CHAPTER VII 



PREVENTION AND REPAIR OF MECHANICAL 

 INJURIES 



125. Kinds of injuries. Casual observation will show 

 tha: trees suffer from many kinds of mechanical injuries. 

 Storms, particularly of sleet (Fig. 94) and those which 

 arrive while the trees are loaded with fruit, cause serious 

 breakage of branches, but such injuries usually resolve 

 themselves into cases of a simple pruning. The injuries 

 here to be considered are those mainly due to the igno- 

 rance or the carelessness of the planter or to animals, such 



as hogs, rabbits, mice and 

 hired men. Many of these 

 injuries may be easily pre- 

 vented and cured. Several 

 typical cases will be con- 

 sidered here. The reader 

 may also refer to the chap- 

 ter on tree surgery for the 

 treatment of a different class 

 of injuries. 



126. Label wire injuries 

 are very common (Figs. 95. 

 9(5) ,50 are those caused by ty- 

 ing trees too tightly to stakes 



3^3 and by fastening guy wires 



and ropes around trunks and 

 branches (Fig. 313). The 

 effect is the same in all cases. 

 Wire fences often injure tree 

 trunks more or less when fastened to them (Fig. 309 C), but 

 usually such injuries extend only part way around the 

 trunks. Instances are recorded where the growth of such 



138 



FIG . 96 A WIRE GIRDLED THIS 

 CHERRY TREE 



