44 



SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 



Water stagnant in soils, from accidental causes, may 

 put plants into such a bad condition, that they will lose 

 nearly all their root-fibres, and have nothing left but the 

 mere trunks of the roots. When the occasion of the 

 evil is not discovered till it has reached to this serious 

 extent, and the jilants are too valuable or too great 

 favourites to be thrown away, they might probably be 

 restored by taking them out of the earth, washing their 

 roots quite clean, paring away all their diseased or de- 

 caying parts, and planting or potting them afresh imder 

 more congenial ausj)ices. With subsec[uent attention, 

 they may thus be made to surmount the disease. 



In stiff clayey soils, cherry-trees will sometimes take 

 to exuding a great deal of gum from their stems, and 

 shortly afterwards exhibit all the symptoms of decay. 

 There appears no remedy for this but planting them in 

 much lighter and better d]^ained ground. The attack 

 seems produced by a kind of repletion, or extravagant 

 luxuriance. 



A singular blight has recently affected peas in much 

 the same manner as the potatoes, but chiefly in the pods. 

 It is as unaccountable as the potato disease, but occui's 

 almost wholly in the later crops, which, it may be ob- 

 served, are seldom free from some kind of disease, and 

 are never veiy wholesome. They are most commonly 

 attacked with mildew, which renders them an uncertain 

 and unproductive crop. 



Many other kinds of diseases are incident to plants ; 

 but some of their reputed affections are the work of 

 insects, rather than organic disease. They who are 

 careful to cultivate them well have little to apprehend 

 in the way of ordinary natural visitations. 



3. — Injurious Insects and Animals. 

 What has been just remarked about disease arising 

 out of imperfect culture may be extended in great ^sxt 

 to the attacks of insects, by which some gardens are so 

 much devastated. It is a curious fact that many smaller 

 insects do not commence their ravages on healthy plants, 

 but seize upon them the moment they become diseased. 

 Indeed, the appearance of the disease and the insects are 



