230 THE FRUIT GARDEN. [APRIL. 



come quite vamp and pendulous. Surprised at so 

 sudden a change in their appearances, I had all the 

 trees, except four, washed with pure water the same 

 evening. Nevertheless, they suffered very much ; 

 the outer edges of the leaves contracted so as to form 

 a sort of cup, and the extremities became brown. 

 In short, they decreased both in number and in size. 

 The four trees which I did not wash again with 

 pure water, within eight days had hardly a leaf left 

 upon them : yet so tenacious of life w r ere these in- 

 sect enemies, that they lived even when vegetation 

 had seemingly ceased. 



" for these reasons, I gave over all expectation of 

 success in their destruction by sea^water ; having 

 ascertained by experiments, that even the smallest 

 portion of it is pernicious to vegetation, when ap- 

 plied to. the leaves of plants ; and when applied to 

 the soil, it will be found to be incapable of promot- 

 ing the growth of plants in any degree, excepting 

 in so far as the aqueous part, divested of its salt, is 

 capable of so doing. 



" I now had recourse to the use of tobacco li* 

 quor, as I had it from the tobacconist, which I di- 

 luted with eight or nine times the quantity of pure 

 water. This had the power of destroying the cater- 

 pillars, whenever it could get at them; but they are 

 naturally so impervious to water, that I found only a 

 very small progress made in destroying them, by 

 four washings with the engine, in eight days. I 

 then began to use the liquor of a much stronger qua* 

 lity, which I found to answer better ; and I think, 

 that if I had begun, and had used it just as I got it 



