CHAP. Ill VILLA GAEDENING 245 



frequent intervals to attach the hose, a wash once a Aveek dining- 

 summer Avill do much to keep the trees clear and healthy, especially- 

 near towns. In some places the Codlin moth causes much destruc- 

 tion to the Apple croiJ. The only remedy is to stamp it out by 

 destroying the insect when in its larva or chrysalis state. To this 

 end all fallen Apples should be gathered up daily, as it will be 

 found that (except in the time of gales of wind) each Apple 

 contains, when it drops, a little maggot, which is in the act of eat- 

 ing his way out, and will in a short time emerge, either burying 

 itself in the soil at the foot of the tree or finding a hiding-jjlace 

 in the crevices of the bark, there to sleep till the increased 

 warmth of spring wakens it up and transforms it into a moth, 

 ready to begin its little span of life as a perfect insect. Some- 

 times they are trapped by winding hay-bands or old rags round 

 the trunk of the tree, and destroying the insects which seek the 

 coverings as snug places to hide beneath. 



Canker in Fruit Trees, especially in Apple trees, has often 

 been the subject of discussion, and the conclusion arrived at by 

 practical men is that it is caused by deep rooting in a bad sub- 

 soil. To give weight and force to theii- arguments it has been 

 stated with truth that Ufting the roots and i^lacing them near the 

 surface in a good loamy soil has always effected a cure. The 

 theory that frost or a bad climate will produce canker has often 

 been advanced, but is only borne out when the wood has become 

 softened and vitiated by deep rooting. It has been asserted 

 latterly that canker is caused by insects, but I cannot help 

 thinking that those who say this are led, by the undoubted fact 

 of insects being present in the cankered parts, to sujipose that they 

 are the cause instead of the efiect. The insects Avhich feed upon 

 living healthy tissue are few in number compared with those 

 which subsist upon the diseased and tlie dead. Still the simi of 

 himian knowledge is advancing, and our minds ought always to 

 be open to receive facts which can be vouched for, even if they 

 upset our preconceived ideas. If canker is caused by boring 

 insects, the microscope shovUd enable us to discover something 

 of the beginners of it ; and if its existence in fruit trees is trace- 

 able to insect agency, why not all vegetable diseases which have 

 commonly been grouped under that head 1 Altogether this opens 

 up a very wide subject. 



Root PriTning and Root Lifting. — Except in the best, 

 driest, and warmest soils, deep rooting never has a beneficial 

 tendency. The farther the roots get away from the sunshine, 

 the longer the joints, the more water in the wood ; and the 

 the trees will bear less fruit, because, with so much water 



