298 ■ ILLINOIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in the fall to condensed sap in the winter; then to a watery condition in 

 the spring, and from that to a milky and fibrous, and lastly, a woody 

 condition, as the leaves start and the season advances. 



Second, In trimming, cut the collar of the limb away, and if the knot 

 does not become dry, a growth of wood will be laid over it, and in time 

 the knot will bqcome lost, and its place be filled with nearly straight- 

 grained wood. To keep the knot green, so as to facilitate healing the 

 wound, he recommended a plaster of earth to be applied to the wound. 



Mr. Carpenters' ideas were pretty well considered at the next meet- 

 ing of the Society, which was held at the residence of Capt. Fuller. 

 The following is a summary of the discussion : 



President Standish said : I don't know where Mr. Carpenter gets 

 his theory that sap remains in the tap all winter. It contradicts all ex- 

 periment. Spencer and Johnson have made experiments which prove 

 that the sap ascends in spring and works, or is elaborated through the leaf 

 and returns in the inner bark in a form suitable for the new year's growth. 

 Mr. Johnson states that he has inserted the lower end of a limb into color- 

 ing material, and after awhile it would be found descending into the inner 

 bark, but never ascending, which shows that this is the manner of circula- 

 tion in exogenous trees. Mr. Carpenter is also incorrect when he states 

 that trees lose their knots ; a knot which is once formed in a tree remains 

 until the tree decays. I cannot exactly agree with him as to the time for 

 trimming trees. If we trim for a growth of wood, we may trim in the 

 spring; but if we desire the wound to heal, we should tnm in June or 

 July, when the elaborating sap is descending, and the medicine, or heal- 

 ing salve, is at hand for immediate application. 



Dr. Humphrey asked if the President had ever made sugar, and if 

 so, on tapping the trees, which way the sap flowed, up or down ? Also, 

 if he had any evidence that the sap flowed at all before the abrasion was 

 made in the tree ? 



President Standish replied : I have made maple sugar enough to 

 sweeten you all, and will say, that if the trees are cut early in the spring 

 the sap will go up and out, and I will say it runs both ways — up and down. 

 But this is not the sap that heals. It is only the sap that has been elab- 

 orated through the leaves that heals the abrasions of the trees. 



Dr. Humphrey said: I think the philosophy of Prof. Standish in 

 regard to the circulation of sap is correct, but I do not think the sap cir- 

 culates until after the growth begins, and abrasion starts the circulation. 

 The sap is in the tree in a highly fluid state, and when the tree is abraded 

 it begins to flow. 



