The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-26
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, d. c.
MEDICINE ZOE TREEs

cause OF the SIedQ1ly increasing value
OF shade and orchard trees. the tree
doctor has taken place with the veter-
marian as recognized practitioner.
A shade tree was once looked upon
as a superfluous ornament. like a
mantlepiece clock. If you wanted an
elm in the front yard, you hitched
up horse and dug one up in the near
est wood. Now, when a house with
out shade is looked upon as unde
sirable, you pay nurseryman for the
trees on your grounds. and employ
an eXperinced laborer to plant them.
Thereto =, the shade tree becomes in
its owners eyes thing of value which
must be taken care Of In recent
years the owner of an exceptionally
fine oak or chestnut has been known
to offer as much as 81. 900 to the per-
son who could cure it of some disease.
A great many valuable trees have
been saved by surgery, and a good
many others haye been lost thru bung
ling treatment by novices. There are
many unskilled and fake tree repair
ers travelling about looking for prac-
tice. The American Forestry asSocia-
ton advises that the owner of an in
jured tree make sure that the doctor
he calls in is real NJ. D. of tree
diseases.
A quack doctor will give your priced
old oak a dose OF lime or some other
harmless-and useless-remedy, and
depart with your money, after ex-
planning to you in nice.~long techni-
cal terms what he and his secret
method have done to save your dying
tree
The accepted method of treating in
jured trees is by surgery-cutting out
the decay or infected portion and fill
ing the hole with cement or brick. II
this is properly done-and it is a more
exacting piece of carpentry than it
sounds-the bark grows over the in
O does
not spread.
But this idea of using the knife as
remedy for all tree evils may in time
seem as queer as to cut off a leg or
rheumatism Doctoring trees. or tree
pathology. is a Comparatively new
study. and we still have lot to learn
regarding the trees anatomy. Tree
surgery is tremendously important, of
course. but medicine for trees is also
a matter of experiment, with results
which, tho slow, are promising.
Trees Have Nerves.
Most of US are surprised by an In
dian scientists recent announcement.
that a tree should be given injections
of an anesthetic if it is to be trans
planted. Old trees, he explains, have
rarely withstood removal because of
the severe shock to their nerves. but
he has found that this shock is en-
tirely eliminated when an anesuhetic
is properly administered.
Certain fungus diseases which pene-
trate too far into the heart of tree
to be attacked very satisfa ctorily from
the outside have proved another pos
sible field for the use of chemical in
jections. Some successful expert
ments have been made along this line.
The trouble is that there are so many
kinds of trees. so many diseases. and
so many possible remedies that it is
long chance to hit upon the right
dose.
Russian scientists twenty years ago
found that trees suffering from NAL
nutrition were improved in vigor if
injections of an iron solution were
made into the bark. 1t was also
pointed out in this connection that in
numerous cases where a rusty iron
pipe lay in the immediate vicinity Of
Il tree the iron from the pipe had been
taken up by the roots giving unusual
vitality to the tree.
In this country there IS no great
need for giving trees a-tonic. There
is little, If any, valuable timber plant
ed in soil too poor to afford sufficient
nourishment. To the Russians of the
Crimean province. however, the use
of iron was accounted a great dis
covery. Also it suggested other eX-
periments in the use of injected medi-
cines. but the work was stopped by
unsettled Conditions and the world
wall ana is UNDERSTOOD Inat II mas
not been resumed.
In Germany, before the war, medi-
cine for grape vines and fruit trees
was a subject of extensive study. The
German farmer has long been taught
to know the value of every piece of
timber on his land. so that he well
coined the new method of attacking
disease, The German experiments
like the Russian, were interrupted by
the war, so that just now the only
country that is known to be working
especially on tree injections is Eng
land.
United States agriculturists were
several years ago greatly interested
in the possibilities of tree injections
because they were proposed as a
remedy for the terrible chestnut
blight. which has destroyed millions
of our valuable trees.
Injections for Trees.
DR.. Caroline Rumbold. pathdogist
connected with the department. of
agriculture, is the only scientist in this
country who has studied the effect of
different chemicals when injected into
the tree system. The wyork, she says
was battling and very slow In the
first place. she had trouble in getting
any kind of liquid introduced into her
tree patients.
Sap, she explains. does not cir
culate like blood. Instead, the wood
contains numerous tube-Iike cells,
thru which the crude sap is conducted
to the leaves to be manufactured into
food The food then returns to the
roots and other living parts thru the
inner bark. An injected solution
passes up thru one of these tubes to
the leaves and back again, but it does
not spread thru the tissues of the tree
as it would if the trunk were threaded
with a network of veins like the hui
man body. In order to inject tree
evenly on all sides, it is necessary to
make number Of injections on diff
ferent sides of the trunk, and even
on the limbs This means that many
quarts of very dilute chemical solu-
ton must be put into a tree If the
chemical is to reach all portions of it.
If only a small amount of concen-
trated solution were used, 1t would
XIII the cells near the injection hole
and would not reach other parts. This
is one of the reasons why boring a