* 2 
ce aye On Fruit and Fruit Trees. - 83 
fy * ; ? ’ *y 
If such was the real cause; then. perhaps the pruning 
_ the trees, or raising them i in ee. airy aguaHope, would 
be of advantage. aphee e 
i gBut about this time last yeat, two very etalincal 
a enme from near Boston, lodged at my house 
_ and among other topicks of conversation, those of or- 
nye “-chards and the bitter-rot were introduced. — One of 
‘them’ informed me, that he had discovered “ the true 
cause of the bitter-rot, and a safe and easy mode to pre- 
vent it 5-—that it was occasioned | by a certain kind of a 
. worm on the body of the tree, “between the wood and 
o's .the bark; and that a safe and easy mode was to peal all 
‘the bark off the bodies of the trees, on the longest day 
in the year ; which he said he had frequently done : that 
it did not kill or injure the trees, but that they grew 
tai better for. it j—and that it effectually «prevented 
" the bitter-rot.? ee 
I was surprised at this account, as Lhad no idea of 
a tree living with the bark peeled off, in the hot dry sea- 
‘son, yet they appeared worthy of credit: 
Therefore I resolved to sacrifice one tree to the expe- 
riment, and on the 20th day of last June, about one 
_ o’clock, in hot clear weather, I pealed.a tree on which 
. there were apples, and had been subject to the ditter-rot. 
I took all the bark off from the roots to up among the 
limbs, fully expecting in two days to see it withered 
and dead,—between the wood and. bark I found many 
of those worms, and discovered that there was a ‘pulp 
or glutinous substance which had grown that year between 
the wooed and the bark, and adhered to the wood. I went 
faithtully every day to see my tree wither, but was dis- 
appointed ; it appeared to grow and thrive the better, 
