X 



PREFACE, 



advantages of soil and situation ; let the dead, decayed, and 

 injured parts be cut out; then to one of the trees apply the 

 composition as directed in this treatise, and leave the other to 

 nature: if proper attention be paid to the former, no great 

 length of time v^ill be necessary to shew which method ought 

 to be pursued in future. 



I hope the candid reader will pardon me for dwelling a 

 little on this subject. It has been said, that there is nothing 

 new either in the composition or its application. It is certainly 

 true, that compositions of various kinds have been tried ; but 

 no one has been attended with such great success as that which 

 is described in the following pages : Indeed, they were gene- 

 rally made up in a slovenly manner, and applied without pro- 

 perly preparing the trees ; so that little good could have been 

 expected, even if the composition had consisted of proper ma- 

 terials. In these particulars I am persuaded, that every im- 

 partial person will acknowledge that I have made great im- 

 provement. Former compositions have been made up of loam 

 and cow or horse-dung, of bees-wax, pitch, tar, chalk, rosin 

 mixed with grease, gums, &c. It is granted, that such as 

 these may sometimes be of use, but not in general; most o£ 

 them being liable to become hard, and to crack and peel oiF. 

 I have tried them all, with but very little success. I have also 

 tried a composition of tarras (which is used as a cement for 

 building under water) : This also cracked and peeled off after 

 it became hard. Some of these compositions become so hard, 

 that, instead of giving way to the new bark as it is produced, 

 they cut and tear it, to the great injury of the tree. 



The composition which I recommend is not liable to these 

 inconveniences ; it possesses an absorbent and adhesive quality, 

 and is moreover of such a nature as not in the least to hurt the 

 new and tender bark ; for it easily gives way to it and to the 

 new wood as they advance. On applying it to trees which 

 contain a strong acid, such as oaks, apple-trees, apricots, &c. 

 when infected with the canker, that disease may be seen oozing 



