EDITOR'S TABLE 



trees by the destruction of parasites and insects injurious to vegetation, and of improving their 

 general appearance, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society do hereby resolve, for reasons 

 ■which have been stated, that they consider this practice of no benefit to the tree, from its ina- 

 bility to affect the majority of the insects which are really ivjurious ; and unnecessary in the case 

 of lichens and mosses, they being not tJie cause but the consequence of disease and decay ; and a 

 positive violation of the laws of vegetable physiology, and consequently an injury to all trees, 

 but ornamental in particular, to an incalculable amount. 



" Resolve 2d, That as lichens and mosses in a healthy state of the tree, are, so far as can be 

 ascertained, no injury to the bark ; but, from their varied colors and forms, one of its chiefest 

 ornaments ; any operations for their removal are to be scrupulously avoided, and reprehended. 



" Resolve Zd, That as strict inquiry has shown that bark lice, woolly aphis, and some borers 

 do lay their eggs and hatch their young upon the bark of Apples, Pears, Peaches, and Maples, 

 near the ground, and in the forks of the branches, a gentle rubbiug with some pliable but stiff 

 wire or other brush, on the parts affected, to be followed by a washing with weak, soft or whale 

 oil soap suds, is desirable, and will be of benefit, when a careful examination shall have shown 

 that the eggs are dejiosited upon any tree in question ; but that this process is unnecessary, and 

 uneconomical, when the presence of the enemy has not been most clearly proved. 



" Resolve Ath, That nature is the best and only true guide in horticultural operations ; and 

 that if we wish to equal her in the health and beauty of our plantations, we must as nearly as 

 may be follow in her footsteps ; that as she provided some trees with rough, and some with 

 smooth bark, there can be no doubt that the cortical difFei-ences have an intimate connection 

 with, and relation to, the vitality and economies of the tree, and we view any separation of it 

 from the tree, or any operations on its surface having for their aim to reduce the rough bark to 

 the smooth, or vice versa, decidedly unscientific, and unworthy improved horticulture. 



" Resolve 5th, That as it has been shown that fruit trees are specially liable to be injured by a 

 few insects, whose eggs may be removed by proper rubbing, it by no means follows that all trees 

 are to be subjected to the same treatment ; that we would most strenuously discountenance any such 

 universal medicinal practice; that it must not be forgotten in reasoning with regard to horticul- 

 tural operations, that fruit trees are sui generis, and being necessarily diseased need much more 

 care and attention than ornamental; and as we grow the one for fruit alone, and the most of it 

 we can get, and the other for beauty and shade, so each needs a separate culture ; and as one of 

 the most delightful charms of the ornamental tree is this very roughness of bark, with its accom- 

 panying lichens, we consider that man's taste unworthy and %mcidtivated icho can lay a rough hand 

 upon the tree to reduce all to one unvarying uniformity. 



" Resolve 6th, That as all bark is, from its composition, open to the attacks of alkaline prepa- 

 rations, and as no good and sufiicient reasons can be adduced for their use, and as their caustic 

 and cement-like nature tends to destroy the tissues, and prevent a proper expansion of the bark 

 and stem, and as they are necessarily accompanied with considerable outlay, we most sincerely 

 hope the practice will ceasr. 



" Resolve 1th, Although the subject of pruning has but little connection with bark culture, 

 still, as they go hand in hand, they may not unreasonably be discussed at the same time ; and 

 while, for the reasons above stated, fruit trees need peculiar cultivation, and a certain amount of 

 pruning, ornamental require only to be well planted and jjianured, and should never be touched by 

 apruner's hand further than to remove dead wood, and we do regard with great sorrow and regret, 

 all those efforts made by the ignorant to trim away the beauty of the lower and hanging branches, 

 reducing the tree, in too many cases, to a close resemblance of a bunch of brush elevated on the top 

 of a pole. For the Committee, R. Morris Copeland." 



Here, in the first resolution, the committee is made to say, that lichens and mosses are 

 the consequence of disease and decay ; and in tlie second, that lichens and mosses, in a 

 healthy state of the tree, are no injury to the bark, but "one of its chiefest ornaments." 



