416 



THE USES OF LIME. 



Nor have I ever read any satisfactory solu- 

 tion of the problem. 



Some of my trees are affected in a dif- 

 ferent, but equally fatal manner. The 

 bark cracks open, and gradually separates 

 from the body of the tree, until the whole 

 trunk, for two or three feet above the 

 ground, becomes nearly or entirely denu- 



ded. I have at present a row of " Summer 

 Virgalieu" trees, all in this situation. Last 

 summer they bore a large crop of beautiful, 

 but entirely worthless fruit ; and made no 

 growth of wood. Can this be one of the 

 decayed or run out varieties spoken of by 

 Knight and Kenrick ? B. 



Poughkeepsie, Jan , 1649. 



THE USES OF LIME.* 



Few gardeners rightly appreciate the value 

 of lime ; but we have had opportunities of 

 seeing it applied in so many ways, and for 

 so many purposes, that we feel the neces- 

 sity of communicating some of them. At 

 this juncture — while we are, in fact, Avri- 

 ling — there is a general complaint of mil- 

 dew among cucumbers, and disease among 

 potatoes. We have seen lime applied in 

 both these cases, with the greatest possible 

 success ; but it must be properly applied. 

 It must be applied vv^herever there is the 

 disease ; nothing short of this will do. If 

 any part which is attacked be left, of course 

 that part will not be affected with what 

 does not touch it. In case of cucumbers, 

 we have seen a dredging-box used, and 

 the powdered lime applied under as well as 

 over the leaf, while the steam, which in 

 the morning is like so much dew, is upon 

 the foliage ; and the effect has been almost 

 instantaneous. The parts too far gone to 

 recover have dried up, and the healthy 

 portions, however small they may be, have 

 been left ; even half a leaf has been seen 

 to live well, while the other has shrivelled 

 up as if it were burned. We have seen 

 the same frame that appeared reduced to 

 mere skeletons of plants, recover so com- 

 pletely in a month, as to be full of healthy 

 plants. Applied with a sieve on the open 

 ground to cucumbers in ridges, some plants 

 perfectly recovered, others never rallied at 

 all. We take this to be accounted for by 

 the disease having made, in some plants, 

 too great a progress before the lime was 

 applied, and that it had not made so much 

 progress in those which perfectly recovered. 



[* From the Loudon Hort. Maarazine.] 



Or it may have been, that the lime only 

 covering the upper surface, the portions of 

 the plant that were, in some cases, covered 

 up, took no benefit, and the disease con- 

 tinued its ravages. Precisely the same ef- 

 fect was produced on potatoes that were af- 

 fected. The lime was sifted on them while 

 the dew was on them, and all the upper 

 surface got well sprinkled. In most cases, 

 the heart of the plant and the stems received 

 upon the surfaces the powdered lime. A 

 large portion of the crop — indeed, wherever 

 the lime absolutely touched the surface of 

 the stems and foliage, almost instantly dried 

 up as far as the disease went ; and we have 

 no doubt that, had it been followed well up, 

 day after day, until all had been sprinkled 

 where they were affected, the effect would 

 have been the same throughout. The crop 

 turned out well, with the exception of those 

 plants which had not been properly sprink- 

 led, and they continued the disease down to 

 the lower part of the stem ; but very few 

 were touched, and we took the precaution 

 to place all the potatoes that came from 

 plants still diseased by themselves, that 

 they might be used first. Lime soaked, or 

 rather slaked in water, is efficacious in all 

 possible ways for destruction of insect life. 

 The syringe applied with it to trees infested 

 with caterpillars, soon clears it altogether. 

 Sprinkled on grass lawns, which it whitens 

 till the rain washes it off, it drives the 

 worms down, or brings them to the surface 

 very quickly. Syringing plants which have 

 the bug, or wall fruit trees, (that are some- 

 times covered with ants, ear-wigs, small 

 caterpillars,) and afterwards with clean 

 water, is of great service ; and lime dusted, 



