50 



specious appearances, it is a grave consideration whe- 

 ther they do not carry serious evils in their train. 



Quite consonant with our opinion that deficient 

 ripeness of the wood of the young apple is a prime 

 predisposing cause of the canker, is the experience 

 and practice of Mr. Williams, of Pitmanston. 



To preserve the Golden Pippin and other apples 

 free from canker, Mr. Williams recommends every 

 year pruning away as much of each shoot of young wood 

 as is not perfectly ripened, which, he says, will preserve 

 the tree as perfectly free from canker as any new 

 variety. The best stock for the Golden Pippin he finds 

 to be the Siberian Crab, because, as the shoots of this 

 crab cease to elongate after the month of August, the 

 roots become less active in propelling the upward sap ; 

 hence the wood and buds of the grafts are more per- 

 fectly ripened in the autumn. {Trans. Hort. Soc. vi. 

 art. 64.) 



The late Mr. Knight, no mean authority upon all 

 things relative to the apple, observes that the canker 

 is always found in those varieties which have been 

 long in cultivation, and in these it annually becomes 

 more destructive, and evidently arises from the age of 

 the variety ; but it often appears to be hereditary. A 

 gravelly or wet soil, *a cold preceding summer, or a 

 high, exposed situation, adds much to its virulence. 

 It is most fatal to young free-growing trees of old 

 varieties ; and every gardener must have noticed often 



