254 PRACTICAL TREE REPAIR 



HORSECHESTNUT 



Being a planted tree, there is no reason why 

 the horsechestnut need often be diseased. It is 

 occasionally subject to frost crack, which is of 

 course not preventable. The bad crotches which 

 so often result in cracks and broken branches can 

 be prevented by proper pruning while the tree is 

 young. It should never be allowed to bifurcate 

 into parallel main trunks, a tendency to which it 

 is rather subject. 



LINDEN 



The linden is preyed upon by many rot fungi, 

 which gain entrance through the many wounds and 

 cracks to which the weakness of the wood pre- 

 disposes the tree. Frequently the decay destroys 

 the wood in the vicinity of the wound through 

 which it gained entrance, and the top of the tree 

 is then broken off, leaving a stump perhaps fifteen 

 or twenty feet high. Such stumps usually send 

 out adventitious shoots, and develop new tops. 

 The trunk of such a second-growth top is of 

 course Invariably decayed, and it is a question 

 whether it is ever worth while trying to remedy 

 the difficulty. The new limbs should be thinned 

 out so that they will not squeeze each other, and 

 they should be cut back occasionally if they get so 

 long as to overstrain the security of their anchor- 



