XIII 

 THE MENDING OF THE APPLE-TREE 



Many accidents overtake the apple-tree. The hired 

 man skins the tree with the harrow; fire runs through 

 the dry grass ; hard winters shatter the vitaUty, and parts 

 of the tree die ; borers enter ; rabbits and mice gnaw the 

 bark in winter; loads of fruit and burdens of ice crush 

 the tree ; wind storms play mischief ; bad pruning leaves 

 long stubs, and rot develops; cankers produce dead 

 ragged wounds; fire-blight destroys the tissue; a poorly 

 formed tree with bad crotches splits easily ; grafts fail 

 to take, and long dead ends are left; the tree is injured 

 by pickers; vandals wreak their havoc. All these acci- 

 dents must be met and the damages repaired. The sur- 

 geon must be summoned. 



We must first understand how a wound heals on a 

 tree. Note any wound, — knot-hole on the trunk, place 

 where wood has been removed. The exposed wound it- 

 self does not heal; it is covered and inclosed by tissue 

 built out from the edges or periphery of the wound. This 

 tissue is like a roll. It is the callus. Eventually the tis- 

 sue meets in the center, and the lid is thereby put on the 

 place, and it is sealed. The exposed wood has died, if 

 it is the cross-section of a branch or a deep wound, and it 

 remains under the callus a dead body. If the wood has 



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