subject to its
influence more easily; so also the same tree may escape for a long time
after the limb which has succumbed is removed. Moreover the grafts,
however numerous, may all be blighted, but the standard seedling on
which so many varieties were grafted has survived more than fifty
winters, and it fruited last year.

DAVID STEWART, M. D.
PORT PENN, DEL.

TREATMENT OF TREE WOUNDS.

Valuable trees that have been wounded or mutilated are often sacrificed
for lack of the discreet surgery which would repair the injury they have
suffered; and Professor C. A. Sargent, of the Bussey Institution, has
done good service to farmers, fruit-raisers, and landscape-gardeners, by
translating from the French the following practical hints, which we give
with slight abridgment:

Bark once injured or loosened can never attach itself again to the
trunk; and whenever wounds, abrasures, or sections of loose bark exist
on the trunk of a tree, the damaged part should be cut away cleanly, as
far as the injury extends. Careful persons have been known to nail to a
tree a piece of loosened bark, in hope of inducing it to grow again, or
at least of retaining on the young wood its natural covering.
Unfortunately the result produced by this operation is exactly opposite
to that intended. The decaying wood and bark attract thousands of
insects, which find here safe shelter and abundant food, and, increasing
rapidly, hasten the death of the tree. In such cases, instead of
refastening the loosened bark to the tree, it should be entirely cut
away, care being taken to give the cut a regular outline, especially on
the lower side; for if a portion of the bark, even if adhering to the
wood, is left without direct communication with the leaves, it must die
and decay. A coating of coal-tar should be applied to such wounds.

LOOSENED BARK.--It is necessary to frequently examine the lower portions
of the trunk, especially of trees beginning to grow old; for here is
often found the cause of death in many trees, in large sheets of bark
entirely separated from the trunk. This condition of things, which often
can not be detected, except by the hollow sound produced by striking the
trunk with the back of the iron pruning-knife, arrests the circulation
of sap, while the cavity between the bark and the wood furnishes a safe
retreat for a multitude of insects, which hasten the destruction of the
tree. The dead bark should be entirely remove