Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-08-26

10 Kill the roots Of trees this nourish-
ment must not be allowed to reach them
Ii the bark and a portion of the wood be
cut through entirely around the trunk, it
will generally kill the trunk OF the tree,
but may not kill the roots, because these,
having q store of nourishment laid up,
may throw up shoots and by these unfold
ing leaves the life of the root is main
tanned. But if it can be so managed
that the rising sap shall not be interfered
with during one entire season, and the de
scending sap prevented reaching the roots
to nourish them, the tree will continue to
grow season, making its usual demands
upon the roots, thereby exhausting then,
without their having means of being nour
lshed, and the result will generally be that
the whsle tree will perish, root and branch,
the following year
Care must be taken to allow no suckers
to grow from the roots; if any make their
appearance they must be destroyed early
or the plan will be defeated. The right
time to girdle trees to accomplish the de-
sired object of killing them to the roots
is in the spring of the year, just before the
growth commences or soon after. The
glrdling must be complete so far as the
bark is concerned Indeed it is better to
scrape the soft, white filaments of bark of
with knife, so as to be sure that nOmeans
remain for the sap to descend, as will be
the case if care be not taken. For it not
unusually happens that the bark is not all
removed when trees are girdled 1t is
easy for the thin, mucilaginous coat to es-
cape carelessness of removal. The
coarse, rough bark has no relation to the
circulation of the sap of the tree. 1t is the
soft coat next the wood And it is often
the case when valuable young fruit tree
has been barked by horse, or malicious
ly by person. that there remains all that
the life of the tree requires in the fila
mentous, mucilaginous coat, if it is only
prevented from drying up from exposure
to sun and wind This may generally be
done by wrapping the part with cloth
saturated with grating wax, if it is at
tended to in time A coating of fresh
cow-dung applied and wrapped with heavy
cloth will do quite well in most cases
In the case of girdling trees for the OBJ
jject referred to, to kill the roots as we'll as
stem, not only must care be taken to re
move all of the bark, but at the same time
too broad band of bark must not be re-
moved or the wood will season and the as
cending sap will be stopped, thus killing
the tree above, but not the roots. No rule
can be given which will meet all cases
In the case of some trees to remove the
bark for the space of an inch would be
sufficient, but for some trees it would not
be sufficient, because the descending sap
will in some instances be diverted to the
wood and will descend through it, This
is the case with the dogwood and the per.
simmon and others. 1t Will, therefore, al
ways be safe to cut the wood to some ex-
tent carefully all around. In the case of
the silver poplar, often troublesome tree
on account of suckering, it will be neces-
sary to cut the wood to the depth of half
an inch or more. In all cases the band
barred OF bark must not be sufficient to al.
low the wood to season. The willow, on
account of its soft, porous WOOD, will not
readily season, and if the wood is not cut
the bark should be peeled off for a consid-
cradle distance-C0r. Indiana Farmer.