400 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



with lichens and moss, which exert an evil influence on the trees' 

 health. They should be cleaned from these, by scraping them with 

 some blunt iron' instrument, and then dusting the branches over, 

 while they are damp, with newly-slaked lime. Lime, when applied 

 hot, is death to lichens and mosses'; but, when trees are badly affected, 

 it is quite necessary to scrape them before applying the lime — other- 

 wise it will have no chance of properly doing its work. 



American Blight. — Sometimes this pest attacks Apple-trees in this 

 country. If left to itself it does a deal of mischief. When it makes 

 its appearance the most economical plan is to attack it at once, for if it 

 is allowed to spread, its destruction will prove a serious matter. It is 

 easiest got at in winter, and just damping the places where it lodges on 

 the branches with paraffin-oil is the most effectual way of destroying 

 it. This means a great deal of careful anointing in the case of old, 

 badly infested trees, but it is easily got rid of in the case of young 

 ones. 



Canlcer. — Some varieties of trees are much more liable to this disease 

 than others. Indeed some sorts are never attacked, even on unfavour- 

 able soils; while in the best of soils, and under the very best system of 

 cultivation, others cannot be kept free of it. For instance. Hawthorn- 

 den (which, if it could be kept free of canker, would be the best Apple 

 in cultivation for the million) generally dies outright when the tree gets 

 to be over a score of years old, especially when its roots are allowed to 

 penetrate into a cold or otherwise unfavourable subsoil. The only pre- 

 vention, and that but a partial one, comparatively speaking, is to keep 

 the roots well in hand near the surface, and in healthy well-drained soil. 

 When it is determined to grow some favourite sort, which is yet liable 

 to canker, it is well to have young trees nursing on somewhere, to take 

 the place of those which may die or become unsightly from canker. 

 In our selection of varieties we have named only those which we have 

 found to grow healthily on a variety of soils. We make an exception 

 in the case of Hawthornden. The fact is, it is a favourite of ours. It 

 never, in ordinary circumstances, makes a full-grown orchard tree, and 

 for medium trees it should be grafted on a free stock, for it bears so 

 freely from the very first, that there is no difficulty in keeping it dwarf 

 — the difficulty lies the other way. We once saw half-a-dozen of this 

 kind on the Doucin, and they could not be got to grow at all ; so 

 even for the dwarfest trees nothing more dwarfing than the Paradise 

 (English) should be used for this variety. 



Gathering and storing the Fruit. — Little requires to be said under 

 this head. Each kind should be gathered as it becomes ripe, and in 

 gathering care should be taken not to bruise the fruit. In storing it, 

 it should be spread carefully and thinly in a dry airy room, and care 

 should be taken to keep frost away. 



List of Varieties suitable for a Small Garden : Kitchen Apples. — We 

 have placed these first because, as before stated, the home-growers can 



