908 PRACTICAL GAKDENING 



UKxio o( doing this is to drive at tho roots, oxamino tiieiu, and 

 Avheivver thoiv aj^poars to be a liiub too n iu\ '"ous, shorten it. 

 There is no oec;ision to do too much at lirst ; but we have 

 been sucoesstul on several occasions, \vhere, after yeai-s of 

 painstaking, ti*ees would cover tho side or end of a house 

 -without yielding half-a-dozen heads of bkunu or any fruit. 

 On one occasion, we found one limb of the ivot go under a 

 gravel walk, and wo followed it nearly six feet, but we ran 

 a saw thixnigh it about four feet from the tive, and coveixxi 

 it all up agiiin. How much further than six feet the i*oot 

 ^\-{^ndert>d we do not know : but it settled the business of 

 bearing ; the next year it did nothing but pi\xluee many 

 short joints of bearing-wood and spurs, and the year after 

 the crop was enormous, but we pei"suaded the owner to thin 

 them to less than half, and it has borne ever smce. There- 

 fore have we decided in our o\^'n mind that root-pruning is 

 far better tluui ringing, which can only be temp^n-ary. if it be 

 good at all. 



DESTIU'CTIOX OF YERMIN. 



The gardeners enemies are nor to be numbered : they are 

 like the dust of the ivads or th. ' ' ' his whole 



work is destrv\ved in a short .: . A dilieivnt 



metins, if he be not on the alert at tho 'uie to prevent 



or avoid the mischief His cabbages and .auliflowei*s may 

 be eaten into holes and ivudeivd worthless on the eve of per- 

 fection by caterpLUai-s, or they may be destroyed at the onset 

 by club ' ^ ', . X ' . ' ' V the mice 



before t;i Is when at 



matimty; his ro>os r.iv bo bli^! n-fly ; his 



onions s- ' 'V ' .erries may be 



cleai-ed ■ .0 ^ ''^ .• ^^ grapes, 



peaches, and nectarines distigiured by wasps ; his phnits in 

 the hon> ~ v be cut up by the bug. the scale, the tlmp, the 

 green-il} . d- spider. Tnrn which way he will, there are 



thoustmds of hi- - ' :^ . :iimence their ra\'ages the 

 instant he negk\is ur a day or two any single depvrtmeiit of 

 his business ; and he has no smaXL difficulty in pursuing his 

 oixli s \vhen some one or more of these 



pests LULi. u^ ii ^ ^.'s choice productions, and he is 



obhged to turn ose remedies which experience 



