174 PRACTICAL TREE REPAIR 



cult to get out and the line of separation between 

 the sound wood and the decayed wood is not well 



marked, and especially 

 if the decay has worked 

 up into a number of 

 branches, it is usually 

 not worth while to try 

 to excavate and fill the 

 tree. It is better by 

 far to brace the tree, if 

 it needs it, fumigate 

 the cavity, spray it per- 

 haps with carbolineum, 

 make all openings in 

 the tree water-tight, and 

 use the money saved by 

 not filling it in better- 

 ing the soil or planting 

 a new tree. In other 

 cases, especially when 

 the decay has proceeded 

 farther, it may be com- 

 paratively easy to get 

 most of the rotten wood 

 with the help of a hoe 

 and long-handled gouges. Sometimes the de- 

 cayed punk can be expeditiously got rid of by sat- 

 urating a part of it at a time with coal oil and burn- 

 ing it out, care being taken to control the draft. 



Vertical section of a hollow 

 tree, showing the basal open- 

 ing plugged with concrete 

 and the upper opening with 

 asphalt briquettes. The in- 

 tervening space is filled with 

 cinders 



