flfiO APPENDIX. 



while in more favourable ones they will remain as sound and 

 healthy as ever. 



From these remarks it will be perceived how important we 

 consider it to procure a healthy stock of any variety a stock 

 which has been propagated with care ; and how unwise we be- 

 lieve it to be to reject such incomparable fruits as the Newtown 

 pippin, and the Doyenne pear, because in certain local districts, 

 from causes easily explained, they have become feeble and 

 diseased. 



NOTE. To prevent mice or rabbits from girdling trees. 

 Great injury is done to young orchards in some districts by 

 the meadow mouse. This little animal always works under 

 cover, and therefore does its mischief in winter when the snow 

 lies deeply upon the ground. A common and effectual mode 

 of deterring it is that of treading down the snow firmly about 

 the stem directly after every fall of snow. But this is a very 

 troublesome affair. 



The most effectual preventive is the coal-tar made at the 

 city gas works, which may be had for a few cents per gallon. 

 Before winter commences, a coat of this is, with a common 

 painter's brush, laid on the lower part of the trunk, from the 

 ground to the height of two feet. Experience has proved that 

 it does no injury whatever to the tree, while it completely pre- 

 vents, for that season, the attacks of mice, rabbits, and bark 

 devourers of every kind. In England it is applied with suc- 

 cess for the protection of small shrubs and trees planted in 

 preserves, which are full of rabbits and hares. 



Where coal-tar cannot be had, an excellent substitute, an- 

 swering the same purpose, is a mixture of soot and milk. 

 These should be incorporated together till they are about the 

 consistency of paint, and the mixture brushed over the trunk 

 on a fine dry day.* 



NOTE. Wash for the trunks and branches of fruit trees. 

 The best wash for the stems and branches of fruit trees is 

 made by dissolving two pounds of potash in two gallons of 

 water. This is applied with a brush at any season, but, per- 

 haps, with most effect in the spring. One, or, at most, two ap- 

 plications will rid the stem of trees of the bark louse, and 

 render it smooth and glossy. It is far more efficacious than 

 whitewash, as a preservative against the attacks of insects, while 

 it promotes the growth of the tree, and adds to the natural lively 

 colour of the bark. 



The wash of soft soap is also a very good one for many pur- 

 poses. Though not equal for general purposes to the potash 

 wash, it is better for old trunks with thick and rigid bark, 

 * For young trees dilute or thin the coal-tar with one half milk. 



