PRUr^ING OF FRUIT TREES, H'' 



Fruit trees of the stone kind are frequently diseased with 

 »um, which arises from bad pruning, bruises and other caus- 

 es. The diseased parts are to be cut away, and the composi- 

 tion applied as before. * . <. * ^f 



Youna apple and plum trees, in particular, are apt to get 

 Govered'with what are usually called lice, an mammate sub- 

 stance resembling an insect, of the color, and somewhat of the 

 shape of a grain of flaxseed, but narrower. \\ here the bark 

 is thickly covered with these, the growth of the tree will be 

 very much impeded, and sometimes it wiU be killed it they are 

 not removed. They are to be scraped off ^ylth a knife. Moss 

 also should be scraped off, as it greatly injures the growtli 



of the tree. . , i • * ^r. 



The washing the bodies of the trees with the mixture ot 

 lime and water as before directed is said to be very efficacious 

 in keeping off moss, lice and other noxious substances. 



Perhaps the composition before mentioned, would be equal- 

 ly good, t , /i ..r • 



It is a general complaint, that the finest apple trees of thie 

 country have degenerated, and that many of the best sorts 

 have entirely disappeared from our gardens and orchards. It 

 would not be difficult to show that every successive grafting 

 deteriorates the part engrafted ; or to point oUt an effectual 

 method of retaining good apples in this country without the 

 trouble of engrafting, as in every perfectly ripe apple there 

 will be found one or more seeds with flatted sides. The round 

 ones will produce the improved fruit from which they are taken, 

 . and those with the flatted sides will produce the fruit of the 

 crab upon which the graft was inserted. If a circle is drawn 

 in rich ground, and the flat sided seeds planted therein, and 

 the round seeds in the centre, the variation of quality will ba 

 discovered in two or three years. The first will throw out the 

 leaves of a crab, and the latter of an improved tree, distinguish- 

 sible in shape and fibre, and with a wooly appearance ; and in 

 due time the fruit of each will putjevery thing beyound doubt. 

 It is observed that the seeds of crabs (being originals) ar» 

 mostly if not altogether round. J" 



If this rule for pruning the original qualities of fruit trees, 

 should not prove universally infalible in its operation, yet it 

 suggests to our consideration, the practibility and expediency 



* Forsyth on fruit tr^es. 



ft See Farmer's Assistant, title fruil tree9, 



X Furopean Magazine, 



