November : Fourth Week 



WORK FOR THE HOME TREE DOCTOR: HOW TO 

 REPAIR OLD WOUNDS AND SPLITS; FALL 

 TRENCHING AND DRAINING 



The beginning of winter sees no cessation of work on the 

 part of the industrious gardener. The ground may be frozen 

 or covered with snow, but there will still be warm after- 

 noons when there is keen zest in a few hours' brisk work in 

 the open air. It is nevertheless unwise to put off these 

 winter jobs, for the good days are numbered. 



One of the first things is to put the trees, both fruit and 

 ornamental, in order. Be your own tree doctor. For or- 

 dinary tree ills there is no necessity for a specialist. You 

 will require only a sharp cutting-off saw, preferably newly 

 " set" ; a good strong knife; a mallet and two chisels, one half 

 an inch and the other one and a quarter inches; some heavy 

 paint, preferably creosote; Portland cement and a small 

 mason's trowel; a tree scraper, which may be improvised by 

 nailing a flat three-cornered piece of metal to a short handle; 

 and possibly a bitstock or an auger. 



Decaying cavities in trunk or limbs are the most common 

 injuries of serious nature. These are the results of former 

 abrasions of the bark and the cambium layer, or living skin, 

 of the tree; or of improper pruning. If neglected such decay 

 will extend rapidly into trunk or limb until, in the course of a 

 few years, the living wood will be destroyed out to the bark in 

 every direction, and when an unusual strain of wind or 

 ice comes it will all be over but the crash! This decay is the 

 result of disease spores or germs that have found lodgment 

 and congenial conditions for development in some neg- 

 lected wound, often a very slight one. It could have been 

 prevented by proper precautions at the time of the infliction 

 of the wound, or when the tree was pruned. 



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