TREATMENT WITHOUT FILLING 193 



oval cavities resulting from the partial healing and 

 partial decay where a limb has been torn away by 

 the roots, as so often happens in elms and silver 

 and red maples. It is often the best way to 

 handle the top of a chimney cavity. It is all 

 right for cracks which do not open and shut. It 

 is not suited to the treatment of large, long, and 

 contorted cavities. 



In several different connections, I have spoken 



Hollow stub cut off close and covered with tin 



of decayed trees which could not or ought not to 

 be cleared entirely of rotting wood. There are 

 two reasons why this may be the case. First, the 

 decay may be of such a character, and may have 

 spread to such an extent, that its complete removal 

 would involve a prohibitive expense. Second, 

 for similar reasons, the complete removal of the 

 decayed wood (retaining, as it does, a certain de- 

 gree of strength for many years), and the re- 

 moval of large amounts of sound wood in getting 

 at the decay, may promise to involve a greater 

 risk of damage than is involved in the presence 



