18 FRUIT BOOK. 



particularly with the plum tree, and have suc- 

 ceeded to our utmost expectation. Our land be- 

 ing of a light loam, exceedingly porous, and con- 

 sequently subject to drought, we applied, early in 

 the spring, upwards of one hundred bushels of 

 leached or spent ashes to about two thirds of an 

 acre, for the purpose of bringing the soil into a 

 more retentive nature. We did not, however, 

 observe much effect produced that summer ; but 

 in the following spring, on applying nearly two 

 hogsheads (sixteen bushels) of salt upon the same 

 land, throwing it broad-cast over the whole 

 ground, and around the trees, turning it under 

 the soil a fortnight after spreading it, there ap- 

 peared a decided change in the nature of the 

 soil ; it being less subject to drought, and having a 

 better crop of fruit generally, particularly of 

 plums ; which induced us, in the following spring, 

 to apply around our plum trees, as also the 

 quince, as far as the branches extended, the same 

 material, placing two thirds more to the plum than 

 to the quince. Salt, as well as saltpetre, is de- 

 structive to insects generally, and is, when applied 

 in proper proportion, an excellent manure, par- 

 ticularly for light soils. We recommended to an 

 individual, some three or four years since, who 

 was complaining of the loss of his plums by the 

 curculio, to dig away the soil around his trees 

 early in the spring, as far as the branches extend- 

 ed, even to the laying bare the top roots, and fill 

 the hole with dock mud, green from the sea-shore. 

 After this experiment, he informed us that his 

 trees produced more plums the year following, 

 than they had done for ten years previous. We 

 have used brine upon gooseberry and currant 



