Tom Dunlap
Addicted to ArboristSite
Bob Underwood found this article a while ago. Kind of captures the
feeling of topping pretty well I think. Bob talked with the author who
gave permission for it to be used but would like to get his credit.
Tom
***************************************
Punish Your Trees If They Dare Grow Tall***Lewiston Tribune 3/27/90 by
Bill Hall-the editor of the Lewiston Tribune's editorial page
As a resident of Lewiston-Clarkston — the tree-butchering capital of
America — I have come to realize that some trees are too tall.
They deserve to be punished for that. If a tree won't keep its place you
have to cut it down to size.
Or so I gather after 25 years in this town. For some odd reason, the
people of this community prune their trees more severely than people do
in other communities. People here plant a tree, water it, fertilize it —
and if it dares to grow, they'll cut the top off it.
But why? Where did this town get its abnormal fear of tall trees?
That question occurred to me again the other day in a Clarkston Heights
yard, My host pointed out a blue spruce with its pointy top whacked off
and complained about the tree's stubborn tendency to grow, "I have to
keep cutting it back," he complained.
"Why?" I asked?
"It keeps getting too tall," he said.
"Too tall for what?" I asked, sincerely puzzled. There was nothing above
the top of that tree but sky — no roofline was being crowded, no power
line. The tree could grow five miles and encounter nothing.
"It's just getting too tall," he said, "I have to keep cutting it back
so it doesn't get out of hand.
"What does "out of hand" mean? I don't know but I have heard that
expression more than once around here: "I gotta prune that tree before
it gets outta hand."
I could understand that if the tree is over the hill, has terminal
crotch rot and is about to fall on the drive. way where you park your
cherished 1988 Yugo.
I could understand pruning off a limb if it is growing through the
rumpus room.
And I could certainly understand thinning some of the limbs out of a
tree. We all need our hair trimmed, But that doesn't mean we need our
head cut off.
Nonetheless, the people of this town will chop the top off a tree even
if it is out in the middle of an acreage a quarter mile from the nearest
building, threatening nothing but low flying jet planes. I think people
here believe any tree that gets too tall will turn mean and roam the
neighborhood killing dogs getting even for past insults.
Sometimes I fear the people around here have small horizons. They don't
know how high the sky is. They think a tree that gets too tall will
poke a hole in the sky and let in all that cold air from outer space.
Some fool in Lewiston Orchards let a poplar get out of hand year before
last and half the pipes in the valley were frozen.
Actually, poplars and other fast growing trees may have something to do
with it. A lot of the people who settle here — myself included — are
from families that moved here from the Midwest. Our families came out of
that region in the era before the plant magicians had developed so many
trees that would tolerate frigid temperatures and dust bowls and
Republicanism and other extremes of nature common to that part of the
country.
That explains why there are still older people around to this day who
regard rhubarb and gooseberries as fruit. And that explains why there
are still people around who will actually cat green tomato relish.
They've never heard of ripe tomatoes.
The choice of cheap shade trees was limited — just a few large,
rambling, fast-growing trees like poplars and maples and black locusts.
You could plant them next to the house in April and by August They would
have grown 150 feet and fallen through the roof of the house during one
of the weekly tornadoes. Or they would have got hit by the daily
lightning storm.
When you grow up in a land like that, you learn real fast not to let
your trees get out of hand. That's how so many of us here came to fear
tall tree.
Other towns thin their trees. This is a basic redneck town. Most of the
men and some of the women have crew cuts, We like our trees the same
way.
And if the rest of you don't agree, write a letter to the editor,
however, if it's too long, we'll cut it. We don't want people like you
getting out of hand.
feeling of topping pretty well I think. Bob talked with the author who
gave permission for it to be used but would like to get his credit.
Tom
***************************************
Punish Your Trees If They Dare Grow Tall***Lewiston Tribune 3/27/90 by
Bill Hall-the editor of the Lewiston Tribune's editorial page
As a resident of Lewiston-Clarkston — the tree-butchering capital of
America — I have come to realize that some trees are too tall.
They deserve to be punished for that. If a tree won't keep its place you
have to cut it down to size.
Or so I gather after 25 years in this town. For some odd reason, the
people of this community prune their trees more severely than people do
in other communities. People here plant a tree, water it, fertilize it —
and if it dares to grow, they'll cut the top off it.
But why? Where did this town get its abnormal fear of tall trees?
That question occurred to me again the other day in a Clarkston Heights
yard, My host pointed out a blue spruce with its pointy top whacked off
and complained about the tree's stubborn tendency to grow, "I have to
keep cutting it back," he complained.
"Why?" I asked?
"It keeps getting too tall," he said.
"Too tall for what?" I asked, sincerely puzzled. There was nothing above
the top of that tree but sky — no roofline was being crowded, no power
line. The tree could grow five miles and encounter nothing.
"It's just getting too tall," he said, "I have to keep cutting it back
so it doesn't get out of hand.
"What does "out of hand" mean? I don't know but I have heard that
expression more than once around here: "I gotta prune that tree before
it gets outta hand."
I could understand that if the tree is over the hill, has terminal
crotch rot and is about to fall on the drive. way where you park your
cherished 1988 Yugo.
I could understand pruning off a limb if it is growing through the
rumpus room.
And I could certainly understand thinning some of the limbs out of a
tree. We all need our hair trimmed, But that doesn't mean we need our
head cut off.
Nonetheless, the people of this town will chop the top off a tree even
if it is out in the middle of an acreage a quarter mile from the nearest
building, threatening nothing but low flying jet planes. I think people
here believe any tree that gets too tall will turn mean and roam the
neighborhood killing dogs getting even for past insults.
Sometimes I fear the people around here have small horizons. They don't
know how high the sky is. They think a tree that gets too tall will
poke a hole in the sky and let in all that cold air from outer space.
Some fool in Lewiston Orchards let a poplar get out of hand year before
last and half the pipes in the valley were frozen.
Actually, poplars and other fast growing trees may have something to do
with it. A lot of the people who settle here — myself included — are
from families that moved here from the Midwest. Our families came out of
that region in the era before the plant magicians had developed so many
trees that would tolerate frigid temperatures and dust bowls and
Republicanism and other extremes of nature common to that part of the
country.
That explains why there are still older people around to this day who
regard rhubarb and gooseberries as fruit. And that explains why there
are still people around who will actually cat green tomato relish.
They've never heard of ripe tomatoes.
The choice of cheap shade trees was limited — just a few large,
rambling, fast-growing trees like poplars and maples and black locusts.
You could plant them next to the house in April and by August They would
have grown 150 feet and fallen through the roof of the house during one
of the weekly tornadoes. Or they would have got hit by the daily
lightning storm.
When you grow up in a land like that, you learn real fast not to let
your trees get out of hand. That's how so many of us here came to fear
tall tree.
Other towns thin their trees. This is a basic redneck town. Most of the
men and some of the women have crew cuts, We like our trees the same
way.
And if the rest of you don't agree, write a letter to the editor,
however, if it's too long, we'll cut it. We don't want people like you
getting out of hand.
Rough town. Classic!
