200 PRACTICAL TREE REPAIR 



a beautiful tree. If you are in doubt as to 

 whether to use cement filling you may wait a year. 

 The decay will spread but slightly. But if brac- 

 ing is needed, do it at once, for the next storm may 

 wreck the tree. And never depend on cement as 

 a substitute for bracing. 



In coming to the methods of tree bracing, it is 



C&rnbivm 



fifteenth 

 \ of cambium. 

 ' remove 



ty bolt 



Two bands, one now broken, Showing how a bolt put 

 around limb of a sugar through a limb, kills less 

 maple cambium than a band 



necessary to dispose, first of all, of an old idea on 

 the subject. It has long been the custom to 

 strengthen the spreading limbs of old trees, espe- 

 cially elms, by binding them up with a chain or iron 

 band, just as one would tie up with a string the 

 stalks of a sprawling hollyhock. These bands 

 usually break. If they do not they often break 

 the limbs they are supposed to strengthen, for they 



