TREATMENT OF WOUNDS 25 



culturists. There is a strong tendency to ques- 

 tion the value of materials which have long been 

 accepted as effective. Take paint and tar, for 

 instance. Men who have much to do with shade 

 and orchard trees are constantly coming upon old 

 wounds, apparently painted or tarred with care 

 when they were made, which are now dotted with 

 the exit holes of borers, and netted with season 

 checks. The wood at the surface of the wound 

 may seem substantially sound, but a blow with an 

 ax discloses the decayed and crumbling wood 

 within. In spite of these facts the general teach- 

 ing has been that nothing more is needed, in treat- 

 ing a wound, than a dressing of paint or tar. The 

 permanence of the dressing on the surface, even 

 after the decay has slipped by it into the tree, has 

 retarded the discovery of the actual ineffectiveness 

 of paint and tar. 



It may be answered to this that paint and tar 

 are not at fault, but rather the way in which they 

 are used. That is in large part true. A wound- 

 dressing, even the best, is not a charm, and must 

 be carefully applied and renewed if it is to be 

 permanently effective. It is also true that there 

 are many kinds of paint and of tar. It is no less 

 the purpose of this discussion to point out the 

 right use of the old materials than it is to describe 

 the new ones. The man who can knock out the 

 general idea that a wound is dressed mainly for 



