which it is 'wished to preserve. 4 1 7 



tains its place, though age, the chisel, and the pruning-knife 

 have been hard upon it, and it remains a heartless stump, and 

 almost leafless skeleton of a tree. 



Such was the case, some twelve years ago, with a green gage 

 plum tree, which for many years had been trained against a 

 wooden fence 10 ft. high, and had long delighted both old and 

 young by the yearly produce of an abundant crop of delicious, 

 juicy, high-flavoured fruit ; but it was now old, and exhausted ; 

 and its yearly crops were " few and far between." 



In the course of some judicious improvements, it was found 

 necessary to remove the old wooden fence, and to build in its 

 place a substantial brick wall. By this event, a favourable op- 

 portunity occurred to have the old plum tree removed, and a 

 young healthy tree planted in its place. Having represented to 

 my employer the propriety of so doing, his answer was, "I wish, 

 if possible, to preserve it: it has produced excellent fruit, and 

 was a great favourite with my father. See what you can do." » 



As many young gardeners, on entering their first situation, 

 may be similarly circumstanced, I will relate the means I 

 adopted, together with the result. In the first place, I cut down 

 the tree to the lowest live wood on the bole (which, in this case, was 

 2|^ft. from the ground), leaving the branch 20 in. long; I then 

 collected four barrow-loads of fresh cow-dung, and laid it round 

 the stem to the distance of 4 ft. on every side, and rising coni- 

 cally 6 in. above where the trunk was cut off; and, in order to 

 conceal the unsightly appearance of the dung, I covered it with 

 sand 2 in. thick. This was done in February ; and in due time 

 the live buds of the branch broke, and grew apace. During the 

 heat of summer, the surface of the dung became finely pulverised; 

 and, on examination, I found that strong healthy roots had issued 

 from the bottom of the branch which was left, and had spread 

 through the whole mass of dung which enveloped it. The fol- 

 lowing spring, I gave it another coating of the same, extending 

 to the distance of 6 ft. ; repeating it the third year, and occasion* 

 ally since. The result was, that the tree grew so rapidly, that 

 I was soon enabled to form a handsome, well-regulated, fan- 

 shaped head, which fills the whole space of its original allotment, 

 and has borne, for these eight years past, excellent and abundant 

 crops. 



This is a mode that may safely be adopted with all old fruit 

 trees that are worthy of preservation, whether cut down or not. 

 In the latter case, I would recommend that the soil be removed 

 to the distance of 4 or 5 ft. from the bole, to the depth of the 

 strong leading roots, and a layer of fi'esh cow-dung, 6 in. thick, 

 spread on them, and covered with sand, and left for one season 

 to the influence of the sun and air. It will soon be discovered 

 whether the cow-dung acts beneficially, by the renewed vigour 



