THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



321 



the Pippins, or Golden Reinette, have been cured of 

 canker ; or, in other Avords, the new scions have not 

 been affected by it. Not seldom, however, such cures 

 have been short-lived, partly from faults of cultiva- 

 tion, but chiefly from failings of soil and climate. The 

 first, as we have seen, is very much under our control, 

 and climate is far more amenable to our modifying- 

 influences than is generally supposed. Thorough 

 drainage may raise local climates from five to ten 

 dogreas, and by j)lacing Apple or other trees on 

 southern sloping banks, another great amelioration 

 of climate is brought to bear upon them. 



The use of dwarfing and surface-rooting stocks is 

 the most potent antidote to canker that has yet been 

 noticed. Doubtless, it has in thousands of cases 

 proved a complete prevention, which is infinitely 

 better than cui'e, as it prevents the necessity of 

 the latter. Seldom or never does one see modern 

 miniature Apple-trees cankered. The roots seem too 

 .small and regulaiiy distributed to produce those 

 gross shoots and timber-like branches that fui'nished 

 food for canker as well as the knife ; and hence, as 

 we have seen, canker has vanished under the regime 

 of pure sap, and moderate supplies. 



One of the oldest and most radical remedies for 

 canker consisted in lifting the roots out of the mud 

 or clay, slashing off most of them in the process, 

 cutting back the head to a similar extent, in accor- 

 dance with a rough-and-ready rule, re-planting, and 

 thus recuperating the trees. And the system answered 

 £0 far, that the tree most cankered before these fear- 

 fully severe surgical operations not seldom remained 

 free from it afterwards. 



But all that is changed . now, and the slightest 

 pruning of the roots of tbe Paradise and other 

 dwarfing stocks generally suffices to keep canker so 

 far away from our Apples, that it may be hoped 

 the time is near at hand when modern pomologists 

 will hardly know what canker is like. 



So much for constitutional remedies. Now for a 

 few local ones. Cleanliness is the parent of health, 

 and some 'have held, with some show of reason, that 

 dirt on the stems and branches is sometimes the cause 

 of canker. This is doubtful. Still the mere suspicion 

 may suffice to have most lichens or other impurities 

 removed so far as practicable. Even Mistletoe when 

 it abounds may result in canker, and should be re- 

 moved. Many an Apple -grower would gladly sacrifice 

 •one or more Apple-trees to have it establish itself in 

 his gardens and orchards. Still in the Southern 

 and AVestern counties, where it luxuriates, it may not 

 only become a nuisance, but an active source of 

 canker, and should be destroyed. Mosses and lichens 

 should also be scraped off with a small garden hoe, 

 an old bill-hook, knife, or other blunt instrument. 

 Smears of thick lime- wash, formed of water in Avhich 

 69 



an ounce to the gallon of sulphuric acid is added, 

 prove very useful as a branch-cleaner, the hot lime 

 and a-cridity of the acid making short work of mosses, 

 lichens, or any other extraneous animal or vegetable 

 life that adheres to stems or boughs. Where these 

 or other incrustations overrun the twigs, as well as 

 branchlets, such washes may be applied thinner, 

 through a' garden engine, in winter, until the entire 

 tree is covered over with the cleansing mixture. 



Local remedies cannot be much relied on, though 

 great faith was placed in them in olden times. 

 Smears of equal parts clay and cow-dimg, so stiff fis 

 to form a sort of cement, were often used. Tliese 

 excluded water from the wounds, which were cleared 

 of all dead wood and bark before it was applied, and 

 seemed so far to favour the healing of the cankering 

 part, enabling young bark to be formed along the 

 sides and ends of the wounds. Stockholm tar (not 

 coal tar) may be used as a dressing, and cart and other 

 stiff greases may also be employed. The best emol- 

 lients for canker- wounds are probably sweet oil and 

 colza oil ; and the worst, perhaps, dressings of Port- 

 land and Roman cements. 



Attempts were also made at times to bridge over 

 the wounds with sheaths of bark, thus bridging over 

 the scarred wood with a waterproof as well as a vital 

 covering that occasi(mally linked itself along the sides 

 of the wounds, and made all sure, so far as external 

 appearances were concerned. 



In cases, too, where the end and side bark closed 

 up the sides of the wood, a coat of common jmint was 

 useful over, the scar, or cut portion of the can- 

 kered wood, to render it waterproof, and so preserve 

 it from destruction. But a mere statement of the 

 nature of these direct nostrums for canker best re- 

 veals their comparative worthlessness, and gives ad- 

 ditional emphasis to our earnest advice — prevent 

 canker by come of the more radicril means already 

 indicated. 



Mildew. — Apples in suitable localities, and under 

 skilful treatment, are seldom attacked with mildew. 

 It at once gives evidence of its presence by a white 

 coating of dust along part or the whole of the young- 

 shoots. It mostly attacks the tips of Apple-shoots, 

 making them look as if they had been exposed to the 

 fine impalpable powder of a flour-mill for a few 

 hours. It consists of myriads of minute fungi, and 

 the safe and direct remedies are hot lime and sulphur, 

 either alone or in a half-and-haK compound, dashed 

 on to the leaves and shootlets affected, first dress- 

 ing them overhead with the finest spray of water, to 

 make the caustic dust stick closely to the aft'cctcd 

 surfaces. Natural preparations, dew or fine rain, are 

 the best before the application of the dust. If too wet 

 with rain or heavy syringings, the minute particles 



