The Pruning of Trees 



screwed on as tight as possible. This brings the lips of the crack 

 together and holds them. A wise precaution is to wash the wound 

 with some antiseptic, as coal tar or paint, or a mixture of both. 



Lightning often tears away part of a tree, exposing the heart 

 wood over an area so large that the tree cannot be expected to 

 heal it. When it is desirable to save the tree, several methods 

 are possible. Thorough painting of the wound is effectual if 

 repeated as the paint wears off. A hollow, as of a limb torn out, 

 may be filled with cement after an antiseptic dressing. The 

 outer bark has to bring its edges together over the cement. A 

 very successful protection is tar. Sheet iron, tar paper, etc., 

 tacked on over wounds that have not been treated to check 

 invasion of tree diseases, are of doubtful advantage. Outside 

 they look snug and neat, but underneath insects harbour and 

 fungi thrive in the moist darkness which is the most favourable 

 condition for their development. A tree thus protected (?) often 

 goes over in a storm, revealing a rotten heart that has developed 

 since the accident that tore off its limb. 



A hollow tree, or one with a cheesy heart, may be opened 

 (if there is no opening on the side), scraped clean of its corrupt 

 interior substance, and filled with cement. With this pillar 

 of stone fitted inside it, the tree is no longer a hollow shell weak 

 enough for wind to overthrow it. Its disease checked, it may 

 take on a new lease of life. Historic trees, especially, justify 

 thorough renovation and bolstering inside; but the average old 

 tree, weakened by accident and disease, is best cut down and a 

 young one given its place. 



5»2 



