67 



Mr. Forsyth, formerly gardener at Kensington 

 Palace, made a considerable sensation at the close of 

 the last, and at the commencement of the present, cen- 

 tury, by the wonderful effects produced upon trees, 

 as he asserted, by the following composition, used as 

 a plaster over the wounds from which the decayed or 

 cankered parts had been cut out : — 



One bushel of fresh cowdung. 



Half a bushel of lime rubbish ; that from ceilings of 



rooms is preferable, or powdered chalk. 

 Half a bushel of wood ashes. 



One sixteenth of a bushel of sand ; the three last to 

 be sifted fine. The whole to be mixed and beaten 

 together until they form a fine plaster.* 



Mr. Knight, in a very able and sarcastic pamphlet, 

 published in 1802, entitled " Some doubts relative to 

 the Efficacy of Mr. Forsyth's Plaster," fully exposed 

 the quackery — perhaps falsehood may not be too harsh 

 a term — of this horticulturist's statements. 



Mr. Forsyth received a parliamentary grant of 

 money for his discovery ; but this, as Mr. Knight 

 observes, " affords a much better proof that he was 

 paid for an important discovery than that he made 

 one." 



" Should the public," continues this distinguished 



* Forsyth's Observations on Fruit Trees, p. 68. 

 F 2 



