220 



ON TREES. 



nest of the carrion crow? Brittle are the living 

 branches of the ash and sycamore ; while, on the 

 contrary, those which are dead on the Scotch pine 

 are tough, and will support your weight. The arms 

 of the oak may safely be relied on ; but, I pray you, 

 trust with extreme caution those of the quick- 

 growing alder. Neither press heavily on the linden 

 tree ; though you may ascend the beech and the 

 elm, without any fear of danger. But let us stop 

 here for the present. On some future day, should 

 I be in a right frame for it, I may pen down a few 

 remarks, which will possibly be useful to the natu- 

 ralist, when roving in quest of ornithological know- 

 ledge. I will now confine myself to the misfortunes 

 and diseases of trees ; and I will show^ that neither 

 the titmouse nor the woodpecker ever bore into the 

 hard and live wood. 



Trees, in general, are exposed to decay by two 

 different processes, independent of old age. 



The first is that of a broken branch, which, when 

 neglected, or not cut off" close to the parent stem, 

 will, in the course of time, bring utter ruin on the 

 tree. The new wood, which is annually formed, 

 cannot grow over the jutting and fractured part, 

 into which the rain enters, and gradually eats deeper 

 and deeper, till at last it reaches the trunk itself. 

 There it makes sad havoc ; and the tree, no longer 

 able to resist the fury of the tempest, is split asunder, 

 and falls in ponderous ruins. But ere it comes to 

 this, the titmouse will enter the cavity in a dry 

 spring, and rear its young ones here. Now, it the 

 diseased or fractured branches were carefully cut 



