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It is the general belief amongst orchard proprietors that 

 the Mistletoe when in moderation, injures neither the tree itself, 

 nor the fruit it bears, as used formerly to be thought. It is not 

 therefore pruned out so much as would otherwise be the case, 

 Mr. Edwix Lees in his "Botanical Looker Out," goes further, 

 indeed, and thinks that the tendency in apple trees to form knots 

 in the wood arises from orer-abundance of gap, and that the 

 Mistletoe relieves the tree, as cupping would do : a view so un- 

 physiological, that I prefer to look for the true explanation in 

 the opinion of Dr. Haelet, that the presence of the Mistletoe 

 causes an increased quantity of sap to be drawn up for its supply 

 from the soil, and thus the tree would not be much injured, so 

 long as the soil was not exhausted. 



Whether the Viscum Album shews any preference for any 

 particular sorts of Apples, is a point requiring further investiga- 

 tion. There are ccrtaialy some facts, which seem to shew that 

 this is the case. Some observers, with much orchard experience, 

 think it likes best the more acid kinds of fruit, as the varieties 

 of the Crab, the "old Bromley," "Skyrme's Kernal," "Hamp- 

 ton's delight," &c., &c., and is much less common on the 

 "Bitter-Sweet," the " Royal "Wilding," the Norman, French, 

 and Italian fruits, and on "pot fruits," in general. Mr. Adams 

 has observed, that trees bearing white-fleshed apples are much 

 more liable to be attacked by Mistletoe, than those which bear 

 yellow-fleshed apples : The former correspond to the acid fruits, 

 whilst the latter embraces nearly the whole of the new, and 

 French fruits of recent introduction, called Bitter-sweet apples, 

 and from which the best and mildest cider is made. 



I have myself observed in some orchards, I chance to know 

 well, that there is scarcely a tree of the "Foxwhelp," "Old 

 Cowame red, or Cowarne Queening, or Quining, that is not in- 

 habited by the Mistletoe, and it signifies not whether the tree may 

 be old or young. This has been confirmed by several close observ- 

 ers, who have also added that it is the same also with the "Eed- 

 streak," the "Old Styre," the "Garter Apple," the "Woodcock," 



