72 HORTICULTURE LECT. v 



The loss of wealth in the form of food-producing 

 matter that is extracted from the soil every year in 

 this kingdom by weeds would, if it could be ascer- 

 tained, startle by its immensity. No one ought to 

 have more land than he can feed well and keep clean. 



Enemies of Fruit Trees and Bushes. These 

 are manifold. They comprise birds, beetles, grubs, 

 caterpillars and insects. Of the birds the Bullfinch 

 is the most destructive, a few pairs of these being 

 sufficient to render the trees in a garden practically 

 fruitless by destroying the buds. It is not the best 

 to shoot these birds, and especially in fruit trees, 

 as the shot does much injury to the branches. 

 By far the best plan is to secure the birds alive 

 with a trap-cage and call-bird. They sell readily, 

 and one fruit grower has made 25 of those he 

 caught in his garden. 



Sparrows do good at one time in gathering insects 

 for their young, and much injury at another in de- 

 stroying fruit buds, especially on gooseberry bushes. 

 When too numerous, becoming a pest, as is the case 

 in some localities, sparrows must be thinned. 



The buds may, however, be preserved by dressing 

 trees and bushes in winter, or after pruning, with a 

 wash composed of sulphur, lime, and salt. 



Take quicklime 5 Ibs., sulphur 10 Ibs., water 10 

 gallons. Boil these for half an hour, keeping stirred, 

 then slake 7|- Ibs. of quicklime, and dissolve 7J Ibs. of 

 common salt in boiling water, adding thereto the 

 lime and sulphur mixture, and enough water to make 

 30 gallons. Strain through a hair sieve, and syringe 

 or spray on the trees. When the work is well done, 

 birds do not take the buds. 



When trees are encrusted with moss, this har- 

 bours many insects, and the incrustation is also 

 injurious, 



