REVIVING DRY WOOD 



125 



fruit. Great care should be taken in transplanting 

 from nurseries, the roots being very sensitive to air, 

 and when once dried cannot be revived. Cuttings 

 will endure considerable neglect and by placing 

 them alternately in water for twelve hours and then 

 airing them in the shade the same length of time, 

 they can be carried over a considerable period, and 

 even revived when apparently dead. But dried 

 roots will not become lively by any treatment, and 

 should be pruned off. The test for roots, as well 

 as for cuttings — in case of drying, frost, or other 

 injury — is to cut quickly through the tissue with a 

 sharp knife and watch the sap appear in the pores 

 of the wood; if it flows freely, milky w T hite, the 

 wood is alive ; if it comes slowly and is thin and wa- 

 tery, the wood should be cut back farther, or if a 

 cutting, its further revival by immersion and aera- 

 tion should be continued. 



