lopped in the common way almost never cankered ;riod, 
event was answerable to my expectations. From that peviinr 
it has not only thrown out vigorous shoots, without ha j 
now any branch cankered, but it has produced the best c 
finest fruit of the kind, that I have ever eaten, and in such a 
plenty, that last autumn it did not produce less than two 
bushels. Having experienced a auccessionof similar Fortunate 
attempts, I have acquired so much confidence in this remedy* 
that I apply it now to all the trees which show the least symp¬ 
tom of that disorder, without making any distinction between 
apple and pear trees ; I take care, however, that they should 
have been planted where they are to remain, for three or four 
years before, that the root may have had time to strengthen 
itself, and be enabled to afford the trunk a plentiful nourish, 
meat, and make it put forth healthy shoots; grafts have even 
been made use of, taken from the tree I have just mentioned* 
without the ones which were propagated from it, having ever 
after shown any sign of canker. 
Having extended this principle to two vines, which bore 
almost nothing, they had the next year five bunches of grapes 
on some of the twigs, four on some of the others, and three on 
the least. 1 have lopped, under the same circumstances, 
pear trees grafted on the quince, which had been planted more 
than twelve years, but which, three years after the operation* 
were become stronger than they were before, and which have 
at present all tire appearances of perfect health. An old, bar. 
ren pear tree, grafted on a free stock, in some measure made 
young again by this practice, is become fruitful. I have 
equally succeeded on a golden pippin. As the improvement 
of the tree, and almost a moral certainty of its future fruitful¬ 
ness, afford an ample recompence for the delay in its produce, 
it will be prudent to have rather recourse to this method, than 
to plant another, the success of which must then be always 
doubtful. 
A proof that this process, when judiciously executed, is far 
from being hurtful, is, that the tree shoots, and generally 
keeps its leaves later in the season than others of the same 
kind. 
It may be asked, what is the principle of canker ? The solu¬ 
tion of this question would be as curious to the naturalist, as 
it would be important to the cultivator; but this, I believe, 
has not yet been satisfactorily done. 
It is probable that this disorder is occasioned by many 
causes independent of each other, such as a cold and exhausted 
soil, a poor gravel, a too close clay, the extreme dampness of 
the ground, the want of shelter, and the like; but what seems 
to me to be the chief cause of it, and the most common, is the 
oldness of the varieties; this being equally the case with fruit 
trees that have gum, and with such as have not. It is very 
seldom that this disorder attacks forest trees, and when it does, 
it is easy to trace the occasion of it to some of the sources 1 
have just mentioned; moreover, they are-not raised, or at 
least 
