The border vidette., 1921-02-26
DESTRUCTION OF TREES BY
 CARELESS PRUNING.

AU ItlIS tlD6 OI year lG IS SdO' dening to a lover of trees to wit ness the many crimes committed in the name of pruning, says Professor J. G. Brown, Plant Pathologist, University of Ariz ona. Although most shade trees cost 8 great deal when the ire quent necessity of eXcavating through a caliche stratum and the subsequent continuous irri- gatiou are considered, the owner, after all the care and expense, usually. turns over the task of pruning to unskilled laborers without a word of direction or instruction. This careless way of handling trees has resulted, and is resulting. in the death of disease.
 Take for example, the pepper tree, one of our most beautiful shade trees. The pepper tree is susceptible to fungus parasite that enters through broken or badly pruned branches, travels ward into the trunk which becomes knotted with irregular and unsightly swellings, and eventually causes practically the entire tree, roof, trunk and branch, to rot. If the tree es- capes swindstorms, it may sud denly die some hot dry day be- cause it's rotten trunk cannot carry water to the leaves fast enough to replace the water given off into the air. Otherwise it dies slowly, exhibiting a grad ually increasing number of un slightly dead branches.
 Cottonwoods and poplars are also weakened by disease brought on by leaving pruned branches without painting the cut ends. Several such trees showed, upon examination, holes into the very heart of the trunk left by the routed branch. Some showed also rustly brown ooze flowing down the trunk from the decaying stumps of "butchered" branches.
 This loss could easily be avoided by following two or three simple rules in pruning. First: When the main branches are cut off. they should be sawed close to the trunk so the bark can easily grow over the stump. | Imagine a surgeon leaving the bone sticking out three or four inches beyond the flesh when an arm or leg is amputated.
 Second: Commence the saving off of a branch from the lower side and finish cutting from the upper side. Otherwise the weight of the branch above the cut will often cause it to split | badly before it is completely sawed off.
 Third: Paint the cut surface with good white lead paint. Shade trees are valuable asset to either city or country property. Real estate dealers know this better than anyone else and they have variously estimated the value of a three 8 | to 12 inches in diameter breast high, at from $50 to $2OO. Shade trees are perhaps more valuable in the Southwest than else
 where. Nothing affords more comfort during the hot summer months. It has been argued that | foreStation increases the amount of atmospheric moisture to such an extent that the climate of a dry region is perceptibly chang ed. Nothing impresses visitors
 more favorably than shade tress
 after travelling miles without a
 view of natural forests. We
 ought to have more trees in the
 Southwest, and surely we ought
 to take care of the trees we al
 ready have brought to maturity
 If you hire pruning done, insist
 that it be done carefully; if you
 do your own pruning, do the jot
 right. Have in mind not only
 the form of top you desire, but
 also the surgical tide; give the
 tree a chance to escape disease.