366 



A Wash for Fruit Trees. — Agricultural Survey. Vol. XI. 



A Wash for Fruit Trees. 



A GOOD deal has been said about the best 

 application for this purpose — one recommend- 

 ing lime, another a solution of soft soap, and 

 another a solution of potash. All these are 

 very excellent, but sometimes fail of being 

 applied, from an unwillingness in the farmer 

 to drive to the village in search of them, or 

 from the false economy which regards the 

 slight expense of procuring them. If there 

 is anything equally beneficial, and within 

 every one's reach, we think it rhould be sub- 

 stituted, as doing away with the last apology 

 which a lazy man can give for neglecting 

 his trees, and we think that this article may 

 be found in wood ashes, of which every 

 farmer has an abundance, I have tried the 

 solution of black salts, the application of 

 soap, and also that of wood ashes ; for large 

 trees with rough bark, the latter is quite as 

 good, if not better than the former. A wash 

 of ashes and water can be made as strong 

 as you please, and if put on some dry day, a 

 good deal of the ashes will remain adhering 

 to the bark, which the subsequent rains wash 

 into the crevices. This wash if applied in 

 the summer time, will, while the ashes re- 

 main on the tree, make it offensive and dis- 

 agreeable to the insects, and deter them from 

 lighting on it; also ultimately makes the 

 bark smooth and healthy. 



By those who wish for healthy and prO' 

 duclive orchards, too much attention cannot 

 be given to the bark of their trees. We 

 frequently meet with forest trees whose in- 

 terior has been almost entirely destroyed by 

 fire or decay, and which yet seem healthy 

 and flourishing by virtue of a vigorous bark; 

 and any one who has tried the experiment 

 must have observed how both shrubs and 

 trees, that have become enfeebled by age 

 and neglect, can be rejuvenated by attention 

 to their exterior condition. We don't mean 

 to recommend to any to procure old or large 

 trees for his orchard in place of young ones, 

 but if he has an old apple tree worth im- 

 proving, by removing the outside of the 

 whole bark on it late in the spring, he will 

 find that he has given to the tree much ad- 

 ditional vigor. Upon smaller trees and 

 shrubs, a liberal scraping with a trowel and 

 an application of ashes and water will have 

 the same effect. 



When trees grow in grassy land, a 

 pretty good way to keep them from being 

 sod-boiind, is to remove in the fall the sod 

 two or three feet around the tree, and on 

 this turn about half a wheelbarrow full of 

 manure; the winter rains and snows will 

 wash the strength of it to the fibrous roots. 

 In the spring the manure may be scattered 



about under the tree, and in lieu of it, sub- 

 stitute leached ashes. This, beside being 

 beneficial to the tree, prevents the grass 

 from approaching the stem of the tree du- 

 ring the summer; and what grass grows 

 over the ashes is easily removed in the fall. 

 In conclusion we would say, that the 

 farmer who curries his horse twice a day, 

 finds himself abundantly rewarded for his 

 toil, in the improved strength and appear- 

 ance of his animal ; why don't he curry 

 his trees once or twice a year, and reap a 

 larger reward for the labour and the capital 

 thus invested 1 — Minors' Journal. 



Agricultural Survey of Washington Co~ 

 N. Y. 



We take the foHowing from the AJbany Evening 

 Journal. Our friends in New York are certainly en- 

 terprising and spirited, and we trust this attempt wiU 

 be attended with valuable results. We are glad to see 

 Dr. Fitch engaged in this undertaking.— Ed. 



We learn that the N. Y. State Agricultu- 

 ral Society has it in contemplation, to have 

 a full and accurate Agricultural Survey of 

 the different counties of the State, taken so 

 fast as its means will enable it to proceed in 

 a work of this character. The Surveys of 

 the several counties of England and Walep, 

 completed several years since by the British 

 Board of Agriculture, will form the model 

 on which this work will be in a measure 

 conducted. The present flourishing state of 

 the art of agriculture in England, it is well 

 known, has resulted, to a considerable ex- 

 tent, directly from the investigations made 

 and the information acquired by that Sur- 

 vey; and a similar work in this country can 

 scarcely fail to lead to similar auspicious re- 

 sults. 



We regard it as no small honour, that 

 Washington county has been selected by 

 the State Society, as the most appropriate 

 locality in which to commence this import- 

 ant work, and that one of our own citizens. 

 Dr. Asa Fitch, has been commissioned to exe- 

 cute it. Such a work, in such hands, we 

 confidently anticipate will result in a report 

 that will redound to the fame, alike, of the 

 writer, of our county, and of the Society 

 under whose patronage it is made. We 

 learn from Dr. F. that he contemplates vis- 

 iting the several parts of the county the 

 present season, and ascertaining from per- 

 sonal inquiries and observations, all the de- 

 tails of the art of agriculture, &c., as it is 

 practiced at the present day by our most 

 successful and intelligent farmers. That 

 tlie exact plan and scope of the proposed 

 work may be more definitely known, we 

 take pleasure in laying before our readcTS 



