22 SHADE TREES FOR NORTH CAROLINA. 



PROTECTION AFTER PLANTING. 



Small trees along streets and roads should be protected by a guard of 

 some kind, either like that described for protecting from sun scald or 

 similar to one of those described below. Trees eight inches or more in 

 diameter which are too large to box and yet require protection from bit- 

 ing or rubbing of animals or mutilation of other kinds can be protected by 

 wrapping about the lower part of the stem a piece of small mesh galvan- 

 ized wire netting. The netting should be 6 feet or more wide, the lower 

 selvage dropping to within a few inches of the ground. The raw edges 

 should lap several inches, permitting loosening and readjusting with the 

 growth of the tree. The netting should hang loosely from short wires 

 fastened to staples driven into the trunk a few inches above the upper 

 selvage. More ornamental guards made of wrought iron can be pur- 

 chased. They are only suitable for small trees and are no more service- 

 able than those made of wood. A four-sided box 5 or 6 feet high and 

 several inches larger at the base than at the top, made of narrow vertical 

 slats, is not only a cheap but a durable and satisfactory guard. All 

 guards and the bands fastening them to the trees should be examined at 

 frequent intervals, especially after heavy storms to prevent the bark being 

 seriously rubbed or cut by them. Deep abrasions from rubbing not only 

 cause permanent disfigurement but often greatly impair the health of the 

 specimens. Hitching rings or sign boards should not be fastened to 

 trees nor should light, power or telephone companies be permitted to 

 anchor poles to them by girdling them with wire. 



PRUNING. 



Time to Prune. — Small branchlets of broad-leaf trees can be removed 

 at any season of the year. The bark on such branchlets is growing 

 rapidly and the wound will usually heal during the following spring. 



Large, live branches, whether cut close to the stem or partially re- 

 moved by cutting at some distance from it, should only be pruned during 

 late autumn, winter or early in spring before the sap is active. 



Small Branchlets are removed or pruned with a knife, shears, tree 

 pruner or sometimes with a saw (figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9). The cut should be 

 clean and smooth and made without tearing the bark loose from the wood 

 below the cut. When a branch is removed from the stem, no matter how 

 small the branch is, the cut should be as close as possible to the bark of 

 the stem (figs. 1 and 2). Very small branches in the crown, which are 

 merely cut back in pruning for shape or to secure thicker foliage, can be 

 rut iit, any convenient point, but larger branches should be cut only at the 

 point where they leave the stem or another branch, 



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