INSECTS. 



169 



buds, together with the inoculated one. As the inoculated 

 branches multiply, diminish the original one till nothing 

 remains but the new tree. — iV. E, Farmer^ vol. i. p. 146. 



Mr. Buel, of Albany, in a note to A Treatise on Gar- 

 dening^ written by Mr. Armstrong, says, "The modern, 

 and, from experience, I do not hesitate to call it the best, 

 method, is, to insert the bud without separating the wood from 

 it, I have budded, the two last years, in June. If thus in- 

 serted early, and the stocks headed down when the liga- 

 tures are removed, the buds often make half a year's growth 

 the same season, and are not so apt to suffer from the 

 severity of the winter, as those which remain dormant." — 

 Mem. of N. Y. Board of Agriculture, vol. iii. p. 17. 



INSECTS. — It would far transcend our limits to give 

 even a brief description of the various sorts of insects which 

 injure gardens, cultivated fields, &c., and destroy the best 

 productions of our soil. We shall, theiefore, confine our- 

 selves to stating, briefly, some of the most approved modes 

 of counteracting the ravages, and effecting the destruction, 

 of a few of those which are most injurious to the cultivator. 



The preventive operations are those of the best culture, 

 in the most extensive sense of the term, including vdiat re- 

 lates to choice of seed or plant, soil, situation, and climate. 

 If these are carefully attended to, it will seldom happen, 

 that any species of insect will effect serious and permanent 

 injury. Vegetables, which are vigorous and thrifty, are not 

 apt to be injured by wwms, flies, bugs, &c. Fall plough- 

 ing, by exposing worms, grubs, the larv^ae of bugs, beetles, 

 &c., to the intense frosts of our winters, is very beneficial. 

 Insects may be annoyed, and, oftentimes, their complete 

 destruction eflected, by sprinkling over them, by means of 

 a syringe, watering-pot, or garden-engine, simple water, 

 soap-suds, tobacco-water, decoctions of elder, especially of 

 the dwarf kind, of walnut leaves, bitter and acrid herbs, 

 pepper, lye of v/ood-ashes, or solutions of pot and pearl 

 ashes, water impregnated with salt, tar, turpentine, &:c. ; or, 

 they may be dusted with sulphur, quick-lime, and other 

 acrid substances. Loudon says, " Saline substances, mixed 

 with water, are injurious to most insects with tender skins, 

 as the worm and slug; and hot water, where it can be 

 applied without injuring vegetation, is equally, if not more 

 powerfully, injurious. Water heated to 120 or 130 degrees 

 will not injure plants, v/hose leaves are expanded, and, in 

 some degree, hardened ; and water at 200 degrees, or up- 

 wards, may be poured over leafless plants. The effects of 

 15 



