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NAT. ORDER. AMYDALACEJE. 
full growth ; and if all were to remain it would hurt the trees in 
their future bearing ; therefore they should be timely thinned when 
of the size of large peas or half-grown gooseberries. There should 
be a preparatory thinning before the time of stoning, and a final 
thinning afterwards, because most plants, especially such as have 
overborne themselves, drop many fruit at that crisis. Finish the 
thinning with great regularity, leaving those retained at proper dis- 
tances, three, four, or five on strong shoots, two or three on middling, 
and one or two on weaker shoots, and never leaving more than one 
Peach at the same eye. The fruit on weakly trees should be thinned 
more in proportion. 
Renovating old decayed trees. Head down, and renew the soil 
from an old upland pasture, and if the bottom of the border is moist, 
or if the roots have gone more than two feet downwards, pave the 
bottom, or otherwise render it dry, and impervious to roots at the 
depth of twenty inches from the surface. This p lan will be found 
almost universally successful in restoring sufficient vigor to resist 
insects, and produce abundance of fruit. 
Protecting the blossoms. This may be done by various modes. 
Forsyth recommends old netting as the best covering. C. Harrison 
recommends, to protect the trees from the frost in the month of Jan- 
uary by branches of broom ; these are previously steeped in soap- 
suds mixed with one-third of urine for forty-eight hours, in order 
to clear them from insects ; and when dry are disposed thinly over 
the whole tree, letting them remain on only until the trees begin to 
break into leaf. At the time of the blooming and setting of the 
fruit, hje applies cold water in the following manner, viz : if upon - 
visiting the trees before the sun is up in the morning, after a frosty 
night, he finds there is any appearance of frost on the bloom or 
young fruit, he waters the bloom or young fruit thoroughly with cold 
water from a garden-engine, and he affirms that even if the blossoms 
or young fruit are discolored, this operation recovers them. Dr. 
Noehden remarks, " that this operation of watering before sunrise, 
