238 GARDENING. 



times wholly destroying their fertility for the sea- 

 son, at others seriously injuring it, and occasional- 

 ly, though rarely, disorganizing the trees them- 

 selves. Many insects also prey upon them, attack- 

 ing their leaves, blossoms, fruit, bark, or roots ; of 

 which the Aphis laenigera,* the curculio, the scara- 

 beus, &c., are the most common and injurious; 

 nor, unfortunately, do we know any specific remedy 

 against these evils. f But, after all, may not our 

 own negligence be considered as the most fruitful 

 source of many others of a similar kind? How 

 often do we find the bark of fruit-trees covered and 

 coloured with parasites, in the form of mosses, and 

 lichens, and smut, which a small degree of labour 

 and a little whitewash would entirely and promptly 

 remove. J How patiently do we look on and see 

 the ravages made on their leaves and fruit-buds by 

 caterpillars of different names and appearances, 

 when, if we visited them at daybreak, all would be 

 found at home and asleep, and entirely within our 

 reach ? And, lastly, how various and fatal are the 

 wounds inflicted on stems and branches (under the 

 name and pretence of pruning) when left open, as 

 they generally are, to the alternate action of air, 

 and frost, and sunshine, without giving them even 

 the cheap and simple covering of St. Fiacre 1$ 



* The Eriosorna mali of Leach. This insect forms the excres- 

 cences called galls on the stems and branches of trees. " W. 

 Salisbury gives an engraving of it, as it appeared through a mag- 

 nifying glass, eating its way into the roots of a tree ; and another 

 of the same insect in the bug state, which he believed to be the 

 male." Loudon, p. 788. 



t Watering, fumigation, &c., are the remedies usually pre- 

 scribed ; but, in our opinion, " a judicious management of the 

 sub and surface soil, culture and pruning, are the things luost 

 to be relied upon." Idem. 



t The best wash for the apple-tree is a strong ley, to be ap- 



Slied to the trunk and larger branches with a brush, early in 

 une. It destroys both parasitic plants and insects. J. B. 



A mixture of cow-dung and clay is called in France (that 

 land of saints) " the ointment of St. Fiacre ;" and is, in the 



