A YEARS GARDENING 



the soil lightly sifted over it, but when the gardener goes on his 

 morning round he finds that in the course of the pre- 

 ?s '^d'hed vious night it has been made a playground for some of 

 of beed-be s ^^ neighbours' cats. Its trim surface has been ruth- 

 lessly destroyed, it has been rolled upon and scratched into holes, the 

 evenly-distributed seed is thrown into lumps and patches, and the 

 entire work of the previous evening is spoilt and has to be done again. 

 In dealing with a garden surrounded by other gardens it is best to 

 recognize and provide against this annoyance at once 

 Prevention ^yy raising some defence against the entry of cats, and 

 nothing is more efl&cacious than to surmount the walls with wire- 

 netting (a fine mesh is not requisite) some 2 or 3 feet high. This should 

 be stretched from end to end of the walls, and may be supported 

 either by iron stakes inserted into the top of the wall or by stout 

 wooden laths firmly nailed to the side of the wall and painted some 

 unobtrusive colour. Of course the bottom of the wire netting must 

 itself be firmly secured, and this may be effected by means of small 

 iron staples driven into the wall over the bottom edge of the netting 

 at distances of not more than a foot. A wooden treUis, which is 

 sometimes advised as being less unsightly, is really almost useless 

 for the purpose, as a cat can climb it with ease; but a wire netting, 

 which provides no hold for its claws and only a fine wire for the pad 

 of its foot, a cat wiU not climb. For country gardens, however, such 

 an elaborate defence is seldom needful, but it is well to be prepared 

 against the occasional incursions of cats by covering any recently- 

 sown seed-bed with some of the previous year's pea-sticks or similar 

 tree-loppings. 



AMERICAN BLIGHT 



The apple tree and the oak are generally considered to be par- 

 ticularly subject to this pest. It is a wooUy-looking substance of 

 insectf growth, infesting the bark of the tree and piercing the sap 

 vessels, and ultimately destroying the branch it attacks. It hes 

 dormant at the foot of the tree during the winter, but in the spring 

 it renews its ravages and will spread throughout the tree if its pro- 

 gress be not stopped. The best remedy is the free use 

 Remedy ^j parafiBin, rubbed into the crevices of the bark with 



a short-haired paint brush wherever the insect appears; and in the 

 p y winter, to prevent a recurrence of the trouble, a 



reven ve lather of soft soap may be applied with a stifi brush 

 to the base of the tree's stem. 



142 



