TREATMENT OF WOUNDS 41 



gardeners bark them with lawnmowers, falling 

 trees crush against them, farmers use them for 

 fence-posts, carpenters drive nails into them, 

 lovers cut hearts 

 on them, and small 

 boys try their little 

 hatchets on their 

 tender bark. For 

 every kind of bark 

 wound, no matter 

 what its cause, the 

 prescription is : 

 " Clean up, disin- 

 fect, and seal." 

 Yet even here cir- 

 cumstances alter 

 cases, and the way 

 the prescription is 

 carried out must 

 be adapted to the 

 special cases. The 

 differences depend 

 mostly upon the length of time intervening be- 

 tween the making of the injury, and its treatment. 

 It is extremely desirable that wounds be treated 

 immediately after they occur. This is not, as 

 might be inferred from the analogy of wounds in 

 animals, to prevent infection, for infection takes 

 place rather slowly, as a rule. Promptness is 



Bark wound in which almost all of 

 the cambium has been saved by 

 prompt treatment 



