x TREE WOUNDS AND DISEASES 



to account for rusty, meagre, and unhealthy 

 leafage, stagheadedness, bark-shedding, and 

 hollow trunk, are all questions of importance 

 that must forcibly appeal to everyone who is 

 interested in the welfare of park and wood- 

 land trees. 



The sudden and unexpected death of a tree 

 may be due to several causes, such as want of 

 or excessive moisture in the soil, atmospheric 

 impurities, or an escape of gas amongst the soil 

 in which the tree is growing. Stagheaded- 

 ness usually comes about gradually, and may be 

 attributed to old age, unsuitable soil and sur- 

 roundings, or a generally enfeebled condition 

 of the tree ; while bark-shedding may and 

 usually does accompany any of the above condi- 

 tions and may also be directly due to frost and 

 insect or fungus attacks. Wounds are, how- 

 ever, the chief cause of the unhealthy condition 

 of a tree, and, if not attended to at the outset, 

 quickly become tenanted by fungus and insect 

 pests, which rapidly sap the life of the tree and 

 eventually bring about its partial or entire 

 destruction. The causes of wounds are many, 

 the principal being : injury to stem or branch 



