By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 133 



blossom, in any given variety, regulates, to a very considerable 

 extent, the bulk of the future fruit. As soon as the blossoms 

 were expanded, and the pollen began to shed, water was 

 applied in less quantity, as a light shower, sufficient to wet 

 the pollen, without washing it off ; but when the pollen was 

 chiefly shed, I again, to promote its absorption, sprinkled 

 the trees abundantly with water, having previously often 

 observed, that heavy showers of rain are at this period always 

 highly beneficial to the blossoms of the Apple trees in our 

 orchards ; and almost every blossom of my Peach trees set 

 most perfectly. The watering was regularly continued till 

 the fruit became very nearly ripe, the roots of the trees 

 being, at the same time, abundantly supplied with moisture 

 and food in the manner detailed in my last paper, in which 

 I have stated the more than ordinary size and perfection of 

 the fruit. 



My house had been previously much infested with the red 

 spider ;* but not a single one now appeared, nor scarcely 

 an Aphis; and the young wood became remarkable for 

 the shortness of its joints, and the thickness, comparatively 

 with the length of its shoots. A gardener, who is prejudiced 

 in favour of old customs, will possibly imagine that he sup- 

 plies the place of the cool evening dews of nature, and of the 

 water in the preceding 'experiment, by sprinkling his flues 

 with water, and filling his house abundantly with steam. 



• I suspect, but I am no entomologist, that two distinct species of insect are 

 confounded under this name, one of which forms a web, which the other does 

 not. The latter kind often abounds in the open air, upon pear-trees, and appears 

 to be, in the forcing-house, a much hardier insect than the other. 



