Book II. 



TREATMENT OF INJURED TREES. 



655 



4026. Copse-woods are sometimes Improved hy turning them into woods, which requires 

 nothing more than a judicious selection and reservation of 

 the strongest of those shoots which proceed from tlie stools, 

 and which spring more immediately from the collar. But a 

 greater improvement of copse-woods consists in cutting over 

 the overgrown and protuberant stools by the surface of the 

 soil (Jig. 595. a, b, c, d), which has been found by Mon- 

 teith completely to regenerate them. The operation is 

 performed with a saw, in a slanting direction, and the 

 young shoots, being properly thinned and pruned, soon 

 establish themselves securely on the circuroference of large 



-^^"^^^ and perhaps rotten-hearted roots. (Forester's Guide, 60.) 



4027. Neglected hedge-row timber may be improved by pruning according to its age. 

 Blaikie recommends what he calls foreshortening, or cutting-in, as the best method 



vy both for young and old hedge -row 



i^c . IX, . . . \ I I'Vil I' , timber. " This operation is per- 



formed by shortening the overlux- 

 uriant side-branches (Jig. 596. a), 

 but not to cut them to a stump, 

 as in snag-pruning; on the con- 

 trary, the extremity only of the 

 branch should be cut off, and the 

 amputation effected immediately 

 above where an auxiliary side- 

 shoot springs from the branch on 

 which the operation is to be per- 

 formed (/>) ; this may be at the 

 distance of two, four, or any other 

 number of feet from the stem of 

 the tree ; and suppose the auxiliary branch which is left (when the top of the branch is 

 cut off) is also over-luxuriant, or looks unsightly, it should also be shortened at its 

 sub-auxiliary branch, in the same manner as before described. The branches of trees, 

 pruned in this manner, are always kept within due bounds ; they do not extend over 

 the adjoining land, to the injury of the occupier, at least not until the stem of the tree 

 rises to a height (out of the reach of pruning , when the top branches can do compara- 

 tively little injury to the land. By adopting this system of pruning, the bad effects of 

 close pruning on old trees, and snag-pruning on young ones, will be avoided, the country 

 will be ornamented, and the community at large, as well as individuals, benefited." 



Sect. VII. Treatment of Injured and Diseased Trees. 



4028. With respect to wounds, bruises, casualties, and defects of trees, such small wounds 

 as are required to be made by judicious pruning, easily heal up of themselves ; large 

 wounds, by amputation of branches above six inches in diameter, should, if possible, 

 never be made. Even wounds of six inches diameter or under will heal more quickly 

 by the application of any material that excludes the air and preserves the wood from 

 corruption ; and we agree with Sang in recommending coal-tar, or the liquor produced 

 from coals in manufacturing gas. It is, however, less favourable to the progress of the 

 bark over the wound than a coating of clay or cow- dung covered with moss to keep it 

 moist. Pontey recommends putty and two coats of paint over it. In case the wood, 

 at a bruised or amputated place, has by neglect become already corrupted, the rotten or 

 dead wood is to be pared out quite into the quick, and the wound is then to be dressed 

 with tar or clay, covered with a piece of mat, sacking, or moss. A wound, hollowed out 

 as above, may at first appear an unsightly blemish ; but, in subsequent years, nature 

 will lay the coats of wood under the new-formed bark thicker at that place ; and pro- 

 bably may, in time, fill it up to be even with the general surface of the tree. 



4029. All fractures, by whatever means produced, are to be managed as the circum- 

 stances of the case require. If a large branch be broken over at the middle of its 

 length, it should be sawn clear off close by the lateral which is nearest to the bole of the 

 tree : but if there is no lateral, or branch capable to carry forward the growth, cut the 

 main or fractured branch in quite to the bole. In both cases, treat the wound as above 

 recommended. 



40S0. Interior rotting, arising from the dampness of the soil, cannot, by the art of man, 

 be cured ; though it might have been prevented by timely draining. The hearts of trees 

 frequently rot, where there is no excess of moisture, and especially of such as have been 

 produced from old roots left in the ground by a previous felling. Such roots, when in 

 good ground, send up very great shoots, with few leaves in proportion to their size ; from 



