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tamping and troweling
 

A great deal of puttering and detail work such as thorough tamping and troweling of the cement is often done in tree cavity work, especially when the contract is for work by the hour. Thorough tamping and troweling improve the cement, and as a result of this frequent time-killing process practiced by certain unscrupulous workers some of the best individual examples of cement technique may be found in trees... All concrete work on trees is better adapted to cavities located near the ground or below the surface than to high cavities where swaying constitutes an important factor, and where an increase in the load qhich a tree is obliged to carry is objectionable.
 

— George E. Stone, Shade Trees: Characteristics, Adaptation, Diseases and Care, Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 170 (September 1916) : 180

some ambivalence in that passage.
 

25 April 2022