94 DA VET'S PRIMER 



" That's a queer looking exhibit." 



It certainly is, Harmon. Perhaps you have no idea 

 what it is, so I will tell you. 



You probably know that when a person breaks a 

 bone, the surgeons use what are called "splints" to 

 brace or hold the parts together. That is what we 

 often have to do with a tree that is so weakened that it 

 cannot stand without support. Here is an apple tree 

 in the pretty city of Sandusky, O. It was situated at 

 a point where they did not want to lose it. Years 

 ago, it was gnawed by horses and a large branch had 

 split down and, as usual, no care had been taken of it. 

 Gradually decay worked its way into the center of the 

 trunk, and so destructive was it that not over one-third 

 of the body of the tree was sound. 



After all the diseased portions were removed, strong 

 steel braces were made and bolted through the sound 

 wood to give it strength. This is " tree surgery," and, 

 as this apple tree is not more than sixty years of age, 

 the treatment will probably add one hundred years 

 more to its life. 



" Why, I never heard of an apple tree living to be a 

 hundred years old! " Perhaps not, Wolcie ; but, with 

 proper care, from time of planting, an apple tree would 

 be in good state of bearing at two hundred years of 

 age ; pear trees have lived for three hundred years ; 

 oaks run as high as a thousand. The great "Charter 

 Oak," of New England, was estimated to be two 



