424 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



tivators of these fruits thin them very much. Nothing tends 

 more to keep fruit-trees in good health than a regularity in 

 their crops, and this should always be done some time before 

 they swell off for ripening ; for if delayed till they be nearly 

 full gi'own, the mischief is in a great measure done, both to 

 the tree and to the fruit that is left. 



WATERING WALL-TREES. 



This important business should be persevered in, to all trees, 

 excepting those which are ripening their fruit; from these it 

 must be withheld until the fruit be gathered, when one or two 

 good w^aterings with the engine should be given. 



DESTROYING INSECTS ON FRUIT-TREES. 



Continue assiduously the destruction of insects of all sorts 

 that infest the fruit-garden. Wasps will now be getting strong, 

 if care have not been taken to destroy them as they appear. 

 The most effectual method to destroy them is to find out their 

 nests, and at night introduce a squib made of gunpowder, 

 which will stupify them ; or brimstone-smoke introduced will 

 have the same effect, but it is not so readily forced into the 

 remote parts of their subterraneous habitations, as that of gun- 

 powder. For the more effectually carrying this work into exe- 

 cution, give rewards to boys, and the operatives of the garden, 

 for each nest destroyed within a mile of the garden, and let 

 each nest so destroyed be brought to the gardener, or whom 

 he may appoint, to see that it is done in a proper manner. 

 Boys will discover the nests in the day-time, and at night, 

 when all the enemy are encamped, fire the train, and their 

 destruction follows in a fev/ seconds, not one of them escaping. 

 When the squib is fiiirly introduced, put the foot, or a piece 

 of turf, on the hole, to prevent the escape of the smoke, which 

 after having been a few minutes in the hole, dig up the nest 

 with a spade, and pour plenty of water upon the whole, which 

 work up into a complete mortar, with the spade ; or else gather 

 up the whole, and carry it to the garden for examination. A 

 diligent attention to this practice will, in a couple of seasons, 

 clear a distance of two miles round the garden entirely from 

 these destructive creatures. Phials half filled wdth any sweet 



