TREES. 



as it can be laid on with the brufti. It is found that fuch a 

 coating does not hinder the juices or fap from expanding 

 in the fmalleil degree ; and the efficacy of the plan is proved, 

 in preventing the attacks of the animals, by applying the 

 liquid compofition to one tree and miffing another, when it 

 was found that the former was left, while the latter was at- 

 tacked. Its efficacy has been fhewn by the experience of five 

 years. The trees that were gone over the firil two years 

 have not been touched fince ; and none of them hawe been 

 injured by the hares. 



It is a mode particularly well adapted for nurferies, where 

 the ground is not well fecured with a fence to protefl the 

 young fruit-trees and tender fhrubs from hares. 



The above is the proportion of the materials} whatever 

 may be the extent of trees. 



Trees, Mr/jfuig of, their becoming much affefted and 

 covered witli the mofs-plant or molTy mbftance. It is found 

 to prevail in fruit-grounds of the apple kind, and in other 

 fituations, when they are in low, clofe, confined places, where 

 the damp or moifture of the trees is not readily removed. 

 It is thought to be an indication of weaknefs in the growth, 

 or of a difeafed itate of the trees, and to require nice atten- 

 tion in preventing or eradicating it. The modes of re- 

 moving it have ufually been thofe of fcraping, rubbing, and 

 waftiing, but they are obvioudy calculated for trees only 

 on a fmall fcale. How far the ufe of powdery matters, 

 fuch as lime, chalk, and others, which are capable of 

 readily abforbing .and taking up the wetnefs that may hang 

 about the branches and other parts of the trees, by being 

 well dufted over them, (nay be beneficial, is not known, 

 font they would fcem to promife fiiccefs by the taking 

 avi'ay the nourilhment aud fupport of the mofs, when em- 

 ployed at proper feafons. And they are known to anfwer 

 in deftroying mofs in fome other cafes, when laid about the 

 ftems of the plants, as in thorn-hedges, &c. 



In the fruit -grounds of Gloucefterfhire it is recommended, 

 the writer of the account of the agriculture of that diftridt 

 fays, to waili witli foap-fuds, and rub off the mofs with a 

 brulh, in wet weather when it is foft, and eafily feparable 

 from the different parts of the trees. This work fhould be 

 begun at an early period of the growth of the trees, when 

 the branches are few and open, and be repeated every feafon ; 

 otherwife the labour would be too great to undertake on 

 a large extent, when tlie trees are full-headed, and entangled 

 with (hoots. The fruit-farmer fhould not, however, be too 

 eafily difcouraged, fince it has been difcovered, that the 

 eggs of caterpillars are often lodged between the mofs and 

 the rind of the trees, and probably the infedls ifTue forth 

 from thefe depofitaries in the fpring, to the deftruftion of 

 leaf and blofTom. 



In this diftridt, the moffing of the trees is attributed to 

 the plantations being made on grafs-lands, which is the com- 

 mon pra£lice in a great part of the county ; as, it is faid, 

 that in the neighbouring counties, where the fruit-trees are 

 planted in hop-grounds and arable fields, the trees, though 

 not free, are lefs affefted by it. This may, it is fuppofed, 

 be owing to the frequent manuring and ftirring of the mould 

 near the roots, by which means the fun and rain have 

 power to exert their influence, and by invigorating the 

 fibres, promote a general kindnefs in the growth of the 

 trees. 



The moffing in all forts of trees is injurious to their 

 growth by depriving them of a portion of their nourifh- 

 ment, but more particularly hurtful to thofe of the fruit- 

 tree kind, as preventing them from bearing full good 

 crops of fruit by rendering them in a weak and unhealthy 

 ftate. 



Trees, EJpalier, Cajl-iron Rath for, a new mode of form* 

 ing this fort of rails. It is noticed in a Paper in the firll 

 volume of the Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural 

 Society, that the advantages attending rails of this kind in 

 gardens, in refpeft to utility as well as ornament, are well 

 known and acknowledged. The greater chance they afford 

 to the fruit in fetting and ripening, by the branches being 

 laid in at regular and equal diftances, the neatnefs of ap- 

 pearance which the trees exhibit, and the elegant villas pro- 

 duced by the rail and trees when bordering the fides of well- 

 kept walks, are all matters with which the admirers of hor- 

 ticulture have long been acquainted. It does not appear, 

 however, whatever may have been the caufe, that this, by no 

 means uninterefting branch of the art, has hitherto in any 

 confiderable degree engaged the attention of the improver. 



The rails for trees of this kind have, for the moft part, 

 been made of wood, though not without objeftions ; the 

 principal of which are, want of durability in the fubftance ; 

 the difficulty of keeping them in a perfeftly rettilinear pofi- 

 tion ; and the clumfinefs of appearance which they con- 

 ftantly, in fome degree, exhibit, when made of the dimen- 

 fions neceffary for the proper extenfion of the trees. 



The moft ufual modes of conftrufting fuch rails are two : 

 firft, the having upright fphts of drelTed timber funk into the 

 ground, and mortifed into a horizontal top-rail. This is 

 greatly objectionable on account of the fpeedy decay, and 

 from the fplits always foon giving way whtg-e funk into the 

 ground, as well as from its being fcarcely pratticable to keep 

 them ftraight. The fecond, or that which is the moft ge- 

 nerally prattifcd, is to fink upright polls int» ftones, to mor- 

 tife two crofs-bars into them, and to nail upright flips to the 

 bars. The great defeft in this mode is, that by the bulk of 

 the pofts, rails, and fphts, fo great a flrain is thrown upon 

 the llones during high winds, that they cannot long refift 

 it : and tlie confequence is, that the rail foon begins to twift, 

 while the pdrt funk into the ftones, in fpite of every precau- 

 tion, will at no great length of time decay, in confequence 

 of moifture getting in between the wood and the ftone. 



In order to obviate thefe objections, the fubftitution of 

 efpalier rails formed of call -iron inftead of wood, has been 

 propofed and tried with fuccefs by a gentleman in Dunbar- 

 tonfhire, Scotland. 



Each portion of rail is formed of two rails inferted at the 

 different ends into handfome upright columns or pofts, having 

 ereft arrows or pieces fixed into them, fomewhat in the 

 manner of common iron paling, the whole fheet or portion 

 refling upon three fupports at the bottom, in tlie way di- 

 rcfted below. The fupporters on which it ftands are thus 

 contrived : the centre one is a piece of feafouedoak, driven 

 firmly into the ground, and funk a little below its furface. 

 It receives the upright middle arrow-piece,, which keeps up 

 the centre of the bottom rail, and through which the dif- 

 ferent upright arrow-pieces to each fide of it are put. It is 

 fupported below the rail by two pieces of the fame metal in 

 a triangular manner. Thofe at the ends are llones of two 

 feet in length, having their tops hewn into an hemifpherical 

 fhape, and perforated in the middle by a hole of four inches 

 in depth, and two in diameter, which receives the bottom 

 ends of the columns or pofts. The upright arrow-pieces 

 are each furnifhed with a ruff at the places where they meet 

 the top and bottom rail. 



The columns or pofts have the length of fix feet, their 

 bottoms being funk, as above, into the ftones : the diameter 

 of them at the bottom rail is an inch and a half, and at the 

 top, one inch and one-eighth : the upright arrow-pieces are 

 five feet in length, and their diameter half an inch : the 

 bottom rails are three-eighths of an incli in tliicknefs, and in 



breadth 



