140 PRUNING 



wound considerably, but do not worry about that. Cut close, 

 and the tree will do the rest. 



It is also desirable to leave the wound as smooth as possible, 

 to which end one should not use an axe but should use a sharp 

 saw. It rarely pays, however, in commercial work to smooth a 

 wound up with a knife. Leave that for the amateur. Occa- 

 sionally, when the best healing is very important and when, 

 in some way, a rough cut has been made, it may be w^orth while 

 to take a knife and smooth up the edges along the cambium 

 layer. 



Dressings for Wounds, — All sorts of things are used for this 

 purpose, from mixtures of clay and cow-dung to grafting wax or 

 shellac. The ideal dressing ought to be durable, waterproof, 

 harmless to the tree, reasonably cheap and easily applied. If it 

 can be antiseptic so much the better. In the writer's opinion 

 there are just two classes of dressings that are worth using. 

 These are paints of various kinds and the tar and creosote 

 mixtures. For nearly all wounds, paint is the best material by 

 far. and comes very near to possessing all of the desirable points 

 just enumerated. It is best to mix your own paint rather thick, 

 using white lead and raw linseed oil. Also add a little raw 

 sienna, enough to make the paint about the color of the bark. 

 This does not make it any better dressing, but the wounds you 

 are making will worry the neighbors less. This is particularly 

 important on renovation work where many and relatively large 

 wounds will have to be made. Tar or creosote are preferred on 

 large wounds simply because these substances are better pre- 

 servatives than paint, and the heartwood of the large wound will 

 have to stand many years before it is completely healed over. 

 One reason why tar preserves better than paint is because it 

 strikes in more deeply. It therefore damages the cambiiun layer 

 more, and for this reason, on large wounds which it is very de- 

 sirable to have heal well, the pruner will sometimes tar the 

 center of the wound and use oil and lead paint around the out- 

 side over the cambium layer. This takes considerable time but is 

 worth it in important cases. Pruners are sometimes advised to 

 take a paint pot into the tree when pruning and paint the 



