CHAPTER II 



HOLLOW TRUNKS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



IT may be laid down as a general principle 

 that when left to themselves cavities or hollows 

 in trees gradually increase in size until the 

 ascending sap is entirely cut off, when the 

 crumbling stem either falls to pieces or is 

 broken over by the wind. Hollows and cavities, 

 with their usual accompaniments, may there- 

 fore be looked upon as the primary and main 

 cause of a tree's destruction, and as a direct 

 connecting stage between the injured bark and 

 dead or dying stem. Little wonder, then, that 

 the best art of the woodman has been brought 

 to bear on the vital point of arresting decay, 

 whether by a timely filling of concrete, cover- 

 ing apertures so as to prevent the ingress of 

 damp, or treating antiseptically for insect and 

 fungoid diseases, as the exigency of the parti- 



