STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69 



own hook, and go it blind. I went on the principle that an ounce 

 of preventive is worth a pound of cure. 



I had previously observed that by slitting the bark from the main 

 limbs down to the ground, the new bark that formed was very smooth 

 and healthy, and it seemed to open a new vein of life, so to speak, 

 in the tree. I also recollect that when I was a boj' and attended the 

 town school, my mother used to have me wear a small bag of sul- 

 phur as a preventive to certain contagious diseases that were preva- 

 lent in the district, and the thought occurred to me that somethino- 

 might be done to prevent a healthy tree from being attacked with 

 the fatal disease. So I adopted what I call the Chinese remedy'. 

 I have heard it said that in China they only pay the doctor as long as 

 he keeps you well, and when you become sick his pay stops, and if 

 you are very sick he loses his head ; and if your tree is badly affected 

 you will lose its head and feet both, and the sooner you dig it up 

 and burn it, the better. M3' preventive consists in slitting the bark, 

 and common white wash with ten pounds of sulphur thoroughly 

 mixed with fifty gallons of the wash, and applied to the trees in the 

 spring when the buds are swelling. I first have my man go along 

 and slit the bark from the main limbs down to the ground. I then 

 follow with a large pail ot the wash, with a Lewis pump attached to 

 the bottom, and spray the top of the tree. Another man follows 

 with the wash and applies it with a brush to the main limbs and the 

 trunk, so that the tree is completely whitewashed from top to bottom. 

 It wants to be applied in the spring, before the tree leaves out. It 

 does not injure the buds or the tender foliage in the least. I made 

 my first application three years ago last spring, and have not seen 

 the least symptom of the disease on a single tree that was treated. 

 I also applied it to two trees that were affected so badly that I had 

 to cut off one-half of the branches, and they have fully recovered. 

 I wish to be distinctly understood that I only recommend it as a 

 preventive applied to healthy trees every spring, in connection with 

 the slitting of the bark, and not as a remedy. There may have been 

 other conditions why the trees have not been affected, that I do not 

 understand, and I do notrecommend it as a sure preventive, but simply 

 give you the result of my experiment, for what it is worth. But m}' 

 faith in it is so strong that I am willing to risk ray reputation as to 

 its success, piovided you don't let the trees overbear, and it is 

 applied every spring, and the trees are properly fed and cared for. 

 If a tree overbears two or three crops it will die, and I don't believe 



