REMEDY FOR BLIGHT. 239 



riance, that many trees seemed at a short distance as if 

 they had been, whitewashed ; in the ensuing summer, 

 which was a very dry and hot one, this cottony matter 

 so entirely disappeared, that to superficial observation 

 the malady was not in existence ; and it did not become 

 manifest again until September, when, after the rains 

 of that season, it reissued in fine, cottony patches from 

 the old nodes on the trees. Many remedies have been 

 proposed for removing this evil, efficacious perhaps in 

 some cases upon a small scale ; but when the injury 

 has existed for some time, and extended its influence 

 over the parts of a large tree, I apprehend it will take 

 its course, and the tree die. Upon young plants, and in 

 places where a brush can be applied, any substance that 

 can be used in a liquid state, to harden into a coat, in- 

 soluble by rain, will assuredly confine the ravages of 

 the creature, and smother it. Hard rubbing with a dry 

 brush crushes many, but there are crevices into which 

 the bristle cannot enter : thus some escape, and the 

 propagation continues. I have very successfully remov- 

 ed this blight from young trees, and from recently 

 attacked places in those more advanced, by an easy ap- 

 plication. Melt about three ounces of resin in an earthen 

 pipkin, take it from the fire, and pour into it three 

 ounces of fish oil ; the ingredients perfectly unite, and, 

 when cold, acquire the consistence of honey. A slight 

 degree of heat will liquefy it, and in this state paint 

 over every node or infected part in your tree, using a 

 common painter's brush. This I prefer doing in spring, 

 or as soon as the hoariness appears. The substance soon 

 sufficiently hardens, and forms a varnish, which prevents 

 any escape, and stifles the individuals. After this first 

 dressing, should any cottony matter appear round the 

 margin of the varnish, a second application to these 

 parts will, I think, be found to effect a perfect cure. 



The prevalence of this insect gives some of our orch- 

 ards here the appearance of numerous white posts in 

 an extensive drying ground, being washed with lime 

 from root to branch a practice I apprehend attended 

 with little benefit ; a few creatures may be destroyed 

 by accident, but as the animal does not retire to the 



