138 FRUIT GARDEN 
cup-shaped, to the great advantage both of the size and 
beauty of the fruit. The general winter pruning may take 
place any time from the beginning of November to the 
beginning of March. After the winter pruning, some cul- 
tivators delay the shortening of the young wood of the 
~ former year till the middle or end of April, when the buds 
have swollen. Cankered or diseased wood, and all un- 
fruitful snags or ragged spurs, are then to be neatly cut 
out. Where the scars are large, they should be laid over 
with some composition calculated to resist the action of 
the air and rain. 
If the American blight, or woolly aphis (the E'rzosoma 
Mal of Leach) makes its appearance on a tree, the utmost 
care should be taken to clean every part of the bark with 
a hard brush and some searching wash; for, should the 
insect be left unmolested, it will speedily spread over all 
the apple trees in the neighborhood. It is often intro- 
duced with imported trees brought from distant nurseries : 
when this is observed, the pest is so grievous that the 
entire sacrifice of two or three trees is a small price to pay 
for its removal. Mr. Waterton, in his Essays on Natural 
History, recommends a simple remedy, which he found 
effectual, viz., mix clay with water till it be of a consis- 
tency to be applied like thick paint to the injured parts, 
either with a trowel or a brush; a second coat upon the 
first fills up every crack which may show itself when the 
first coat becomes dry; the clay resists for a sufficient 
length of time the effects both of sun and rain, and before 
it gradually falls off every insect is completely smothered. 
For the Storing of Pears and Apples there should be 
attached to every considerable garden a commodious fruit- 
room, well ventilated, furnished with fire-places or stoves 
to exclude frost, and fitted up with a variety of shelves. 
