116 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



and restore the tree. This operation is directed to be per- 

 formed during the longest, day in the year. 



Fruit-trees, of the stone kind, are frequently diseased 

 guni) which arises from bad pruning, bruises, and 

 causes The diseased parts are to be cut away, and 

 the composition applied as before. 



Thus much for Mr. Forsyth. Those who are anxious to 

 be more intimately acquainted with this Author, will do 

 well to purchase his book. In the plates annexed to it are 

 exhibited many specimens of his ingenuity. 



If fruit trees be suffered to run much to suckers, these 

 \vill greatly injure their bearing. Let them, therefore, be 

 kept clear of these, All straight upright shoots from the 

 limbs of trees, should also be taken away, for these bear no 

 fruit; though in time their lateral branches will bear, Lat- 

 eral branches are always the bearers; and such branches, 

 as do not bear, only serve to rob the bearing branches of 

 their requisite nourishment; and should therefore be taken 

 away. The trees should also be cleared of all dead and 

 decaying branches, and of all cross- branches thai rub 

 against each other. 



Young apple and plumtrees, in particular, are apt to get 

 covered with wha are usually called lice, being an inani- 

 mate substance resembling an insect, of the color, and 

 somewhat of the shape, of a grain of flaxseed, but narrow- 

 er. Where the bark is thickly covered with these, the 

 growth of the tree will be very much impeded; and so ne- 

 times it will be killed, if they are not removed. They are to 

 be scraped off with a knife. Moss ought also to be scraped 

 off, as it greatly injures the growth of the tree. 



For keeping off moss, lice, and every thing else that 

 should be kept off from young apple and some other fruit- 

 trees, it is a good plan to whitewash their bodies, and prin- 

 cipal limbs, every Spring, with a mix ure of lime and wa- 

 ter. Mr. Forsyth, however, recommends for this purpose, 

 a mixture ot old urine, cdwdung, and soapsuds. Where 

 young fruit-trees stand in sward ground, the sward should 

 be cut away from about them, and the ground about their 

 roots loosened every Spring. 



It is found, that the seeds of the apple, and probably all 

 other fruit-trees, which are brought from Europe, here, 

 will grow larger than those of our own. Probably, this is 

 merely the tffect of a change of seed : It so, our seeds 

 sown there might produce the same inequality. Be this as 

 it may, it is by no means certain, that the largest fruit-trees 

 are the most profitable to the acre ; as, the larger they are, 

 the more ground each must have. 



See further, the articles which treat of the various kinds 

 <of fruit-trees. 



