46 FRUIT-GARDENING. 



not susceptible of being improved by lime, perhaps the salt 

 may be beneficial ; but it is presumed that in most cases a com 

 post made of all, or as many of the different articles as are 

 attainable, would produce a lasting benefit to land in general, 

 by sowing, say at the rate of a bushel per acre, once a week, at 

 those seasons of the year when it will avail most in the destruc 

 tion of reptiles and insects ; and as the primary object of using 

 the compost is to prevent our fruits from being destroyed, it 

 would prove most effectual if sown out of a wagon, from which, 

 in passing between the trees, the leaves could be dusted. 



The ingredients alluded to consist of ashes, charcoal-dust, 

 plaster-of-Paris, tobacco-dust, lime, salt, soot, pepper, potash, 

 saltpetre, snuff, and sulphur. The proportions may be as 

 follows : Of the first four articles, half a bushel of each ; of the 

 next three, a peck of each ; and of the last five, say one pound 

 of each ; which will make together three bushels of compost. 



SCRAPING THE BODIES OF FRUIT-TREES. 



To destroy insects on the fruit-trees, and prevent them from 

 creeping up and breeding on them, do as follows : 



Take a strong knife with a sharp point, and a sharp hook- 

 like iron made for the purpose ; with these scrape clean off all 

 the moss and outside rough bark, and with the knife pick out 

 or cut away the cankered parts of the bark and wood, in such 

 a slanting manner that water cannot lodge in the sides of the 

 stem of the trees. Having cleared the trees in this way, make 

 np a mixture of lime, soot, and sulphur ; put these ingredients 

 into a pot or tub, pour boiling water upon them, and with a 

 stick stir and mix them well together. When this strong 

 mixture becomes cold, and about the thickness of whitewash, 

 dip a brush in the mixture, and apply it to the stems and large 

 branches of the trees, dabbing it well into the hollow parts of 

 the bark. 



