His words were very touching: "I am now very old and I don't know how much longer I will live. Where can I find someone to take over my work? I don't think I am demanding anything irrational. I just want to pass on what we have received from our ancestors to the next generation."

On a bright, sunny day, I drove to Hsinchu, a city in northwest Taiwan, to interview a tree doctor, Dr. Yang Kan-ling. As my car sped down the freeway, I prepared a whole series of questions in my mind: "How do you cure a tree? How do you find out if a tree is sick?"

After I stepped out of the car, it took me another fifteen minutes to walk to Yang's residence. On such a hot day, how I wished there were trees along the road to shade me from the scorching sun! Regrettably, my wish was in vain. On both sides of the road, there were only clusters of newly planted saplings. Some were about to fall over, and some had yellow twigs and leaves mixed in with green ones. They didn't seem to be getting very much care.

Yang's large house and its big yard were separated from the rest of the neighborhood by only a low wall. Hanging on a post was a wooden board on which was engraved "Kan Ling Plant Clinic." Stepping into the clinic, I saw a row of bookcases which contained more than two hundred photo albums. "These are X-ray films of trees," said Yang. I thought he must have been joking, but in fact those pictures were histories of ill trees that he had treated.

Yang always had a deep affection for trees, especially for large, stately trees. He said it had to do with his family background. He was born on a farm, and in his childhood he played every day either in the fields or in the woods. People in the village often sat and chatted in the shade of trees. Those large trees were like Yang's companions during his childhood.

There is a saying: "Ancestors plant trees so that their offspring can have shade." Should the offspring do the same in memory of their ancestors? Yang thinks that we should not only love trees, but also respect them. "Do any other creatures live longer than trees? A tree may live for thousands of years. They are the oldest creatures on earth. Shouldn't we love and respect them?"

Yang is now seventy-three years old. He was born during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan [1895?945]. He was always one of the top students at school, and when he was nineteen he entered the Tokyo Agricultural University in Japan. His parents borrowed money everywhere they could to enable him to complete his studies there.

After he graduated, he went back to Taiwan. He thought he could put what he had learned to good use, but unfortunately there were no opportunities for him. He had to work in factories and in construction. In order to contribute what he had learned, he voluntarily worked in forests and tea plantations, helping to plant seedlings and take care of the plants. When living conditions improved, he finally established his own horticultural workshop.

In 1973, Yang found many sick trees in private yards and along roads. He took pictures and wrote a report, and then submitted these along with his recommendations to the Hsinchu city government, pleading that the government save those trees.

In that report, he recorded in detail: "The pines and banyans in the zoo, and the camphor trees and cypresses at the weather forecast station and China Radio station are all dead. Their deaths were caused by human, not natural, factors. Due to insect infestation, only thirty-two out of the 120 precious kapok trees along Chungcheng Road are still alive. If we don't save them now, those will all die within three years." The long letter aroused the attention of the city mayor, Lin Shu-hua, who then sent specialists to investigate and to find out how to cure the trees. Those seventy-year-old trees were eventually saved.

Before he was licensed as a tree doctor, Yang often roamed through the woods, examining and curing trees. He worked quietly for decades. Sometimes his friends ridiculed him: "You are a fool to do this work without any pay." Fortunately, his wife never thought that way. She always gave him her full support.

Few people think it important when a tree gets sick. They just spray the tree with insecticide or cut off the sick branches. If the whole tree is sick, then they root it out and plant a new one. "That will not solve the problem. If we don't find out what is really wrong and treat it properly, the newly planted saplings will also get sick before long."

Yang said that trees do not die easily. Any sick tree can be cured with proper treatment. He has never found any tree that cannot be cured. In his opinion, cutting down a sick tree is the most stupid response. He reflected that a government spends money on protecting wild animals, but no government pays any attention to trees, which are more important than any other creature to human beings.

In recent years, an understanding of the importance of planting trees has grown. However, what is more important is to protect the large trees which are already in existence. "It takes several decades for a tree to grow to a diameter of fifty centimeters. Planting new trees can never make up for trees that have been cut down. The government, the public, and tree doctors should work together to protect old trees on this land."

How can we tell if a tree is sick?

Yang said that first we can tell from its outer appearance. If the top of a tree has dry twigs and withered leaves, it means that nutrition and water are not getting from the roots to the top. Next we check the trunk to see if it is decayed inside or eaten by insects. By such observation and examination, we can judge whether a tree is sick.

"The illness of a tree is either pathological or entomological. Pathological means infection by bacteria from the soil. In that case, we must find out what kind of bacteria is in the soil and treat the tree accordingly."

Insects are the worst enemy of trees. You may see only a small hole in the trunk, but when you cut it open with a knife, you may find the inside completely eaten. Under such circumstances, most people would just spray it with insecticide and neglect any further treatment of the decayed part. According to Yang, the decayed part must be cut out to let new bark grow. He saved a tree whose lower trunk was completely eaten away by insects. Now new bark has grown. From the outside, no one can tell that the tree was ever operated on. A tree that has been treated this way can live on for several more decades.

Yang's operation is unique. Even Japanese specialists have come to Taiwan to learn from him. Actually the process is very simple. The first step is to cut out the decayed wood. The second step is to burn the inside to carbonize it. Then the trunk is packed with charcoal to keep it dry, camphor balls to drive away insects, and preparations to help it heal. After that, the affected part is wrapped with a plastic sheet coated with a protective substance. The final step is to spray-paint the plastic to restore the original look of the tree.

Another reason that trees get sick is that people like to put cement on the ground instead of a lawn. If we pave the ground around a large banyan, then the soil around the tree trunk may be less than a meter wide, which will inhibit future growth. Furthermore, people often dig ditches and set metal benches on the ground without consideration for the growth of trees.

Yang has always experimented with new ways of curing trees. He invented plant oxygenation. He buried bamboo tubes of different lengths into the ground around a sick tree so that he could provide water, medicine and nutrition to the tree. By doing this, his rate of success in curing trees greatly increased.

"The purpose of the bamboo tubes is to enable the tree to absorb more nutrition. This way, the tree will quickly grow healthier." The invention has shortened the time needed to cure a sick tree. Yang finally received some concrete reward for his work when the patent for this method was bought by a Japanese company.

For many years, his studies in plant pathology and entomology and his treatment of trees in Taiwan have received attention from Japan. In June 1993, an old professor of his phoned him and asked whether he would like to take part in a certification exam for tree doctors to be held in Japan.

When Yang heard this, he couldn't help laughing. It had been so many years. How could he have the strength to prepare for a difficult national examination in Japan? He thought the whole idea was a joke. However, he finally decided to go take the exam. His score was very high. He was the only foreigner and also the oldest testee to qualify. The Tokyo Agricultural University sent a representative to Taiwan to bestow upon him his certification as a tree doctor. Reporters from Japanese TV stations, newspapers and magazines also came to interview the old man who had devoted his whole life to trees.

Since then, more and more people have come to ask for his help. The Japanese flowering cherry trees at Alishan National Park, the ancient trees at Lala Mountain, the old plum trees at Kuanhsi and Puli-in short, wherever an old tree is sick, the doctor is sure to be there.