Image Source and Text - TREES, ASSOCIATES, and SHIGO (2 CD set).

26.  THREE VIEWS OF WOOD; TRANSVERSE, RADIAL, AND TANGENTIAL

    Transverse sections are cross sections through a stem, root, or branch [A].  Radial sections are longitudinal cuts through the radii of a stem, root, or branch [B].  Tangential sections are straight cuts at a tangent to the growth increments [C].  Almost all tree biology came from experiments on seedlings or small trees, and from transverse cuts on larger trees.  This is understandable because it was very difficult to dissect trees longitudinally before the powerful, lightweight chainsaws began to be manufactured after 1950.  Yes, there were powerful chainsaws before 1950 all the way back to the late 1920's; but they were very heavy and often required two strong bodies to operate them.  In 1959 I started longitudinal radial dissections of beech, birch, and maple in the northeastern United States.  These trees have bright white wood and no heartwood,  I had an endless supply of trees to cut.  I had a powerful, relatively lightweight saw (40 pounds) and lots of strong, enthusiastic assistants.  Because the trees did not have a history of fire or insect wounds, it was very easy to see very small defect.  I had the help of the U.S. Forest Service foresters who showed me the best places to cut and gave me the cutting histories of the areas.  Thousands and thousands of trees were dissected and studied.  Hundreds and hundreds of isolations were made for microorganisms.  I had lots and lots of good help from every direction (A,H).

48  This is a page out of the book Modern Arboriculture by Dr. Shigo.

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