t, 
entire opening should have an oval form to facili¬ 
tate healing. Then the cavity is braced by running 
%-%-inch machine bolts from the side of the open¬ 
ing diagonally through the back of the tree. These 
are in.serted every 12-lS inches, for the purpose of 
j»reventing the filling from cracking off from the 
sides, due to torsional stres.ses upon the t:*uuk. The 
hole for the bolt should be bored to be c. t!ie same 
diameter as the bolt, while a square opening should 
T/ee Need of Repair. Fig. 404 
be made m the bai’k for the nut, deep enough to sink 
the bolt head under the bark so that it will be event¬ 
ually grown over. The other side has a circular 
opening to allow for a washer. The cavity and bolts 
are then creosoted and later fumigated to kill any 
borers which may be in the sound wood. For this 
l)uri»ose a teaspoonful of carbon bisulphide is used 
to every caibic foot of cavity, the entire opening 
being covered with cloth or tar pap?r, and a piece 
of cotton saturated with the solution dropped into 
the cavity. Tf the cloth does not allow the fumes 
to escape, the borers are killed over night. The 
cavity is then ri^ady for filling. 
FONCUETPl FUELING.—The material most com¬ 
monly emi)loyed is concrete, either a dry or wet 
mixture of one to four. The best Portland cement 
should be used, coarse sand, and l^-inch gravel. No 
reinforcement is necessary, except the bolts, as it 
will not prevent the cracking which is bound to 
occur because of the swaying of the tree. More¬ 
over, the strengthening effect of the reinforcement 
is questionable because an inelastic substance like 
concrete cannot strengthen the elastic wood. The 
dry mixture is the easier to use. The concrete 
should be mixed so that it will not crumble, and is 
then laid in the cavity and brought out to within ^4 
inch of the cambium layer. It is very important 
that tlie filling should be below the cambium to per¬ 
mit U to grow over eventually. Tlie surface of the 
filling niiiy l)e gone over with mortar to give it a 
smooth finish, and after drying out a coat of tar or 
fluxed asphalt is api)lled to make the concrete 
waterproof. The “dry” concrete lias the disadvan¬ 
tage of disintegrating, as air spaces are left which 
are penetrated by water and the cement leaks out 
The “wet” concrete method necessitates the use of 
a form. This may be made of wood, but that is not 
economical and requires driving nails into the bark. 
A wire netting is better, which may be in.serted into 
the cavity, the concrete poured in and then 
faced witli mortar made of a mixture of cement, 
lime, .sand, and water (one part of cement to two of 
lime and sand). Still another method requires the 
u.se of oilclotli. Two sticks should he placed on 
either side of the opening and tied at the top and 
bottom by a roiie running around the trunk. A 
Tree Bolted and Braced. Fig. 405 
piece of oilcloth should then be cut to fit over the 
opening. It is tacked at the top, while the hottom 
is held in place by soil being banked against it. Pe¬ 
ginning at the bottom a strip of canvas should be 
run from post to iiost to act as a ?jupport for the 
cloth. Wlien IS inches from tiie gx'ound is reached 
the oilcloth is turned buck and into the form the wet 
'>Ae RURAL NEW-YORKER 
cov.cvete (1 to 4) is poured. Then a iiiece of news- 
pai'er or tar paper is laid on top to serve as an ex¬ 
pansion joint. The canvas strips are again run up 
18 inches and the operation repeated until the cav¬ 
ity is filled. In order to prevent the concrete from 
coming out to the surface of the bark, it is neces¬ 
sary to remove the oilcloth in .8-4 hours, cut off the 
surplus material, bringing it back below the cam¬ 
bium, and ^ tce the filling with mortar. 
TINNING A CAVITY.—Asphalt mixed with saw¬ 
dust or excelsior is another “filler.” Small cavities 
are quickly treated by tinning, a ledge •‘M-in. wide 
and vl-in. below the cambium being left all around 
the opening. A pattern is made to fit, the tin cut, 
and both the inside of tin and of cavity painted. 
The metal is nailed to the ledge with galvanized 
nails, one inch apart. After the first year the callus 
grows over the nails, and the tin is .secure. 
OPEN TREATMENT.—Where appearances do 
not count, the “open system” may be used; the 
entire cavity is cleaned oiit and painted, no filling 
being used. It is cheap, keeps out insects and fungi, 
and is as effective as filling, though lacking in 
strengtli and beaxity. 
MECHANICAL AIDS.—Bracing is essential to 
prevent wounds and consequent decay. For best 
results an eye-bolt should be run through the limb 
and connected to another eye-bolt inserted in the 
trunk, by means of cable rope or iron rods. The 
cable is rather difficult to work, but after it is up, is 
the most satisfactory of any braces. In bracing 
small lind)S several strands of galvanized wire 
should be run through the two eye-bolts, then 
bouiK together with a wire, and tightened by screw¬ 
ing < n the nut of the eye-bolt. The eye-bolts will 
vary fi’om %-% inches, depending xipon the size of 
the limb. The braces .should be placed as liigh as 
po.ssible, for according to the idiysical law of lever 
and fulcrxim the further from the crotch is the sup¬ 
port the less strength is required. Small trees may 
have their limbs braced by means of large scx’ew 
eyes and fence wire, or the wire may be run 
thx'ough an opening in the limb double its diametei’, 
and back again. A groove should be made at the 
back of the limb and a nail inserted under the wix-e 
to pi’event it from slii)ping out. 
REPAIRING IN.TURY.—Lim\)s that have l)een 
partly severed may be put in i>lace, the wounds cov¬ 
ered with li(juid grafting wax, and then bx-aced to 
the nearest healthy Ixranch. This will .sometimes 
save trees seriously damaged by windstorms or 
lightning. 
Tlie ilhistrations, repx’odxiced from the above Bot¬ 
anical Garden Bulletin, .show a tree in need of re- 
paix*, and the effects of the renovating processes. 
Settle the Drainage Troubles 
My neighbor and I have farms that join. My land 
is higher than his. Both fai-ms gradually slope towards 
the lake. I wLsh to drain my land with tile drains 
but my neighbor does not want to. Can I run a ditch 
across my farm and let it stop on my land at the 
fence, where the water will run on ids laud? The 
surface water runs on his land now. I do not feel 
that I can go to the expense of running a ditch across 
his farm, and there is no drain on his laud that I can 
connect mine with. ii. c. B. 
New Y^ork. 
N iny I’cply to this inquiry I shall call the owner 
of the lower farm A, and the owner of the otlier 
fai-m B. By all means do not think of a lawsuit 
over this matter until all peaceable means ai’e ex¬ 
hausted. The State di’ainage laws us now amend¬ 
ed provide a w -.y so that any man who wants to 
drain his land can do .so. In view of the presexit 
agx’icultural pi‘ogx-ess and the I'esult accruing, the 
wonderful changes bx-ouglit about by drainage ought 
to be appreciated by all level-headed fax--seeing far- 
niei’s. A man of tliat stamp owning land situateti as 
is that owned by A ought to see that he will be 
benefited by B’s drainage, even if the outlet was at 
the line fence; for all the water from the upper 
farm, surface, run-off and subsoil seepage, was ar¬ 
ranged by the Creator to pass over and thx'ough the 
land belonging to A, and the quicker it is out of 
the way the better. If the watex-, as present con¬ 
ditions are, flows dowxx to the line fence in a di.s- 
tinet chaiinel and tans acx-oss the lower farn, Mx*. 
B can use that as ax outlet for hi.-i dx-ainage . nd the 
law will sustain hii i, but why talk law when the 
benefit to A is so apparent? I was I'eeently called 
in consultation in a ca.se in Livingston (hniiity. Mi*. 
C was draining liis wet land and the natural out¬ 
let was at a neighbor’s line fence in a very wet 
swaly place, in fact the neighbor’s field was a cold 
wet pasture. They were both rather strong-minded. 
Each had a lawyer i*etained and were going to have 
war. The son of Mr. C asked me if I would go 
out with him to his father’s .hirrn and loci: o-'er 
the px*oblem. By all mox*al, natural and legal rights 
935 
C was entitled to an outlet, at the point referred 
to, but I wanteil to avoid trouble between them. 
I found by the use of my level that C could run 
a main lino of tile along his own side of the line 
fence into which he could run all his laterals, and 
get good fall and free outlet in the large open run 
that came down through the other man’s land and 
across the swamp or woods on C’s own farm. A 
short time after he told me that the drain was 
Filled with Concrete and Painted. Fig. 406 
in and in operation and thanked me for helping 
keep him out of a lawsuit. The other man also 
thanked me. The storm had passed and the sun 
was shining. I could cite other instances along 
this line. I sincerely hope that A will get the right 
viewpoint in this matter and be a booster in that 
communit.v. n. k. c. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. 
The Influence of the Moon on Plant 
Growth 
There is an oiulless discussion in regard to the effect 
of the moon upon various farm operations. Some farm¬ 
ers refuse to jilant crops or kill hogs unless the moon is 
in a certain jmsition. We have had much argument 
about thi.s. l*ersonally we pay no attention to the 
signs of the moon for farm operations and the scientific 
people deny that the moon influences ci’ops. The fol¬ 
lowing statement shows what the United States 
Weather Bureau thinks of it. 
T is the general belief of scientists that the moon 
has no appreciable influence on temper:iture, 
rainfall, or any other weather element, or on plant 
growth. 
Ifiant growth depends upon tempei’ature, light, 
humidity, and plant food (both in the soil and 
in the air), xind its availability. Obviously the 
moo:i neither mellows the ground nor fertilizes it, 
neither does it alter the compo.sition of the atmos¬ 
phere ; hence it affects neither the mechanical con¬ 
dition of the soil, so impox’tant to jilant growth, nor 
the kind or quantity of available plant food. 
If the moon has any influence on plant growth, it 
would seem that it must exert this influence 
through its light. Experiment, however, shows that 
when a plant is so shadowed that it gets only one 
one-hundredth of normal daylight, it grows but 
little better than it does in absolute darkness. Full 
daylight is about C(X),000 times brighter than full 
moonlight; hence one one-hundredth of daylight, 
already too feeble to stimulate appreciably plant 
activity, is still 6,000 times bx-ightcr than full moon¬ 
light. The conclusion is that, even in respect to 
liglit stimulus, the moon’s influence on plant growth 
is wholly negligible. 
These ax’e some of tlie reasons wliy vex*y few pco- 
pe nowadays pay any attention to the moon, either 
Lower Part Concrete, Upper Part Tinned. Fig. 407 
ill forecasting the weather or in planting crops. 
Neither do well-informed people give it any atten¬ 
tion in killing hogs, building fences, covering x*oofs, 
or in doing anytliing else over which it was on<?e 
supposed to exert a strong influence, but which we 
now know it cannot affect. c. f. makvin, 
('hi(>f of Bureau. 
