REMEDIES. 423 



REMEDY NO. 124. 



It must be admitted that ]iroper attention has not been given 

 in the past to the proper treatment of fruit trees, grapevines, 

 etc., as regards the fertilization of the grounds on which they 

 are phmted. Chemistry has demonstrated the elements of 

 which the earth is composed, and a list of over sixty is given ; 

 yet strange to say, the vegetable kingdom selects its food from 

 only a few of these elements. That the virgin soil of Califor- 

 nia abounded with the elements necessary for the food of 

 plant life, there can be no (question ; but the growing of con- 

 tinuous crops has deprived the earth of such ingredients as 

 are principall}- required for the food of plants, namely : pot- 

 ash, phosphorus, lime, ammonia, etc. When the supply of 

 either of these elements falls below a fixed limit, the plants 

 will not produce as heretofore ; and if attacked by insect pests 

 they will soon become worthless. Therefore the necessity of 

 using the best known means of restoring the necessary plant- 

 food to the impoverished ground. As fruit trees and graj^e- 

 vines require a large supply of potash and phosphorus, also 

 some ammonia and lime, these elements can be supplied by 

 using the remedies described in No. 35. 



CONCLUSION. 



The measurements throughout this work above one twentieth 

 of an inch, are given in inches and lines — a line being the 

 tAvelfth part of an inch. See illustrations in Chapters XXII, 

 XXIII, XLVIII, etc. 



The insects are usually figured the natural size, and when 

 enlarged the natural size is generally indicated by a line or by 

 a cross. 



The remedies given are mostly the results of personal expe- 

 rience ; in cases where remedies are recommended for insects 

 not found in this State, they are given from analogy of insects 

 belonging to closely allied species. 



