OP FRUIT TREES. 75 



ing the insects closely, completely destroys them 

 without doing the smallest injury either to the bark 

 or buds. 



Whatever promotes a free circulation of the sap, 

 as cleaning the bark from scales, and scraping it to 

 make it tender and yielding; and whatever helps to 

 perfect the maturation of the sap in the leaves of 

 the tree, by giving them a full exposure to the sun 

 and air, as by cutting out the central branches when 

 the head is too bushy, and giving it an expanded 

 form, pi motes the growth, general health, and 

 productiveness of the tree. 



In case the trees are observed to be hide-bound, 

 as it is termed, when the bark cracks by reason of 

 the stem growing faster than the bark, it will be 

 necessary to pass the point of a knife perpendicu- 

 larly through the outer bark only, from the ground 

 as high as the branches, taking care not to injure 

 the inner bark. It not unfrequently happens, that 

 from the intense rays of the sun of summer, striking 

 nearly at right angles, the sap on the south side of 

 the trees becomes so coagulated as to occasion the 

 death of the bark; canker ensues, and finally, the 

 tree itself is entirely destroyed. As a remedy for 

 this serious evil, a coat of the abovementioned clay 

 paint, or Forsyth's composition, it is presumed will 

 prove effectual. 



MEANS OF PREVENTING THE FLOWERS AND FRUIT FALL- 

 ING OFF, AND OF RETARDING THEIR OPENING. 



The means proposed to retard the opening of 

 flowers, consist in making, in the autumn, a ligature 

 on the stems of the young trees ; that compression 

 slackens the motion of the sap's rising, and the tree 

 blossoms the later. Fruits are also liable to fall off 

 as well as flowers. We see trees, which, after hav- 

 ing had a great abundance of flowers, are covered 

 with young fruit, that promises the most plentiful 



