242 THE PLANT WORI.D 



signs of life. The foregoing occurred along in late April or early May. 

 Ivate in July it was noticed that the flannel strips seemed a little out of 

 place, but this attracted only a passing remark, for the tree was con- 

 sidered dead. Suddenly, however, one very hot day there peeped forth 

 from between the folds of the bandage a bit of green. Then came 

 another, and still another. Yet all the unprotected parts of the tree 

 remained as gray and grim as before. 



The bindings were quickly cut away, and to our amazement and 

 delight the trunk and branches bore a thickly-matted growth of healthy 

 young shoots, all of a soft ivory white, with the exception of the tips 

 of the few leaves that had been strong enough to work their way through 

 the interstices of the coverings toward the light. Not only that, but a 

 number of these shoots were eight and ten inches in length, showing that 

 they must have been growing for several weeks. It was a curious sight 

 to watch these slowly unfold beneath the warming influence of the sun. 

 One could almost fancy that they w^ere gratefully stretching themselves 

 and rejoicing in their new-found freedom. 



These new shoots, so brittle that a finger-touch would snap them like 

 a pipe stem, were several weeks in attaining their natural green color, 

 and much of this tenderness they retained all summer, although those 

 that were allowed to remain and grow became branches five and six feet 

 long before the end of the season. 



The dead branches beyond the parts that had been covered were cut 

 away, but the trunk was left to extend above the young growth, to be 

 removed later on when the tree has regained its full health and vigor. 

 Then a space of five or six feet in diameter around the tree was encircled 

 with four-foot-wide poultry netting, which effectually shut off any further 

 outside injury. 



The point to be deduced from this experience is, whether or not the 

 tree was saved by the woolen strips ? That is, would the result have been 

 equally successful had it been wrapped in cotton instead of woolen ? It 

 is a fact that the life returned oyily to the covered portions. Now, can the 

 greater warmth afforded by the woolen coverings in a way have ' ' sweated ' ' 

 the bark back to life ? This steam bath, so to speak, may have had the ten- 

 dency to check the receding of the sap in the dying trunk. The heat may 

 have helped to swell the buds, before dormant, in the bark. Would not all 

 these possible effects result in gradually restoring the almost lost circula- 

 tion and thus bring back life to the trunk ? If so, why may not branches 

 be forced out in bare places upon other trees ? It would be an easy 

 experiment to try, for we need only to wrap one or two thicknesses of 

 flannel about some such place upon a healthy branch and await results. 



Yet the conditions might be different. As the test branch would be 

 already alive along its entire length the sap would be flowing easily, and 



