105 



offall the moss and missletoe,and thinning 

 the trees of the wood where it is necessary, 

 washing the trees all over in the winter 

 season with hot lime and water, with a 

 little oil or soft soap, to which sulphur 

 and soot are excellent additions. No in- 

 sect can exist long in such a mixture ; 

 and those materials are also certain anti- 

 dotes to all species of Lichen *, the moss 

 that usually grows on apple trees. Many 

 of our insects are nurtured in this sub- 

 stance, as well as in the ground under 

 the trees. By frequently turning up the 

 soil numberless insects are destroyed in 

 the chrysalis state, both by the weather 



nevertheless of opinion, there are many useful men 

 in the profession who want no such stimulus to 

 excite them to their duty, and who will blush to see 

 it named. Mr. Spence in Communications to the 

 Hort. Sac. 



* All species of mosses bloom in the winter, at 

 which time they are most easily destroyed. I have 

 this winter seen many apple trees in Herefordshire 

 so incumbered with this substance and missletoe, as 

 to have formed a favourable place of retreat for a 

 white owl, and where it would have rested safe from 

 the prying eye of even a cockney sportsman at noon 

 day, 



P 5 



