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Outdoor Problems of the Householder: Take

Always begin to cut from the bottom of the branch and continue as long as the saw can be moved freely. Cut especially through the bark around the lower half of the limb. Then finish the cut from above. Take care to meet the lower cut accurately.

There will then be little danger of the limb breaking or of stripping the bark.

Paint the wounds made by removing large branches with good white lead paint, yellow ochre, coal tar or grafting wax. The only object to be attained is to keep out moisture and insects until the wound has time to heal naturally. Antiseptics and patented preparations are wholly unnecessary. Hollow Trunks. - To fill hollows caused by the decay of old stumps in valuable orchard or shade trees, first clean out the hole and remove all diseased wood from the interior with a sharp gouge or chisel. Cut away until sound wood is exposed. Now, preferably, spray the inside with a solution of copper sulphate at the rate of one pound to five or six gallons of water. This kills the organisms which cause decay. Choose for this purpose a dry day, preferably with hot sun and wind. Before the surface of the cavity can become in any way infected, fill it with a thin mortar made by mixing one part Portland cement with three parts clean sharp sand.

Remember that Portland cement will set in twenty minutes. Hence have everything in readiness to pour it soon after it has been mixed.