6 TREE WOUNDS AND DISEASES 



forests to find how many historic and other- 

 wise valuable trees are crumbling to ruin for 

 want of timely attention in the matter of 

 pruning, bracing, or filling the cavities of both 

 branch and stem. Both in public and private 

 parks, the latter in particular, the attention 

 bestowed on injured and diseased trees is scant 

 indeed, and leads one to believe that in the 

 art of tree-surgery we are but little advanced 

 from what the writers on orchard trees make 

 us believe was the case three and a half 

 centuries ago. As stated elsewhere, it cannot, 

 however, be expected that all hollow and dis- 

 eased trees in our larger wooded areas should 

 receive attention, but in the case of historic 

 specimens, those growing in towns and in our 

 public and private parks, the bracing of heavy 

 limbs and treatment of hollow trunks should 

 be considered as imperative. 



But it is not only old trees that suffer from 

 disease and decay, for in the case of young 

 plantations the attacks of insects and fungi 

 are often most destructive to the occupants. 

 The larch falls a speedy prey to that most 

 insidious disease the larch canker, while the 



