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BOTAL HORTICULTTTKAL SOCIETY. 



general and nearly uniform degree of weakness prevails, to an 

 extent that renders it doubtful whether they will survive. At all 

 events they cannot bear a good crop of fruit. 



This unsatisfactory condition of the trees is much to be regretted, 

 and the cause has been made the subject of careful examination 

 and inquiry. The first question that naturally arises is, can it be 

 ascribed to mismanagement at any time ? 



"Without knowing the particulars of the mode of management 

 adopted in former years, it is certain it could not have been bad, 

 but rather the contrary ; otherwise the trees could not have lived 

 so long or borne so well. 



There appears to have been nothing wrong in their recent 

 management, nor anything in it that could reduce the trees to 

 their present weakly condition. The borders have been top- 

 dressed with fresh soil. The pruning has been properly enough 

 performed under the circumstances ; for, owing to the weak- 

 ness of the shoots, no one could prune them satisfactorily. 

 The gardener, it could be seen, had been in difficulties between 

 shortening the shoots to the lowest wood-bud at the base with 

 the view of making it push a stronger shoot for future bearing, 

 in which case it would have been said that he had cut away all the 

 bearing wood, or, anxious to save this, in case some of the shoots 

 might perchance produce some fruit, leaving them longer than he 

 otherwise would have done if there had been a sufficiency of 

 vigorous shoots. Then it may be supposed that the production of 

 these weak shoots is the result of bad pruning in the previous 

 season; but this does not appear, from the sections yet to be 

 seen, to have been the case; besides, bad pruning in the year 

 before last in healthy trees might have produced irregularities of 

 growth, some shoots too weak, others too strong, but not shoots 

 so uniformly weak as those now under consideration are. 



There being nothing wrong in the management of the trees to 

 which their present condition can be attributed, there is room for 

 conjecture that the evil has arisen from some other cause. It may 

 be supposed to have been occasioned by injuries inflicted inten- 

 tionally ; and although it is improbable that any one would be 

 inclined to do so in this instance, yet as it is known that trees 

 may be killed easily and secretly, a few remarks may be offered 

 on the subject. 



It can be proved that the present condition of the trees could not. 

 be secretly brought on, nor, indeed, by any means which human skill 

 could employ or malice invent. It is well known that there arc 



