Scraping and Whitewashing 277 



patches of canker, and the like, may be cut away, and the 

 wounded surfaces are thereafter covered with bordeaux 

 mixture or paint. 



In the scraping of trees, it is advisable to take away 

 every particle of wounded and diseased tissue, unless it 

 extends deep into the wood. When the object is simply 

 to take away the rough and loose bark, the tree should not 

 be scraped down to the quick; that is, only the loose 

 exterior part should be removed. 



The scraping of trees merely for looks is to be avoided. 

 Itinerant quacks are likely to make it appear that all the 

 outer bark should be removed from the trunk and branches 

 of orchard and shade trees; but, as a general practice, the 

 bark should be allowed to remain where it grows. 



Whitewashing trees. 



There is probably no virtue in whitewash, unless to 

 retard the buds in bright climates (page 259), and perhaps to 

 keep the trunks cool and to act as a protection from sun. 

 The whitewashing of tree-trunks is a cleansing process, 

 particularly when the material is applied vigorously with 

 a brush or broom. Aside from these secondary uses, the 

 whitewashing of trees has no particular merit. It is not 

 employed by commercial orchardists. If trunks and 

 branches are sprayed with lime-sulfur or bordeaux mix- 

 ture (as they should be), there will be little occasion for 

 resorting to whitewash as a cleansing agent. 



Ringing. 



Observation of girdled branches shows that there is 

 likely to be congestion of the parts immediately above the 

 girdle, indicating that those parts are then overfed; 

 that is, they receive nutriment at the expense of the parts 



