74 Reviews and Extracts. 
He screens them during the night, until the latter end of July ; the fruit being 
then all fairly set, the screen is laid aside, until October, when it is again put 
up at night, to protect them fiom the frost. The fire is continued until the 
fruit and wood are ripe, on which depends much of the success of the follow- 
ing year. 
Page 559. — Article 68. On Canker in FruH-trees, depending on Lad Subsoil. 
By Mr. Peter Campbell, Gardener at Coalston. Read Dec. 4th, 1828. 
It is the opinion of this experienced gardener, that the reason trees canker, is, 
a stintedness of growth that takes place from a bad subsoil, and the ground 
not being properly prepared before the fruit trees are planted. An experi- 
ment he has tried, proves, he says, to be an effectual cure for that disease, 
as far as he has hitherto experienced. There were, he proceeds, upwards of 
seventy espalier fruit trees taken out for the canker, that had entirely given 
up bearing; and twelve of them had only been about twelve years planted. 
In January 1824, by examining the trees, he found that most part of the stand- 
ard and wall-fruit trees as well as the espaliers, were going entirely to ruin 
by the same disease, and all grown over with moss or lichen, some of it 
measuring four inches in length. The soil these trees grew in v?as of a sandy 
nature, and there appeared in it small particles of clay, of a reddish colour, 
perhaps about a twentieth part, and also veins of black sand, about eighteen 
inches below the surface, and the only reason he can assign for these black 
veins is, tliat it was fornierly a bog, and full of springs or spouts. By exa- 
mining the roots that went down into these veins of black sand, they were 
found to differ from the other roots, and some parts were quite swelled and 
overgrown, compared with the other parts of the same root, so that it had 
more the appearance of a tuberous than a fibrous root, and the wood itself 
was very seriously injured in the interior. He instantly proceeded to clear 
away the soil from the roots with care, so as not to injure them, first to the 
distance of three feet from the trunk of the trees all round, and afterwards as 
much under the trunk as could be got out ; he cut off the tap roots that went 
right down, and also all the roots that were diseased, and proceeded to clear 
away the soil another foot round the tree; a layer of bricks, &c. being laid on 
the bottom, he then filled up the hole with good mould, mixed with rotten 
cov;-dung, beating in every course below the trunk of the tree with the end 
of a beater made for that purpose. He then proceeded to prune off the tops of 
the trees, not leaving a branch or bit of wood that had canker in it on any of 
the trees. By this treatment, he says, the trees are become quite healthy, and 
free from any moss or lichen, and without the least appearance of a canker. 
Article II. — Catalogue of Britinh Works on Gardening, 
Botany, Rural Subjects, S^c. 
1. BrITI.SII BOTANV. By RoBKRT SwEET, F. L. S. Szc. Monthly 
numbers, 8^ o. 
To such as are anxious to obtuiu an acquaintance with British plants, this work 
will be found a valuable acquisition. The figures and descriptions arc so given, 
that even a superficial observer may soon become familiar with tlie botanical 
productions of this country. Upon the whole, we conceive this to be as useful 
