OF FRUIT TREES. 



bark dropped off, and the trunks became as smooth as 

 a young poplar. The soaping may be done at any 

 season, and repeated, if necessary. 



A correspondent of the Caledonian horticultural so- 

 ciety, (Scotland,) recommends clay paint for the de- 

 struction of insects, and the mildew on fruit trees. 

 The instructions are, that you take a quantity of the 

 most tenacious brown clay that can be obtained ; dif- 

 fuse among it as much soft water as will bring it to the 

 consistence of soft cream or paint; pass it through a 

 fine seive, so that it may be made perfectly smooth 

 and unctuous, and freed from any gritty particles. 

 With a painter's brush dipped in the clay paint, ga 

 carefully over the whole tree, not excepting the young 

 shoots. This layer, when it becomes dry, forms a 

 hard crust, which, enveloping 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, promotes 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 necessa- 

 ry to pass the point of a knife perpendicularly through 

 the outter 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 an- 

 gles, the sap on the south side of the trees becomes so 

 coagulated as to occasion the death of the bark ; can- 

 ker ensues, and finally, the tree itself is entirely de- 



