THE ACCIDE^'TS OF CriTIVATIOX. 



43 



parcels into this shed, and stowed there to acquire addi- 

 tional dryness. In these and various other ways, a small 

 shed may have its space so husbanded as to become the 

 means of supplying many a comfort^ and relieving the 

 house of many a burden or nuisance. 



2. — Diseases of Plants. 



The great cause of disease in plants is bad cultivation ; 

 and its remedy, of course, an improved system of treat- 

 ment. A plant that is gi^owing in a soil imperfectly 

 drained, or which has not room properly to develop 

 itself, or nutriment sufficient to keep it vigorous, is sure 

 to be unhealthy ; and a sickly or weak state is always 

 next door to disease. An unhealthy plant may, indeed, 

 become diseased at any moment ; for disease is but a 

 development or localisation of general unhealthiness. 



Still, disease will occasionally manifest itself under the 

 most careful and judicious culture : and the more artifi- 

 cially a plant is treated, the more will it be liable to the 

 attacks of disease. A condition the nearest that is 

 possible to nature is the soundest and healthiest both in 

 plants and animals ; and every depai'ture from that state 

 is more or less fraught with danger. 



Barrenness, if it may be called a disease, has already 

 had its cure pointed out. Canker in trees, especially 

 fruit-trees, will sometimes happen without any apparent 

 cause. The best remedy will be carefully to cut out the 

 dead or affected parts, and administer a thin plaster, 

 composed of clay, cow-dung, and soot. This will gene- 

 rally heal the wound, and cause new bark to grow gradu- 

 ally over it. ^louldiness or gangrene in stems and leaves 

 is apt to affect plants growing in pots that have insuffi- 

 cient air or too much moisture, particularly if they be 

 at all succulent or tender. It should be guarded against 

 as much as possible, by due ventilation and dryness ; 

 but, when it appears, the parts affected should be at 

 once removed with a knife, or, if the gangrene has not 

 proceeded far into the stems, perhaps the use of a little 

 quick-lime will suspend its progress, and at length restore 

 the part to soundness. 



