75 



reason why they may not be preserved to 

 the end of time, as well as that of animals. 



These shoots will be very beneficial in 

 re-thickening old trees, which have become 

 so thin of wood as to afford no protection 

 against the fruit-destroying blasts. 



I am aware of an obstacle which will oc- 

 cur to many : that the bark will again 

 thicken, and become rigid, by exposure to 

 the weather ; but this is only the longitudi- 

 nal, whose cohesion is preserved by the 

 transverse, which, when once destroyed, 

 either by nature or art, is never again re- 

 placed : so that the same degree of stricture 

 can never after take place ; nor can the like 

 receptacles be formed for the vermin. The 

 longitudinal bark, when freed of the trans- 

 verse, always rending freely and open, 

 leaves no cover. 



