A beloved sugar maple slowly succumbed to disease. Today ... top, and 1952; the tree’s bark; and its stump. Still, I hoped we could save her. Prune the dead limbs. Trim back.

Sooty bark disease can cause trees to become brittle and put them at risk of falling down, it said. Symptoms included branch dieback, flaking layers or bark and sooty black powdery spores on trunks.