Evening star., 1933-07-31
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| to find himself In a terrible muddle.
| One Of the greatest divergences OF
opinion comes in regard to topping"
This practice has no standing at all
with experts. and q very great deal. in
deed, with the man. in the street"
Ask Neighbor Jones what to do for q
tree that isn't doing well, and the
will declare, with great conviction:
Have 1t topped"
Ask the trained freeman, and he will
advise proper fertilizing. Topping Is
something he has no use for at all
But look at all that new growth"
comments the initiated. pointing to
some tree which has seen the saw at
its top.
Water sprouts" says the expert. sue
cintly, dismissing the matter.
| One has called in the doctor, one
must do what the doctor says. but every
now and then one casts an uneasy
glance at the tree which seems to be
doing SO we'll after what appeared to
be nothing more than butchery.
The theory is, Of course from the
standpoint Of the trained man, that the
new growth is merely a last gasp OF the
tree to save itself. that rot will set in,
and steadily 60 down the trunk. and
that the latter state of the tree will be
worse than the first.
| The belief of the unframed man Is
that the new growth is successful that
it will save the appearance Of the tree
for several years, at least that the new
thrust Of the organism toward life is
bound to be productive Of good.
Only time can tell and the average
householder is impatient, he wants to
| see results In q hurry, and trees take
their time.
Fertilization, the expert declares, is
what the sick tree needs.
! As most persons know this Is achieved
/ by thrusting an inch crowbar into the
| ground for about l8 inches or 2 feet,
and filling in the hole with fertilizer.
This process is continued every few
feet around the tree until the entire
surface of the soil beneath the spread
of branches is treated
The householder who happens to be
| f1nicky about his lawn will view this
| process, in theory. with suspicion: he
will wonder what so many holes even
when filled in with sod. and even so
small. will do to the precious sward
over whose ultimate perfection he has
spent SO many hours.
He has never had the process car
1
and it is going to take lot of argu-
ment. he feels, to convince him that he
ought to take a chance on it.
! If tree is taken down. the question
| is what to do with the stump. Stumps
are hard to get out and some persons
prefer to leave them. II it is large
enough, a good stump makes an excel
! lent al fresco table.
| II smaller tree stump sawed of at
about "a inches from the ground can
be used as a stand for a flowerpot.
as sundial pedestal lone Of its most
satisfactory uses) as q See-saw stand
ard, or as a place for mounting one Of
the black iron figures. preferably of a
cat. One friend Of cats has afixed
flower culling basket to the top Of a
stump. and his feline friends curl up
in it at all hours
/ Various small ivies, as we'll as bitter
sweet and Virginia creeper (Which all
visitors instantly proclaim to be poison
ivy-a lot they know about it, can be
grown on an old stump with artistic
effect Before going to the trouble Of
roofing one out 1t is well to look around
| to see If some use cannot be made Of
1t where 1t stands.