No. 11. 



Observer. 



165 



If scions from the bearing branches are 

 then engrafted upon seedling stocks of a 

 proper size they will bear fruit the fourth 

 season, and if planted in a favourable soil 

 will rival, I am convinced, in health and 

 vigor, any other of our fruit trees. 



You will perceive by the above remarks 

 that I am not a competitor for the prize — 

 at the same time you are at liberty to make 

 of them what disposition you please. 

 Very respectfully your ob't, 



Jos. Henderson. 



Brown's Mills, Mifflin Co. Pa. Dec. 18, 1837 



Note, — Injustice to the gentleman, whose 

 communication is referred to, I would havej 

 quoted his name could I have laid my hando! 

 upon the paper containing it. 



OBSERVER, No. XIII. 



ON WHITE-WASHING FRUIT TREES. 



The opinion e.xpressed by I. C. in the last 

 Cabinet, respecting the white-washing of 

 fruit trees, appears to deserve further e.vami- 

 nation. The practice may be too indiscrimi- 

 nately pursued by some of our phester coun- 1 

 ty farmers; yet, if they abuse, or empirically j 

 use, the application, such abuse, or misuse, 

 of it will not justify the sweeping denuncia-| 

 tion of 1. C. He objects to the practice, be-| 

 cause " it forms a coat over the trunk of the 

 tree of a dry costive nature, which effectual- i 

 Iv prevents the humidity of the night air, and ! 

 the futilizing dews, so indispensable to thej 

 expansion of the bark and the health of thej 

 tree, from penetrating, softening, and moist- 1 

 ening the outer coat." | 



Now I do not know this to be the fact. 1 1 

 have not observed lime to form such a coat 

 as I. C. describes. Nor do I know that the' 

 humidity of the night air, and fertilizing dew, j 

 are " indispensable" to the expansion of the 

 bark, for, I have known trees to grow, and 

 their bark to expand, in situations where those 

 indispensahles were, in a great measure, ex- 

 cluded. Admitting the truth of these posi- 

 tions, the evil would be of very short dura- 

 tion, according to 1. C.'s own showing-, for, 

 says he, "another tendency, even more inju- 

 rious than the former, is, that the coat of 

 lime deadens the external bark, and, in the 

 autumn, it peals off." " But, let it be re- 

 membered, and duly considered, that this 

 very outer covering, taken off by the effects 

 of the lime, is that which is intended, in the 

 wisdom of the great Author of nature, to pro- 

 tect, or defend the tree, in this northern lati- 

 tude, from the inclemency of a severe and 

 protracted winter." 



Here, again, I do not know the fact, be- 

 cause it has not fallen within my experience. 

 The external cuticular layers of vegetable, 

 like animal bodies, successively become dead, 



I while new layers are continually forming un- 

 derneath to supply their place. These dead 

 layers may frequently exfoliate and fall off, 

 as they are seen to do in the younger branches 

 of the buttonwood, (platanus accidentalis,) 

 or it may remain attached, but rent in fis- 

 sures by the expansion of the wood, giving 

 the tree a rugged and unseemly appearance, 

 as in the oak. And I will appeal to I. C. 

 himself, whether it will not hold true, both 

 in the orchard and the forest, that if we take 

 any two trees of the same species and age, 

 those of the most healthful and vigorous? 

 growth, will present the smoothest and thia- 

 nest dead coat of cuticle. If our ordinary 

 fruit trees become unhealthy from any cause, 

 the cuticle ceases to exfoliate as it should, 

 becomes more rough, and does not expand 

 properly, the bark is covered with parasite 

 plants, destructive insects finu shelter among 

 the crevices, and insectivorous birds in seek- 

 ing for these, increase the injury. But, if 

 this state of the bark results from an un- 

 healthy condition of the tree, it becomes, in 

 time, the cause of new diseases. The tree 

 is bark-bound ; it cannot thrive. 



The existence of this state of things has 

 been proved a thousand times, by splitting 

 the outer bark of the trunkj from the branches 

 to the ground, and allowing it to expand. By 

 commencing the incision at the origin of an 

 ill-thriven branch, I have seen the growth of 

 that branch rendered seven-fold greater than 

 any other on the tree. 



Now, if I rightly apprehend the object of 

 white-washing fruit trees, it is not, merely, 

 to allow the incrusted bark to expand, but, 

 to remove the incrustation — to cause the 

 binding cuticle to exfoliate. At the same 

 time, we obliterate the clefts in the bark, 

 where moss and insects are disposed to col- 

 lect, and escape the annoyance from birds 

 seeking feed in those places. And, as a con- 

 sequence, we " promote the health and thrifti- 

 ness of the tree." If my experience does not 

 deceive me, the use of white-wash does most 

 happily effect these purposes. When these 

 indications are fulfilled — when the bark be- 

 comes smooth, and the tree flourishing, the 

 practice need not be continued, and might 

 become injurious. 



If, as I. C. asserts, a thick cuticular cover- 

 ing is intended in the wisdom of the great 

 Author of nature, to protect the tree against 

 the severity of our northern winters, why has 

 he not provided for the beech and the maple, 

 as well as for the oak? Or, why has he plant- 

 ed the cork tree (quercus suber) with its 

 enormous thick coat, in the genial climate of 

 the south of Europe, instead of the bleak 

 mountains of the frigid zone] 



Again; I. C. objects, that "whatever has 

 a tendency to remove or take off, this cover- 



