122 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



as a dance at the illustration will shew. 

 It is to be hoped that those who plant 

 it will not fail to report their opinion 

 of its merits through the columns of 

 the Canadian Horticulturist. This is 

 the object which the directors seek to 

 attain in the annual gift of some plant 

 to our readers, hoping in this way to 

 be able to disseminate valuable inform- 

 ation from the experience of many in 

 different localities. 



MIOE-GIEIDLED TREES. 



Many orchai-ds have suffered severely 

 from mice during the past winter, and 

 though it is now too late to remedy the 

 injury in the manner mentioned below, 

 we nevertheless give it to our readei*s 

 while the subject is before us, in the 

 hope that at some other time they will 

 be able to refer to it should occasion 

 require. 



The following illustrations which we 

 have had prepared will fully explain 

 the process. The method is taken from 

 the Country Gentleman. 



A tree that has been girdled by mice 

 will present the appearance, more or 

 less complete, 

 shewn in the an- 

 nexed cut. The 

 sap can not circu- 

 late from the root 

 to the branches 

 because the bark 

 has been eaten 

 away, but if we 

 can restore the 



Tree Girdled by Mice, means of circula- 

 tion then the sap will ascend and 

 descend as before. This is what it is 

 proposed to do by means of small 

 branches or young shoots inserted so 

 as to bridge over the injured portion. 

 The shoots or scions may be chosen of 

 such size as that they shall be propor- 



tioned to the size of the tree, and not 

 too stiff to be somewhat elastic. These 

 shoots are to be sharpened wedge form 

 at each end, and openings made with a 

 chisel in the bark above and below the 

 girdled pai-t. The manner of insertion 

 is shewn in the illustration. It will 

 hardly be necessary to say that the 

 scions used should be 

 living branches of a 

 treeof the same species, 

 and that it is advisable 

 to insert the butt end 

 into the bark on the 

 lower side of the in- 

 jury. They should be 

 of such a length that 



Shewing how the 



they can be easily in- 

 serted by bending them 

 Scions ARE INSERTED, a little, and when in- 

 serted be nearly straight. The sap 

 will then flow through the bark of the 

 twigs which have been inserted, and 

 the circulation between the root and 

 branches restored. When the work is 

 completed the tree will have the ap- 

 pearance shewn in the following cut. 

 After the scions 

 have been inserted, 

 from four to six 

 in number, they 

 should be bound 

 firmly with a strip 

 of cotton cloth to 

 keep them in their 

 place, and the 

 points of insertion 

 covered with graf- 

 ting wax. The best 

 time for doing this is early in the spring 

 before the buds open. 



The Country Gentleman gives an 

 account of a person who had a large 

 pear orchard girdled by the mice. He 

 employed three men who thus bridged 

 from sixty to eighty trees each per day 

 with four scions to each tree, and out 

 of the twelve hundred thus treated he 

 lost only sixty trees, and that because 



Appearance when 

 completed. 



