New Britain herald., 1914-08-07
TREE SURGEONS NEED
 TO BE RELIABLE MEN
0lhcIW.sc They May NOt Remove
 all Diseased Parts.

Washington, D. C.. Aug. IA cav like cavity in a .decayed tooth. If an unreliable tree surgeon who has been called in to save the tree only partially removes the diseased part of the wood. uses no antiseptic coat ings in the cavity and fills it up with cement the tree is no more cured than is person whose decayed tooth | has not been properly filled by den- tist The only difference is that af- ter the tree cavity has been covered, if the work has not been properly | done, the tree has no way Of mak- | ing its trouble known except by fur | ther decay.
 Within the last decade there has been great increase in demand for | surgeons to repair decaying shade 1 trees, but the possibilities of practic- ing fraud in this profession like the instance just cited have tempted so many unreliable people to dabble in the science that tree surgery has faI- len somewhat into disrepute. The United States department of agricul- ture realizes that commercial tree sur gerv should occupy a high place in l the estimation of the public, and has recently issued pamphlet entitled, Practical Tree Surgery wherein suggestions are made for improve ment along these lines. As in all professions, there are re- liable and unreliable men and firms l competing for contracts in tree sur gerry In recent years so many oc- i casions have arisen when property owners felt the necessity of calling in commercial tree surgeons to attend to l their trees that there are now numel : ous firms both honest and dishonest, l engaged in the work. Usually tree surgery is practiced in connection with some nearly related line, but often it is taken up as business of itself. When a blight such as the chestnut bark disease, infects the trees of a district, the community, or individuals in it, will often spend considerable money to control ravages which may rob the whole district of it's trees. An affection like the chestnut bark dis ease is contagious It requires sci l entific knowledge of--the disease to know whether an affected tree snould l be destroyed at once or is worth treat l ing It requires scientific training I to understand the manner of growth 1 of the fungi causing the disease and | what treatment is best.
 Many individuals who have had faith in tree surgery have lost it %o1l ho advice of n- reliable tree surgeons who claimed 1 to be able to diagnose case, but l whose main interest was to collect ! a good sum of money for their work. Pruning and Climbing Devices.
 Besides the careless filling of de-
 cayed cavities in trees, there are
 other practices of certain so-called
 tree surgeons that do the trees
 more harm than good. Many of
 these surgeons" as we'll as the peo-
 pie who employ them, do not realize the danger arising from fresh injuries
 Ito a tree. The tree owner should
 realize that prompt attendance to
 fresh injuries will largely do away ! with the neeQ or tree surgery HIleen or twenty years hence. The tree l surgeons must realize that if they
 make fresh injuries in the living bark.
 when treating decayed portions, they
 are laying the tree open to more dan- gers of infection that will result in
 further decay.
 ! Just as person is subject to in- lection through cuts and scratches,
 trees are rendered subject to infec- ton by having their living bark torn.
 Notwithstanding this, many tree sur-
 geons use pruning hooks and climb
 ing spurs and cut fresh gashes in the
 tree. To break off small dead
 branches workman may use long pruning hook as though it were a
 club. Tn doing so the hook usually
 causes injury to the young bark near | by Every new wound may furnish a
 new point of entrance for decay, even
 though the old dead branch may have
 been removed
 The use of climbing spurs should
 be particularly avoided on trees in . yicinities where there is a contagious infection. They simply render the : treated tree all the more liable to : catch the disease which is sin the
 air"
 All properly equipped firms of com. . mercial surgeons should have ladders
 that would reach forty or more feet
 into a tree. Ladders, ropes and rub
 ber-soled shoes will allow man to reach practically every part. Reli- e able estimates indicate that 1t takes :. somewhat longer (perhaps twenty-five
 per cent. on an average) to do work 7 on a tree when these are used in