How a Tree-Surgeon Works.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 76

How a Tree-Surgeon Works.

[ "-Just a& the decay of teeth is arrested by the~%sto{sgii»g and filling process, so are t»e«jß.,"whi^?: seeiiiF to Have rSae^ied ufi^.lih»k i: "ortheSe e"S&ienc#^|fiyen a neV^ease-TofclSfo j bj^ t^ie.^Boncul»u^f-.-flenti*t. /sJbreov&£ r 3£e' r protessio'n of tfee-sul-geon is becoming quite ' "^W" in^ortaiit js&\ 4hat of man wlio Opeurtca- on t'h«;Ji'Ottblesoiiie v molar, Hnndred«; of trees damaged by storms and decay, which might otherwise- ha*e been cut down, are saved and improved every year by the tree-surgeon. There .are .several branches to his work — notably, trimming, chaining, scraping, spraying, fertilising, and- cement packing. The latter branch of the work is by far the largest and most important. The idea of filling up with cement the cavities in trees caused by decay is by no means- a new one. Hitherto, however, it has been done in such a manner as. to aggravate rathem than Temedy the disease. The cavity was merely filled up with cement, no attention being paid to drainage or the subsequent healing of the wound. The consequence was that, more often than not the cement did not stick to the wood, and, the swaying of the tree enlarging the crack between the wood and the filling, water penetrated behind the cement, causing the decay to continue even more rapidly than before. i Of late, however, rapid strides have been made in the art of tree-surgery. After the decay has been removed from the interior of a rotting trunk, a steel brace is inserted and bolted in place. This gives the tree that stability whioh it had lost through the decay. "Little channels are then cut just inside the cavity, and opening out to the ground below. These form the drain-. age. and after the cavity has been wired so that the cement may have a firmer grip, the latter, after being made as moist as possible, is built out into the original out-. • line of the tree. The bark, which is cut back for an inch or two to prevent bruising while the work is in progress, eventually covers the fiiled-in wound, the tree thus regaining its normal appearance. | Even when fully half of-the trunk of a tree may have been destroyed by lightning, for instance, it is possible for the treesurgeon to repair the damage and save bhe ! tree, while a special port of his' work con-; sists in remedying defective fork 6. This is one of the weakest parts of a tree, and one often notices heavy branches, weakened by decay and wind, splitting arway from the trunk. -A.fter the wound I has been thoroughly cleaned out, it is packed tightly with a preparation of oakum, ; tar, and paint, the additional precaution | being taken of bolting and chaining the tree to maintain its stability.