AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 281 



apricot may be destroyed almost instantly by immersing the 

 leav^es infested in this liquor. 



* When trees have got so bad that their leaves are much 

 curled, some of the flies, being protected within the curl, will 

 escape : in this case more force must be applied to the 

 syringe, and in a day or two the trees should be looked over 

 again, and whatever part of the leaves has not been wetted 

 should be washed with a painter's brush ; but a careful per- 

 son will render this process unnecessary by taking them in 

 time.' 



Instead of liquor from the tobacconist, w^hich may not al- 

 ways and in all situations be easily procured, a strong de- 

 coction of the stems or damaged leaves may be a cheap sub- 

 stitute. The uses of tobacco in destroying lice on cattle, 

 ticks on sheep, &c. are too well known to render it necessary 

 to make any observations on this application of a plant 

 which seems to be abhorred by every animated being but 

 man and the tobacco worm. But a quantity of tobacco 

 ought to be grown by CA'ery cultivator, to enable him to 

 wage successful war with insects. 



PLOUGHING, is the most important of agricultural ope- 

 rations. On the manner in which this is performed depends 

 all the subsequent operations of tillage on the same laad. 

 A large volume might well be written on this subject, but 

 we shall confine ourselves to practical hints, expressed as 

 concisely as is consistent with perspicuity. 



In all stiff, heavy, and adhesive soils, that are much dis- 

 posed to moisture, it should be a common rule not to plough 

 them while wet in any considerable degree, especially if 

 there is much clay in their composition. When such land 

 is ploughed wet, the particles of which it is composed are 

 apt to cake, or run together into hard lumps, which require 

 much trouble and labor to reduce to a fine state. Besides, 

 much injury is produced by the treading of the team, and 

 greater power is necessary in performing the operation. 

 But, on the other hand, such soils are ploughed with much 

 difficulty when very dry ; unless before the ploughing they 

 were in a state of tillage, and not baked or bound down very 

 hard. To break up grass ground composed of a strong loam, 

 or a soil in wliich there is clay in any considerable quantity, 

 when in a dry state, is next to impossible. You might al- 

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