132 THE HEALING OF WOUNDS 



trees are placed on the edge of the sidewalk, 

 and notice the effects due to our general negli- 

 gence. In some instances you will find that 

 the house -owners have placed guards around 

 the trunks, and the trees are symmetrical and 

 have attained a good size. But in most cases, 

 they have been left to take care of themselves. 

 Bright and early the milkman comes along and 

 jumps off with his can, leaving his horse to 

 make a scanty breakfast by gnawing the bark 

 of the nearest tree. Later on come the butcher 

 and the grocer, whose horses lunch upon what 

 was left by their predecessor, inflicting an 

 amount of damage to the tree limited only by 

 the length of time which their owners are pleased 

 to spend in conversation with the girls in the 

 kitchen. Last of all comes, perhaps, the doctor, 

 whose visits, if they are not frequent, are pro- 

 portionally long. He, at least, ought to know 

 that trees cannot be wounded with impunity. 

 No wonder that the bark is not only soon re- 

 moved and the wood exposed, but since the 

 horse is an animal which prefers the softer bark 

 to the harder wood, the fresh borders of the 

 wound are repeatedly attacked, until deformities 

 of enormous size are produced, and, apart from 

 the danger of fungous growths, the nutrition 

 of the tree is seriously deranged." 



