55 
beginning. Some trees are fairly healthy but tall and spraw- 
ly, frequently full of holes caused by rotting stubs of limbs 
removed years back. Others are sickly and bear no crop 
although the roots seem healthy because water sproughts 
come up each growing season. The first mentioned trees 
may be topped gradually and be made to branch lower and 
more regular, but first of all the diseased parts should be 
eut off. Tree surgery is now a profession in northern 
countries, why should it not be in the tropics also? An 
inexperienced laborer cannot properly clean out and_ fill 
up a cavity in a tree. That can only be done by an ex- 
perienced man and it should never be left to a man who 
is not conscientious. In cleaning a cavity it is essential that 
all the dead and decaying material should be removed, for 
which operation chisels of various sizes are the best tools. 
Also the opening of the cavity should be narrower than the 
interior in order to retain the filling, on the same principle 
that a dentist fills a tooth. The interior of the cavity should 
also be made aseptic with carbolinium or a 3% solution of 
earbolic acid in water, For filling, cement is used succes:- 
fully in the north, but anything that will prevent water 
from entering may be used. Mr. Barrett * recommends 
two parts clay to one part fiber, such as from the silk 
cotton tree, moistened with water to allow it to be worked 
together and a little oil added to it to prevent it from 
cracking and shrinking. Whatever is used it should be 
packed in firmly to within a quarter of an inch of the 
outer edge of the cavity. This leaves room for the bark to 
grow over it, whereas if it were filled topfull the bark 
would take much longer to heal over and also leave a- hump 
on the tree. 
* Society paper 266° Agricultural Society Trinidad. 
