FILLING TREES 87 



on trees when the tree repairer does not interfere. 

 One of the most surprising facts about the normal 

 course of decay is the extreme slowness with which 

 it does its work. This will be branded as the 

 rankest heresy by every " tree doctor." They 

 have made every effort to create the impression 

 that the least sign of decay, if untreated, will be 

 followed by speedy dissolution and certain ruin. 

 But the proof is all on the other side. Common 

 observation and the records of history and science, 

 all agree that perfectly hollow trees frequently 

 survive and flourish for very long periods. Liter- 

 ature and legend are full of references to such 

 trees. No one who has gone back to the old 

 farm of his youth has failed to recognize many 

 of the " bee trees " and " coon trees " and "old 

 hollow apple trees," which were seemingly no 

 more hollow than they had been a decade or two 

 before. In 1687 the Charter Oak contained a 

 hollow large enough to hide the charter of Con- 

 necticut in. If there had been tree doctors in 

 that day they would have affirmed that only a 

 prompt filling of concrete would prevent the early 

 death of the tree. Yet not until 1856 did it suc- 

 cumb, still green, to the storms of New England. 

 The trees themselves, in many ways, offer evi- 

 dence of the time decay may continue without be- 

 ing fatal. A tree makes an effort to close a 

 wound by rolling a callus over it from the sides. 



