PRACTICAL TREE SURGER\ 401 



climbing spurs. Consequently, it may be expected that contractors 

 will have their workmen use spurs unless these are specifically pro- 

 hibited. 



310. Responsibility of tree owners. Owners who contract with 

 a firm of tree surgeons to attend to their trees are occasionally 

 quite as much to blame for the resulting poor work as the men who 

 do it. This statement refers to those owners who get an estimate 

 for having their trees repaired in a proper manner by men who 

 make a business of caring for trees and then say, in effect, "I've got 

 only half that amount of money for the work, and you will have to 

 do it for that or I will get someone else to do it." 



The reliable man who has named a price that will insure at least 

 reasonably good work has to do one of two things under those con- 

 ditions ; either he must decline to do the work or he must lower 

 his price. When these conditions arise the work is often under- 

 taken at a reduced price. This generally means that the work has 

 to be of a cheaper grade, possibly done by inexperienced men, in 

 order that a profit may be realized. A wiser course for the owner 

 would have been to put his available money into repairing in a 

 proper manner the more valuable of his trees, leaving the less valu- 

 able ones untreated. 



With the completion of tree surgery work, owners usually fail 

 to realize the importance of keeping close watch of their trees, in 

 order that defects which appear in the work may be remedied 

 promptly and that new injuries elsewhere on the tree may have 

 immediate attention. If a tree is considered by its owner of suffi- 

 cient value to warrant having it properly and carefully treated by a 

 tree surgeon, it certainly is worth the slight expense of subsequent 

 annual or biennial inspection and the immediate repair of newly 

 discovered injuries at a time when the expense necessary to keep 

 the tree in good condition will be comparatively small. 



311. Contracts. In order to secure better results in the future 

 than have generally been attained in the past, and to put com- 

 mercial tree surgery on a basis that will tend to eliminate the fakers, 

 owners are urged to have a definite written contract with tree sur- 

 geons whom they employ to take care of their trees. The best re- 

 sults can generally be attained when payment is to be based upon 

 the amount of work done plus the cost of materials used. Probably 

 most persons, however, will prefer to have the trees examined and a 

 definite price agreed upon before any work is undertaken. In either 

 case there should be a definite written understanding concerning at 

 least certain important phases of the work, in addition to price and 

 methods of payment. The following is suggested as a model for 

 such contract: 



(1) No climbing spurs shall be used on any part of a tree. 



(2) The shoes worn by the workmen shall have soft rubber bottoms. 



(3) Ordinary commercial orange shellac or other specified dressing 

 shall be applied to cover the cut edges of sap wood and cambium 



