113 



DEAD WOOD IN FOREST TREES. 



It is frequently said that we have more insect and fungoid pests to 

 contend against now than was the case a comparatively few years ago. 

 How far this is correct is open to question. But, supposing it to be 

 true, there is no doubt about the blame resting on our own shoulders 

 In every direction, including some of the best managed estates, we see 

 quantities of dfad branches and dead trees which are absolutely teeming 

 with fungi, and are therefore a standmg menace to all surrounding 

 trees, the fungi on them only waiting for a favourable opportunity to 

 attack fresh subjects, working destruction possibly slowly, but none the 

 less surely. We have pointed this danger out to more than one tree- 

 lover and planter, and the answer is, almost invariably : " Oh, I think 

 dead trees (or dead branches) very picturesque, and I would not have 

 tbem removed and burnt on any account ; and, after all, the danger 

 can only be very remote." In the case o' Oak-trees, we have heard it 

 said that it is bad forestry to cut the dead limbs out of the trees. But 

 why ? We should like to know the reason why Oak-trees, more than 

 others, resent the dead wood being removed. 



In our opinion the cause of death or decay in so many comparatively 

 young trees, is in great part due to permitting so much dead wood to 

 remain. Not only is it worse than useless, for its beauty is at least 

 open to doubt, whereas its danger is absolutely certain, for it swarms 

 with fungi and with insect foes, which immediately enter a fresh tree 

 whenever a branch is broken or a limb cut ofi. and so the enemy goes 

 on working destruction without a check. Not only should dead trees 

 be promptly cut down and removed to the woodyard, but also all dead 

 or dying limbs, taking care, of course, to paint tne wound over at once 

 with a good coat of tar, thus preventing any fungi entering. If left 

 only for a day or two, the enemy has very likely entered the tree, and 

 it is then little good painting the wound afterward. If tree lovers 

 would remember this and act upon it, injury to our trees would be 

 greatly reduced, and the beauty of the countryside improved. 



The question of how to prune forest tr^es is not so well understood 

 everywhere as it ought to be. This is proved by seeing limbs sawn off 

 sometimes a foot or more from the trunk or main branches. The con- 

 sequence is that the portion left decays back into the tree itself, giving 

 a free entry to all foes, and als j to wet, the certain parent of decay. 

 On the other hand, if the branch is cut off close to the trunk, and the 

 edge of the wound pared round with a sharp knife or with a chisel, and 

 followed up with a coating of tar at once, the tree quickly begins to 

 cover the wound with new bark, and in a few years it is quite covered 

 up — that is, of course, if the tree is healthy and in vigorous growth.— 

 (Journal Royal Horticultural Society, England) 



