174 Oil the Dry Rot. 



surface of the body, was affected by the dry rot in its purest type. 

 I removed this with my knife, and found that the disease had 

 made its attack on the body of the tree itself. The tree, after 

 the hmb was taken off, became sickly, and its fruit, after it be- 

 gan to bear, was imperfect. 



I would here observe, that it is the common practice, when 

 people cut the timber of a house frame, to do it in the winter, 

 because, as they think, it will be more durable ; but they will 

 not trim their trees at that season because they know by experi- 

 ence that they will contract the rot, and therefore they do it in 

 the spring. What a strange oversight ! But Doctor Ives, senior, 

 of New Haven, goes even farther ; he trims his trees in June, 

 and thinks they do better at that season of the year because the 

 wounds heal quicker. This is right, for as the cause of the dis- 

 ease is not in the heart-wood at that season, so the remaining 

 stump, being all heart-wood, can never be attacked by the dis- 

 ease, and therefore the wound will heal quicker ; but if it is done 

 in December, the cause of the disease is in the heart-wood at the 

 death of the limb, and as the stumps cannot be removed, the con- 

 sequence is that the disease attacks and very soon destroys them, 

 and therefore the wounds will never heal. Although trees thus 

 situated, may, by their abundant foliage, their extended branches, 

 and their smooth and comely bodies, appear to be in perfect health, 

 (which is sometimes the case, ) yet they are doomed trees, for the 

 canker having entered into their organization, is preying upon 

 their very vitals, and will sooner or later prostrate them in the 

 dust. If any accident should happen to a limb so as to break it 

 off in the winter, no matter how small, if it be connected with 

 the main pith of the tree, the effect would be the same. And 

 hence the origin of what the carpenters call punk knots, that so 

 often appear in our most valuable white pine mast sticks, and the 

 indications of which on the outer surface is many times so minute 

 as to deceive the most vigilant eye, but when perceived and traced, 

 will lead to a mass of decay around the region of the pith. 



When I have known the period at which certain trees have 

 been cut, and also their locality, I have afterwards, year after year, 

 examined their stumps, and watched their decay, and have inva- 

 riably found, that of those of them which were cut in the winter, 

 the disease first made its appearance in the heart-wood, and con- 

 tinued its ravages until that was destroyed, and up to that period 

 the alburnum was comparatively sound. And of those that were 



