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CHAPTER XXVI. 



OF THE CANKER AND GUM. 



A Description of the Canker; its Origin and Progress,»,»»Full 

 Directions for Curing it„.»Of the Gum and its Remedy, 



TThE Canker is a disease incident to trees, which occasions 

 the bark to grow rough and scabbj', and turns the wood affect- 

 ed to a rusty brown colour. This disease, if no remedy be ap- 

 plied, will in time totally kill the tree. 



Apple-trees are very liable to be infected with the canker 

 from the following causes, viz. 



From injudicious pruning, from the foot-stalks of the fruit 

 being left on the trees, and from injuries sustained by applying 

 ladders in gathering the fruit; these injuries are very hurtful 

 to the tree, and will infallibly bring on the canker when no re- 

 medy is applied. A man ought to stand on steps, instead of a 

 ladder, when the fruit is out of his reach from the ground. 

 Care should also be taken in nailing, that the shreds be not 

 too tight, which causes a swelling in the shoot, and very often 

 produces the canker. 



Another cause of the canker is, when we have very wet 

 autumns, such as that of 1799, which prevents the young wood 

 from ripening, and a hard frost setting in after it kills the young 

 ghoots ; these, if left on the tree, will bring on the canker, and 

 increase it rapidly. Birds and insects devouring the buds will 

 have the same effect. 



Careless people frequently leave the dead shoots on the 

 tree throughout the summer, which will infallibly bring on the 

 canker. Some even leave them for years, until the tree is to- 

 tally killed. They should be cut off in the end of April, or be- 

 ginning of May ; as by that time you will be able to see how 

 far the disease has advanced. I would advise to cut two or 

 three buds, or even more, below the apparently diseased part, 

 as the canker frequently reaches a great way farther in the heart 

 of the shoot than it appears to do on the outside ; you must cut 

 down till the bi^own colour in the shoot disappears, and nothing 

 remains but sound white wood. 



