Operations on Trees.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 11 September 1914, Page 2

Operations on Trees.

There is hardly a wood of any size which does not have several of its trees mere shells of bark, the heart of the trunk having been eaten away by tho spread of ' dryrot. Outwardly they appear to be perfectly sound, but sooner or later a higher wind than usual will bring them crushing down, perhaps endangering human life, and almost certainly seriously damaging the sound trees by which they are surrounded. Now-, however, a method has been discovered of preventing the spread of the dry rot fungi, and by it an affected tree may be rendered once more sound and healthy. The procedure is almost exactly similar to that followed by dentists in the case of a decaying tooth. First the decayed wood is carefully removed, and the resulting cavity entirely cleared of all foreign substances. The holes which have to be gouged out are bacteriologically cleansed by corrosive sublimate, and the walls of the cavity water-proofed to protect the wood. If necessary, the cavity is braced with steel ribs or truss rods. The hole is now ready for filling in, and it is plastered up with cement care being taken that the filling is kept under the edge of the bark at every point, so as to allow the bark to heal over the cement. When this last stage has been accomplished the tree is as sound and healthy as ever, and shows no sign of the treatment to which it lias been subjected