a girdle will not stop the upward rise of the root water so long as the wood remains alive; but it will stop the passage of the elaborated or food-stored materials to parts below and thus starve those parts; and if the girdle does not heal over by the deposit of new bark, the tree will in time starve to death. It will now be seen that the common practice of placing wires or hoops about trees to hold them in position or to prevent branches from falling is irrational, because such wires interpose barriers over which the fluids cannot pass; in time, as the trunk increases in diameter, the wire girdles the tree. It is much better to bolt the parts together by rods extending through the branches (Fig. 85). These bolts should fit very tight in their holes. Why?
 | An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|First course in biology (IA firstcourseinbio00bailrich).pdf/100}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
Fig. 85.—The Wrong Way to brace a Tree. (See Fig. 118).
Wood.—The main stem or trunk, and sometimes the larger branches, are the sources of lumber and timber. Different kinds of wood have value for their special qualities. The business of raising wood, for all purposes, is known as forestry. The forest is to be considered as a crop, and the crop must be harvested, as much as corn or rice is harvested. Man is often able to grow a more productive forest than nature does.
Resistance to decay gives value to wood used for shingles (cypress, heart of yellow pine) and for fence posts (mulberry, cedar, post oak, bois d'arc, mesquite).
Hardness and strength are qualities of great value in building. Live oak is used in ships. Red oak, rock maple,
