G56 PRACTICE OF AGRfCULTURE. Paht III. 



the absence of a profusion of these, properly to concoct the juices so abundantly sup- 

 plied by the roots, the fibre of the wood is loose and imperfect ; the next season will 

 produce more leaves in proportion to the supply of juices, yet not a sufficient number 

 for making timber ; several years may pass before this event will arrive : this crude and 

 ill-digested timber, disposed to premature decay, is the foundation over which subsequent 

 coatings of wood are laid : yet, however perfect these may be, they do not prevent the 

 progress of decomposition going on in the interior. Nature thus teaches how necessary 

 numerous leaves are to the preparation of the solid wood: the cotyledons and subsequent 

 leaves of a one-year old tree are a thousand times greater, compared with its solid con- 

 tents, than are the leaves to the solid contents of the first year's shoots from roots like 

 the above. Sa7ig. 



4031. Shakes often arise from the weight and multiplicity of top branches, and might 

 have been prevented by timely pruning. Shakes or rents in the boles of trees, however, 

 often happen where there is no excess of tops. Sometimes the rain, running down from 

 the branches, wets one part of the bole, while the rest is comparatively dry. If this cir^ 

 cumstance is succeeded by an intense frost, before the wetted side becomes dry, the bole 

 may be rent for a length, and perhaps to the depth of the core. Shakes or rents, like 

 the above, are difficult to cure. The best method of helping them is to trace out their 

 upper extremity, caulk it up with oakum, and pitch it over, to prevent the rain descend- 

 ing that v/ay in future. (Sang.) 



4032. In cases of hollowness, Pontey recommends probing to the bottom, letting out 

 the water, if any, with an auger, drying the cavity with a cloth, filling it with dry sand, 

 plugging it with wood and oakum, and then painting it over. 



4033. Stems or branches decorlicnted by lightning or otherwise, if the soft wood is not 

 much injured, will heal over and become covered with bark ; and this the more certainly 

 and rapidly if the air be excluded by a coating of adhesive matter, as cow-dung and quick- 

 lime, or by tying on moss or bandages of mat or cloth. Pontey gives an instance in 

 which such treatment was successful in the case of an apple tree. {Primer, 230.) We 

 have witnessed it on an extensive scale on the trunk of a pear tree ; and we are informed, 

 on the best authority, of other cases now under progress, in the government garden of 

 the Luxembourg, at Paris. 



4034. IVithered or decayed tops may arise from age and incipient decay ; but also, as 

 Pontey states, from improper pruning, or the want of it. We often see it from the im- 

 proper pruning of elms, which, after having been close pruned to their summits for many 

 years, are left entirely to nature ; in that case they branch out luxuriantly below, and the 

 top withers. By neglecting to thin out the branches on the stems of non-resinous trees 

 the same effect may be produced. 



4035. Stunted bushy tops, on very tall naked stems, show a deficiency of nourishment, 

 from these circumstances ; and those on short stems from defects of the soil. Obliquely 

 placed misshapen heads, in detached trees, commonly proceed from the same causes and 

 from want of shelter. Stinted growth, both in tops and stems, is also produced by ivy, 

 and by lichens, mosses, mistletoe, and other parasites. Ivy compresses the bark, and 

 precludes its expansion, as well as excludes air and moisture, by which the outer bark 

 becomes rigid and corky. Happily, both men and trees will live a long time under the 

 influence both of deformity and disease. 



4036. Excessive exudations of gum and resins are peculiar to resinous and some other 

 trees when over-pruned, or pruned at improper times. Mildew, honeydew, and blight, 

 three popular names applied to the effects of certain insects of the A^phis kind, attack the 

 oak, beech, poplar, and many trees : all that can be said is, if proper regimen has been 

 regularly attended to, trees will overcome these and all other enemies. 



4037. Insects and vermin. Almost every tree has its particular insect of the Hemipte- 

 rous and Dipterous families, and many of the Coleoptera are common to all. The foliage 

 of the small-leaved elm of hedges is often almost entirely destroyed in the early part of 

 the season by TenthredinidfE ; and those of the larch and Scotch pine have suffered ma- 

 terially in some seasons from aphides. The A'*phis laricea L. (Eriosoma of Leach) in- 

 creased to an alarming extent, from 1800 to 1802, on the larch, on account of three dry 

 seasons following each other ; but, though it retarded their growth, it ultimately de- 

 stroyed very few trees. Sang says, he has known it since 1785 ; that it dirties more than 

 injures the tree, and is now (1819) thought little of. Indeed, almost every species of 

 tree has been known to have suffered in some one season or more, and in particular dis- 

 tricts, from insects ; for which, on so large a scale, there seems to be no applicable remedy, 

 but patiently waiting till their excess, or the increase of other vermin their natural enemies, 

 or a change of seasons, causes them to disappear. Trees properly cultivated and managed 

 generally overcome such enemies. The hare is well known to be injurious to young- 

 trees, and especially to laburnums, by gnawing off their bark. Coating their stems with 

 dung and urine, fresh from the cow-house, is said to be an effectual remedy. It may be 

 put on with a brush to the height of two feet; a barrow-load will suflice for a hundred 



