138 FRUIT GARDEN 



cup-shaped, to the great advantage both of the size and 

 beauty of the fruit. The general winter pruning may take 

 place any time from the beginning of November to the 

 beginning of March. After the winter pruning, some cul- 

 tivators delay the shortening of the young wood of the 

 former year till the middle or end of April, when the buds 

 have swollen. Cankered or diseased wood, and all un- 

 fruitful snags or ragged spurs, are then to be neatly cut 

 out. Where the scars are large, they should be laid over 

 with some composition calculated to resist the action of 

 the air and rain. 



If the American blight, or woolly aphis (the Eriosoma 

 Mali of Leach) makes its appearance on a tree, the utmost 

 care should be taken to clean every part of the bark with 

 a hard brush and some searching wash ; for, should the 

 insect be left unmolested, it will speedily spread over all 

 the apple trees in the neighborhood. It is often intro- 

 duced with imported trees brought from distant nurseries : 

 when this is observed, the pest is so grievous that the 

 entire sacrifice of two or three trees is a small price to pay 

 for its removal. Mr. Waterton, in his Essays on Natural 

 History, recommends a simple remedy, which he found 

 effectual, viz., mix clay with water till it be of a consis- 

 tency to be applied like thick paint to the injured parts, 

 either with a trowel or a brush ; a second coat upon the 

 first fills up every crack which may show itself when the 

 first coat becomes dry; the clay resists for a sufficient 

 length of time the effects both of sun and rain, and before 

 it gradually falls off every insect is completely smothered. 



For the Staring of Pears and Ajiples there should be 

 attached to every considerable garden a commodious fruit- 

 room, well ventilated, furnished with fire-places or stoves 

 to exclude frost, and fitted up with a variety of shelves. 



