Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 March 1915 — TRIMMING TREES IS IMPORTANT SERVICE [ARTICLE]

TRIMMING TREES IS IMPORTANT SERVICE

Butchers Have Destroyed Many Beautiful Shade Trees Nature Required Years to Grow. No greater service could be. rendered our nation than that our people should be awakened to the importance not only of planting trees but in caring for those we alraedy have. With all of man's intelligence is there anything that has done so much mischief as man-himself? Talk of bugs and insects destroying trees. Man has destroyed the forests and dried up the streams. He has butchered the buffalo and nearly all the game, not sparing the song birds. And now he is trying to finish his diabolical work by butchering up the shade trees in our cities and towns. It would be hard to estimate the damage done in this country by the tree butcher. A tree butcher possesses two tools, an axe and a saw. Trees are very much like living creatures and were not destined to drag through life in a crippled condition. A wound to a tree will do no great damage if the structure of the tree is understood and properly cared for. The practice of cutting off large limbs several inches from the body is common. Drouth soon sets in and the bark peels off. The stub then rots? leaving a cavity in which water collects, causing decay to the trunk of the tree. The proper way to take off a limb is to cut it flush with the tree and then protect the wound with a good heavy paint, lead or something to keep the water out until nature can supply it with a new growth. Telegraph, telephone and electric companies frequently mutilate and butcher trees while stringing their, wires. As a rule these butchers have no regard for beauty or life of the tree. They have no more right to butcher your trees than they would to cut away a portion of your building for that purpose. Both are equally your property and , should have ydur protection. It some times becomes necessary to cut trees but in such time a man should be called who is capable of performing the work so that the least damage will result and who will as far as possible retain the beauty of the tree. A very common mistake is made in trimming young trees is that of “heading back,” especially in the nursery. This should not be done. The straight stem or leader should be preserved and the lower branches gradually removed. The “heading back” might be done at 15 or 16 feet high, forming the head between 12 and 16 feet, then the trimming is practically done. Nature does not form these beautiful and health-giving tops to shade trees to be cut to pieces merely because some tree man- needs a job. No fraud is known that equals the criminal work of some of these tree trimmers. All over the country you will find great tree trunks, all that is left of once beautiful trees that nature had taken years and years to grow. Anfl-aow that many of your trees are in this condition it is time they should be looked after by one who has made a study of their wants and knows how to care for them. The above article was prepared by Homer W. Hodges, who has been doing some expert tree surgery in Rensselaer. Its merit will be readily recognized and it should cause every persdn to refuse to allow any one to butcher your shade trees.