THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



the trees had been practised for years. With 

 the amateur's usual rashness, a drastic on- 

 slaught on the trees was planned for the 

 spring. Fortunately, enough practical infor- 

 mation had been gained from books before it 

 arrived to prevent such a folly, and to prompt 

 conservative, gradual pruning; for if trees 

 have been neglected several years, and are 

 then ruthlessly cut back, they will devote all 

 their energies, for the next few seasons, to 

 growing new wood instead of fruit. 



Not being experts, we concluded to con- 

 fine our efforts to removing suckers and dead 

 wood, healing neglected wounds, spraying, 

 and checking the decay in hollow places, by 

 cleaning and filling, as suggested in an article 

 on hollow trees which had come into my pos- 

 session. The necessity of depriving the flick- 

 ers and bluebirds of their nesting places was 

 a regret, but the trees had to be saved. Event- 

 ually, we palliated sentiment and practical- 

 ness by mending the trees, and then fasten- 

 ing similarly hollowed branches from the 



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