the work, who 

 could go from place to place each year and attend 

 to all of the tree work, and who could be called 

 upon, in an emergency, by the most modest home 

 owner. Such a workman would either himself be 

 familiar with pruning and spraying, or would ally 

 himself with such men. A man who is really 

 skilful in repairing, pruning, and spraying trees 

 ought to find work in plenty, the whole year 

 round, for himself and one or two helpers, in any 

 large town in the country. 



The first thing a man is up against, naturally, is 

 learning the trade. As with many other trades, 



