FRUIT TREES. Chap. V. 109 



the animals will prefer it to all of the other baits that thus will be useless. 



1 1°. Birds are killed by gunshot, caught by bird lime, and kept away by 

 scarecrows. 



Hail is a scourge for which there is no remedy at all. Branches struck by it must 

 be cut back to below the damaged part, because the bruises degenerate into cankers. 



During the summer, water the tops of trees, even those out in the open, with a 

 small pump. This is a very good practice. If the water is directed against the undersides of 

 the leaves, a lot of insects that hide there will be killed, as well as their spawn or their 

 young that they've deposited there. 



CHAPTER VI. 

 Time & Method for Exposing, Gathering, & Storing Fruit. 



I. MOST fruits need direct sunlight, both for improving their juice & their aroma and to 

 take on the color that makes them appealing to the eye. Exposing them as soon as the 

 shoots are pinched off would spare any further effort. But the tree could suffer from it, 

 beyond having a large number of leaves cut off. Some of the fruit, exposed to the heat of 

 the sun, would become scorched and fall off. Others would grow to a much smaller size 

 than they would in the shade of the leaves where their delicate skin that transpires easily 

 would stretch and yield to the expanding flesh. So when the shoots are pinched off, it's 

 sufficient just to protect the fruit from etiolation by giving them the benefit of air without 

 depriving them of the shade necessary for their preservation & favorable to their growth. 



