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Is tlicreby acquired; which fcorchcs the tender flowers, 

 arid other parts of plants. ' , 



But that blights are frequently no more than an in- 

 ward wealcnels or diftemper in trees, will evidently 

 appear, if we confider how often it happens, that 

 trees againft the fame wall, expofed to the fame afpeft, 



. arid equally enjoying the advantages of fun and air, 

 \vith every other circumftanc€ which might render 

 them equally healthy, yet very often are obferved to 

 differ greatly in their ftrength and vigour*; aiiS' as 

 often we obferve thd weak tr^es to be cxjn'tiriually 

 blighted, when the vigorous ones, in the famt fi- 

 tuation Ihall efcape very well ; which muft, therefore, 

 in a great mealure, be afcrib'ed to thi^if healthy coh- 

 ftitutiori. . This weaknefs, therefore, in trees, rnuft 

 proceed eit^ier from a want of a fufficient Supply of 

 noiiriniment to maintain' the:m in perfedt vigour, or 

 from fonie ill qualities in the foil where they grow, 

 or, perhaps, from fome bad quality in the ftock, or 

 inbred diftempe'r of the buds or cyons, which they 

 had imbibed from their mother tree, or from niif- 

 management in the pruning, &c. all which are pro- 

 cluftive of diftempers in trees,' and of which they are 

 with difficulty cured* No\V, if this is occafioned by 

 a weaknefs in the tree, we Ihpuld endeavour to trace 

 out tlie true caufe; firft, whether it has been 6c- 

 cafioried By ill liiaMgement in' the pfiltihig, ^hich 

 is too often the cafe ; for how common is it to obferve 

 Peach-trees trained up t6 ttie full length of their 

 branches' every yeat, fo ds to be' carried to the tbp of 

 the wall in a few years after planting, when at the fame 

 time the Ihoots for bearing have been lo weak, as 



' fcarceryfoha^-'ftrengai topm^ but 



better fuccced in fuch a foil, than in one that Is iriorc 

 generous : we fliould therefore always endeavour to 

 fuit the particular forts of fruits to the nature of our 

 foil, and not pretend to have all forts of fruit good in 



the fame; 



But there is another fort of blight, agdinf|: which it 

 is very difficult to guard our fruit-trees ; this is Iharp, 

 pinching, frofty mornings^ which often happen at thd 

 time when the trees are in flower, or while the fruit 

 ife' very young, and occ'afion the bloflbms or fruit ta 

 drop off; and, fometimes, the tender ptrts of the 

 fhoots and leaves are greatly injured thereby. 

 The only method yet found out to prevent this mif- 

 chief, is, by carefully covering the walls, either with 

 mats, canvas, reeds, &c. which being fafcened fo a3 

 ii'ot to be difturbed with the wind, and fuffered to 



remain on during the night, and taking them olF 

 every day, if the weather permits, is the beft and 

 fureft: method that hath y^t been found' fucc^fsful ; 

 •vi^hich, although it has been flighted^ and thought 

 of little fervice by fome, yet the reafon of their being 

 not fo ferviceable as has been expefted, was, becaule 

 they have not been tightly ufed, cither by fuffering 

 the trees to remain too long covered •, by which mean* 

 the younger branches and leaves have hccn rendered 

 foo weak to endure: the 6p6n air, when they are ex- 

 pofed to it ; which has often proved of worfe con- 

 fequence to trees, than if they had remained, entirely 

 Uncovered, or by incautioufly expofing them tO tha 

 air, after having been long covered. 

 Whereas, when the covering before-mentioned has 

 Wen performed as It ought to be. It has' proved very 

 ferviceable to fruits; and many times, when there 

 thisbei'ne the utmoft^ofthefr vigour, the bloffoms fall I ■ has Been almofi* a general deftrudlon of fruits in ilie 



• . 



off, arid, many tiriies, the branches decay, either th 

 ' gfeateft part of their lehgth. Of quite do\^rt to the 

 ' place where they were produced ; and this, whenever 

 ■ It happens to be the cale. Is afcribed to a blight. 



Others there are, who fuffer theit tre^s to grow juft 



?,s they _ are naturally difpofed, during the fumnier 

 cafon, without flopping of Ihoots, or dilburdening 

 ^ their trees of luxuriant branches ; by ^^hich riieans 

 ■, two, three, or four fhoots fhall exhaufl the erreateft 

 part of the nourilhment of the trees ail the fumnier ; 

 which fhoots, at the winter pruning, are entirely cut 

 but ; fo that the ftrength of the tree Was employed 

 only in nouriiliing ufelefs branches, .while the fruit 

 Ijranches are thereby rendered fo weak, as riot to be 

 ^ble to preferve themfelves. The remedied to this 



evil fhall be explained in the article of Pruning 

 Peach-trees, &c. 



. "feutif the weaknefs of the tree proc;tec?s frbm an In- 

 bred diftemper, it is the better way to remove the 

 tree at firft ; and after renewing your earth, plant a 

 new one !tt its place. 



Or if your foil be a hot burning gravel or fand, in 

 ivhich your Peach-trees are planted, you will gene- 

 rally find this will bd cbhftantly their cafe, after their 

 ' roots have got beyond the earth of your bordefs ; for 

 which reafon, it is much more advifeable to dig them 

 up, and plant Grapes, Figs, ^Apricots, or "any other 

 fort of fruit, which may do well in fuch k foil, rather 

 than to be annually difappolnted of your hopes ; for, 

 by a Variety of experiments, it hath been found, that 

 Apricots attraft and imbibe moifture with ia much 

 reater force than Peaches and Neftarines ; and con- 

 sequently, are better able to attract the nutritive par- 

 ticles from the earth; than the other, which require 

 to be planted in a generous foil, capable of affording 

 them a fufficiency of nourifhriient without much dif- 

 ficulty: and it is in fuch places we often fee Peaches 

 . do wonders, efpecially if affifted by art; but as for 

 'tlie* Vine and Fig-tree, they perfpire very flowly, 

 and are very often in an imbibing ftate (fo that a 

 reat part of that fine racy flavour,_^with which their 

 ruits abound when planted in a dry foil, is probably 

 owing to thofe refined aerial principles, which^ are 

 : collefled when in a ftate of refpiration;) and there- 

 fore, «s tTiefe trees delight not in drawing much 

 watery nourifhment from the earth, fo they will much 



7 



neighbouring gardens, there has been a plenty of 

 them in fuch places where they have been properly 

 covered : and thougTi the trouble may feem to feme; 

 vSfy' great, yet, if thefe coverings are fixed near the 

 upper part of the wall, and are faftehed to pullies» 

 fo as to be drawn up, or let down, it will be foon and 

 : eafily performed ; and the fuccefs will fufficiently re- 

 ay the trouble. ' , ' 



ut there is another fort of blight that fometimes 

 happens later in the foring, viz.. in April or May, 

 which Is bften very deftruftive to orchards, and open 

 plantations, and againft which wc knov/ of no remedy. 

 This is what is called a fire blaft ; which, in a few- 

 hours, hath not only deftroyed the fruit and leaves, 

 but, m:uiy times, parts of trees, and, fometimes, 

 entire trees have been killed by it. 

 This is fuppofed to be elTeded by volumes of trarT- 

 parent flying vapours, which, among the many fonni 

 they revolve into, may fometimes approach fo near 

 to an hemifphere, or hemicylinder, either in their 

 upper or lower furfaces, as thereby to make the 

 beams of the fun converge enough to fcorch the plants 

 or trees they fall upon, in proportion to the greater 

 or lefs convergency of the fun's rays. 

 The learned Boerliaave, in his Theory of Chemiftr_v, 

 obferves, " That thofe white clouds which appear in 

 " fummer time, are, as it were, fo many mirrors, 

 '** and occafion exceffive heat : thefe cloudy mirrors 

 '** are fometimes round, fometimes concave, poly- 

 " gonous, &c. When the face of the heavens is co- 

 '* verM with fuch white clouds, the fun, ihining 

 " among them, muft, of neceffity, produce a ve- 

 ^ Tiement heat ; fince many of his rays, wliich would 

 *•' othefwife, perhaps, never touch our earth, 



are 





hereby reflefted to us : thus, if the fun be on one 

 " fide, and the clouds on the oppofite one, they \vill 

 " be perfedt burning glaffes : and hence the ph^no- 

 " menon of thunder. 



" I have fometimes, continues he, obferved a kind 

 " of hollow clouds, full of hail and fnow, during 

 " the continuance of which the heat was extreme; 

 " fince, by fuch condenfation, they were enabled to 

 " refled much moreftrongly : after this came afhnrp 

 •* cold, and then the clouds difchareed their hail in 

 " great quantities, to which fucceedcd a moderate 



*' warmth. Frozen concave clouds therefore, b/ 



■s 



