16 Farmers’ Bulletin 1169. 
All dead and dying trees and limbs should be promptly removed 
and burned, as they attract wood-boring insects which may become 
abundant and attack and injure healthy trees. When limbs of 
trees are being removed they should be sawed as closely to the trunk 
as possible to insure rapid and complete healing over. Stubs of 
limbs should not be left, as these decay, later resulting in a cavity 
which permanently injures the tree and will afford a hiding place for 
noxious insects. In cutting large limbs special care should be taken 
to prevent stripping of the bark from the trunk. A large limb is 
best removed by first sawing the limb from the underside at a distance 
of 6 to 8 inches from the trunk until the saw is pinched, by which 
time the cut should have reached from one-fourth to one-half through 
the limb. The second cut should be made on the upper side of the 
limb an inch or two farther from the base of the limb than the first 
one, sawing being continued until the limb falls. It is then easy to 
saw off the remaining stub close to the tree trunk and in line with its 
woody surface, taking care, however. to support the stub until 
completely severed. 
STIMULATION OF GROWTH BY FERTILIZATION, ETC.® 
Unthrifty trees are thought to be more subject to the attack of 
certain insects than plants in a healthy condition. Weakened trees 
are frequently killed by wood-boring insects which do not attack 
trees growing vigorously. Such trees sometimes can be saved by 
prompt stimulation with a nitrogenous fertilizer, as nitrate of soda, 
stable manure, etc. This treatment, in connection with severe prun- 
ing and adequate cultivation, often will result in marked improve- 
ment. 
MISCELLANEOUS INSECT-KILLING IMPLEMENTS. 
Elsewhere in this bulletin the point was made that wholesale de- 
struction is an essential consideration in the profitable control of in- - 
sects wherever this is practicable. In the case of large trees the | 
insects are generally beyond unaided reach and usually too numerous 
for profitable individual hand picking. Hence, mechanical devices of 
some sort, ranging from the ordinary paint or whitewash brush or 
pole and mop to the most complicated power drawn and propelled 
spraying outfit, are generally employed in this work. Local condi- 
tions and the insect involved largely determine the sort of instrument 
to be used in any given case. 
THE PAINT OR WHITEWASH BRUSH. 
In the absence of spraying machinery or for other reasons a single 
shade tree or small number of them requiring treatment of trunk and 
5 Adapted from Farmers’ Bulletin 908. 
