BRACING A CROTCH 



127 



stub (which terminated at a) six inches in di- 

 ameter. 



The ideal treatment is to prevent the crotch 

 from splitting. This can be done by not having 

 the crotch, or by bracing it before it shows signs 

 of weakness. The 

 bolt (Fig. 107) may 

 be used for this pur- 

 pose. A living brace 

 may be grown over 

 the crotch, as shown 

 in Figs. 109 and 110. 

 Two small limbs, 

 preferably not larger 

 than the little finger, 

 arising from opposite 

 branches, are twisted 

 tightly together, the 

 free ends being al- 

 lowed to project as they may beyond the oppo- 

 site branch. 



In a year or so the bark of the two will begin 

 to knit together, at which time the free tips and 

 many shoots which have arisen from lateral buds 

 are headed -back or removed. As the branches 

 continue to unite, the leafy parts are curtailed, 

 and in a few years a perfectly solid and continuous 

 living brace will be formed from limb to limb. 

 Fig. 109 is from an actual example, which the 

 writer has had under observation for more years 



107. Right and wrong meth- 

 ods of bracing a crotch. 



