452 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the entire surface of the wound may be loosened even by 

 the friction of the saw in the hands of a careless workman. 

 Small, short limbs, less than an inch in diameter, if care- 

 fully supported while being cut off, may be removed with a 

 single cut by a sharp saw in the hands of a skilful operator ; 

 but for all who are pruning large limbs, 

 the method indicated in Fig. 16 is a safer 

 one. 



The limb is first cut at a, the cut ex- 

 tending upward and halfway through. 

 The ciit at b is next made, and the limb 

 falls, splitting to a. If the limb is large, 

 the operator should guard well against 

 FIG. i6.-niustiating jj^gi^g struck by the butt, either in its fall 



the proper method of ^ , . 



removing large limbs. or on the rebound wliich may come w^hen 

 the outer end of the limb strikes the 

 ground. The limb should then be sawed off at c, care being 

 used to support the stump during the operation. Great 

 pains should be taken, when making the last cut, not to start 

 or bruise the cambium. Healing should then begin well. 

 There may be, and usually is, a slight drjdng out and dying- 

 back of the bark at the edge of the wound ; but the callus 

 readily pushes forth from under this slightly loosened rim, 

 and begins the work of covering and healincr. 



The Treatment of Tree Wounds. 

 We have seen that leafless stumps left upon the tree die 

 back, and so carry disease into the trunk ; also, that ragged 

 wounds invite decay. We can see also that any wound on 

 the surface of the tree, however carefully and smoothly made, 

 offers an opening for wound rot, unless protected by a cov- 

 ering which will seal it against the entrance of water and the 

 orsranisms of decav. Some coniferous trees furnish resinous 

 secretions which, in a measure, protect wounds made on their 

 trunks, but this is not the case with deciduous trees.* 



* "When wounds, due to pruning, barking, etc., expose the wood of a dicoty- 

 ledonous tree, the tree protects itself against the unfavorable influences of the 

 environment in two ways. In the first place, the vessels become completely 

 plugged up by tyloses (tyloses are growths of the cells surrounding a vessel. 



