128 PRACTICAL TREE REPAIR 



the sockets cut out or bored out with a large 

 auger and measurements for the bolts made. 

 These processes will be described at greater length 

 in the chapter devoted to the bracing of limbs. 

 Every effort should be made to keep the sockets 

 as small as possible. Nor need they be cut much 

 deeper than the cambium. Large, deep sockets, 



Cross sections showing two ways of Sockets for bolts, one too 

 bracing a cavity deep, the other correct 



in which the bolt head can be completely covered 

 with cement, may look better to some people than 

 smaller ones, but in them appearance is gained 

 at the cost of lessened strength in the brace and 

 greater damage to the tree. It is hardly neces- 

 sary to say that the sockets and the bolts must be 

 painted with some disinfectant, such as tar, before 

 the bolt is inserted. 



These bolts do ;iot usually strengthen the tree 

 to any great extent. There are a number of sys- 

 tems of bracing in common use which are claimed 

 to strengthen the tree. In the writer's opinion 

 they do not often materially do so. In one sys- 



