FRU 



FRU 



16^ 



cover the wounds of all trees, is a 

 composition of tar, bees-wax, and 

 red ochre, boiled or simmered for 

 half an hour or twenty minutes to- 

 gether. The proportion which I 

 have used are, a pint of tar, into 

 which I put a piece of bees-wax as 

 big as an English walnut ; when 

 these are incorporated, 1 scatter a 

 smsli quantity of pulverized red 

 ochre, say half a gill, and stir them 

 well together, while boiling hot or 

 simmering. When thrs compost 

 is cool, it should be stiff enough to 

 resist the heat of the sun suffici- 

 ently to prevent its running, and 

 yet soft enough to be applied to the 

 wound with a small fiat smooth 

 stick ; it will last two years at least, 

 without requiring to be renew- 

 ed ; it yields to the sap as it issues 

 from under the bark round the 

 wound to cover it, while it conti- 

 nues to protect both the wood and 

 the edge of the bark from water, 

 and of course from decay." 



A writer in the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Repository, No. IV. 

 vol. IV. p. 133, after speaking of 

 the decline of fruit trees in his 

 neighbourhood, says that a gentle- 

 man " directed their trunks or bo- 

 dies to be washed and well rubbed 

 with soft soap ; and it is not easy 

 to imagine the early change which 

 appeared in their bark, and foli- 

 age : the bark became smooth and 

 glossy, and seemed sound and 

 beautiful ; and he thought the tree 

 improved in every respect. I have 

 tried the same experiment, and 

 with equal advantage to Apple 

 Trees, Pear Trees, and Peach 

 Trees ; and am persuaded they 

 have been greatly benefitted by 



this process : it is used in the spring, 

 and may be repeated in following 

 years as frequently as the trees ap- 

 pear to require it." It is likewise 

 recommended to white wash trees 

 in the spring with a mixture of lime 

 and water. 



Fruit trees may be forced to bear 

 in the following manner. With a 

 sharp knife cut the bark of the 

 branch, which you mean to force to 

 bear, not far from the place where 

 it is connected with the stem ; or 

 if a small branch or shoot, near 

 where it is joined with the larger 

 bough ; the cut is to be made round 

 the branch so as to encircle it, and 

 penetrate the wood. A quarter of 

 an inch from the 6rst cut, make a 

 second cut like the first, so that by 

 both encircling the branch, you 

 have marked a ring a quarter of an 

 inch between the two cuts — then 

 with a knife separate the bark from 

 the wood, removing even the fine 

 inner bark which lies immediately 

 upon the wood, so that no con- 

 nection whatever remains between 

 the two parts of the bark, leaving 

 the wood naked, white and smooth. 



This operation must be perfor- 

 med when the buds are strongly 

 swelling, or breaking out into blos- 

 soms ; the same year a callous is 

 formed on at each edge of the ring, 

 and the bark is again restored with- 

 out detriment to the tree or branch 

 operated upon. It seems calcula- 

 ted to force those trees to bear, 

 which put out a proportion of blos- 

 soms, and yet bear no fruit ; or if 

 they bear, the fruit often drops 

 from the tree before ripe. The 

 fruit from trees so operated upon, 

 will be larger and fairer, and ripe 



