104 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



Some soft soap and soot may be stirred into the lime- 

 wash, and it should be applied not only to the stems, but 

 into the principal limbs. A good recipe is : first slake fresh 

 lime to a paste, and to every gallon of this add i pint of 

 paraffin, i Ib. of salt, and i Ib. of soft soap. The soap 

 should be first dissolved in hot water, and then be added to 

 the bulk, stirring all well together. Apply with a tar-brush 

 on a long handle or whitewash brush. The salt and paraffin 

 make the wash enter all the interstices, and are distasteful 

 to insects. If soot is added, use a quart to a gallon of 

 water, always keeping it well stirred. It is a good plan to 

 market Apples that are fit at least fourteen days before 

 Christmas, as at Christmas foreign produce is preferred. 

 About January 10 the demand again sets in for late culinary 

 and dessert Apples. Rubbish of all kinds should be collected 

 and burnt, spreading the ashes on the manure-heaps. 

 Hedges can be repaired and old ties on the fruit-trees 

 examined, renewing any that need it. 



CHAPTER XXV 

 APPLE COOKERY 



THE old saying 



" An Apple a day 

 Keeps the doctor away," 



has some truth in it. There is a valuable corrective element 

 in the Apple (malic acid), and whether eaten raw (as is 

 best) or taken as a drink in cider, this acid is no doubt 

 an antidote to rheumatism. In those counties where cider 



