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Show BL BL ticles of Nourifhment, norcan theyfo freely the Tree with a Watering-Pot or a Hand~ expire or throwoff anyof thofe crude watery Engine. , Thefe Conjectures concerning Blights, how Particles which were convey’d through the’ fpecious foever they may appearat firft Sight, Branches of the [ree to the Fruit, and we yet, when duly confider’d, will be found far fhall find that it neverarrivesto halfits Magfhort of the true Caufe, as will hereafter be nitude, and is always tough, wateryandinfhewn. : etn there are who imagine the moft deftruétive Blights which attend Fruit-Trees, are fipid, efpecially in Peaches. ‘This is muchthe fame with his horizontal Shelters ; for the Rows of Tiles being placd in every third Courfe of Bricks, will effectually keep offall Dews and Rain from the Fruits, Leaves, and Branches; both of which is by every one allow’dto be Eafterly Winds, orfrofty Mornings, are the abfolutely neceffary and {erviceable in the Occafion of the frequent Blights which happen Bufinefs of Vegetation. As to his third Article Cviz.) that the in the Spring Seafon: To prevent this Milchief, it hath been recommended by late Fruit will be much earlier ripe, I am very produc’d byfmall Showers of Rain, or w hite Hoar-Frofts falling upon the Bloffomsof Fruittrees, which being fucceeded by cold North or learned Author, to build new Walls ; in which, at every third Courfe of Bricks, fhould be laid a Row of plain Tiles, which fhould project forward, and hang over the Plain of the Wall above an Inch and anhalf, to carryoff the perpendicular Dews and Rains, leaving Room, at Diftances, between the Tiles to carry up.the Branches of the Tree, This Method is fo pofitively laid down, asa great Advantage for the more certain obtaining of Fruit, by aGentleman whofe Profeffion fhould incline him to Modefty, efpecially when he was not fure of his Faéts, that I can’t pafs it over without fome Animadverfions. 1. He fays, That thefe horizontal Shelters will be of Advantage, even in the moft difficult Years, to preferve the Fruit, fo that a good Quantity of it may be almoft depended on from fuch Branches and Bloffoms as were readyto fubfcribe to it; for let us but obferve fuch Trees or Parts of Trees, as are in a decaying State, and are not capable of affording proper Nourifhment to the Fruit, and we fhall always find thefe Fruits will be the firft ripe; but howgoodthey will be, either as to Size or Flavour, [ tha bmit toevery jes Judgment that knows but the leaft of atter. s fourth Article he built with thefe Rows of Ti ally cure that common Mi Wood-Branches perpendicularly. c= lieve to be true, for a Wall built in this Manner, and well planted with Fruit-trees, will, in lefs than feven Years, have no WoodBranchesleft alive to train either horizontally or perpendicular ; as I can pofitively affirm was the Cafe, with a Wall built after his Di- fhelter’d by the Tiles, as he himfelf had often rections within my own Obfervation. experienc’d, As to this firft Article, I need fay no more than what Mr. Collins hath already written, viz. That this Reverend Gentleman acknowledg’d to him, at leafta Year after his Book was printed, that he never had any Walls of that kind ; but that, a few Days before this Vifit, he had ftuck a few Pieces of Tiles and Oyfter-fhells into a Mud-wall at particular Places over fome Bunches of Bloffoms with Mortar, which was not dryat that time ; which he declar’d was his firft Effay: Now how a Gentlemanof his Charaéter can an{wer the advifing of Perfons to put themfelves to fach an extravagant Expence as the building of new Walls for Fruit, with an Affurance of Succef whenit was onlya fimple Imagination of his own, without fo muchasa fingle Experiment to fupport it, I am wholly ata Lofs to know? But let us proceed to his fecond Article, in which he fays, That Fruit thus fhelter’d, will But let us now examine the true Caufes of Blights, fo far as have been enabled to judge from repeated Obferyations and Experiments. ights then are often caus’d by a conryz Eafterly Wind, for feveral Days together, without t the Intervention of Showets, or any Morning Dew, which the Perfpiration in the tender Bloffoms is {toppd, fo that in a fhort Time their Colour is cha ed, and they wither and decay: And ifit fo happens that there is a long Continua of the fame Weather, it equally affects the tender Leaves, for their perfpiring Matter is hereby thickned, and render’d glutinous, clofedy adhering to the Surfaces of the Leaves, and becomes a proper Nutriment to thole and fprinkle over the Trees from time to time with common Water (that is, fuch as hath not had any Thing ftcep’d in it) and the fooner this is perform’d (whenever we apprehend Danger) the better, and if the young and tender Shoots feem to be much infeéted, wath them with a woollen Cloth, fo as to clear them, if poffible, from all this glutinous Matter, that their Refpiration and Perfpiration may not be obftruéted ; and if we place {ome broadflat Pans or Tubs of Water the Trees, that the Vapours exhaled it may be received by the Trees, it ecp their tender Parts in a ductile State, reatly help them; but wheneverthis on of wafhing the Trees is perform’d, it sould be early in the Day, that the Moifture may be exhal’d before the Cold of the Night comes on, efpecially if the Nights are frofty; nor fhould it be done when the Sunfhines he nthe Wall, which would be fub- t to fcorch up the tender Bloffoms. ights in the Spring is An arp hoary Frofts, which are often fucceeded hot Sun fhine in the Day Time, whichis moft fudden and certain Deftroyer of Fruits that is known; for the Cold of the Orif your Soil is a hot burning Gravel or Night ftarves the tender Parts of the Bloffoms, and the Sun rifing hot upon the Walls before the Moifture is dry’d from the Bloffoms, Sand, in which your Peach Trees are planted ; yowll generally find this will be conftantly their Cafe after their Roots have gotten beyond the Earth of your Borders, for which Reafon it is much more advifeable to dig them up, and plant Grapes, Figs, Apricots, or any other Sort of Fruit which maydo well infuch a Soil, than to be annually difappointed of your Hopes: For by a Variety of Experi— ments, it hath been found, that Apricots do attract and imbibe Moifture’ with a much greater Force than Peaches and Neéfarines, and fo confequently are more capable to affimilate their nutritive Particles from the Earth, than the other can do, which require to be planted in a generous Soil, which can afford them a Sufficiency of Nourifhment without much Difficulty: And it is in fuch Places we often fee Peaches do Wonders, efpecially if affifted by Art; but as for the Vine and Fig-tree, they perfpire but very flowly, and are veryoften in an imbibing State (fo that a great Part of that fine racy Flavour, with which their Fruits abound when planted in a dry Soil, is probably owing to thofe refined aerial Principles which are collected when ina State of Refpiration); and therefore, as thefe Trees do not delight in drawing much watry (which being in {mall Globules, doth collect the Rays of the Sun,) a fcalding Heat is thereby acquired, whch fcorches the tender Flowers and other Parts of Plants. But that Béights are frequently no more than an inward Weaknefs or Diftemper in Trees, will evidently appear, if we confider, howoften it happens that Trees againft the fame Wall expos’ to the fame Afpecét, and equally enjoying the Advantages of Sun and Air, with every other Circumftance which might render them equally healthy, yet very often are obferv’d to differ greatly in their Strength and Vigour ; and as often do we objerve the weak Trees to be continually blighted, when the vigorous ones in the fame Situation fhall eicape very well; which muft therefore, in a great meafire, be afcribed to their healthy Conttitution: This Weaknefs therefore in Trees, muft proceed either for want of a fufficient Supply of Nourifhment to maintain it in perfect Vigour, or from fome ill Qualities in the Soil where it grows, or-per- fmall Infe&s which are always found preying uponthe Leaves and tender Branches of Fruit haps from fome bad Quality in the Stock, or inbred Diftemper of the Bud or Cyon, which trees, whenever this Blight happens; but it is not thefe Infeéts which are the firft Caufe of Blights,as hath been imagin’d by fome ; tho’ it muft be allowed, that wheneverthefe Infects meet with fuch a proper Food, they any Obfervations onthe different Tafte, Size. multiply exceedingly, and are inftrumental in Colour, or Goodnefs of Fruits which grew on promoting the Diftemper; fo that manytimes different Parts of the fame Tree, will, upon whenthe Seafon proves favourable to them, the firft reading, condemn as falfe; for let us and no proper Care hath beentaken to pre only obferve fuch Fruits as are fometimes vent their Mifchief, it is furpriz produc'd between the Wood-branches and the how whole Walls of Trees have {uffered by Wall, and are by them depriv’d of the Advan- this Infection. eee — open Air, fo that they cannot The beft Remedy for this Diftemper that vibe the kindly Dews, or ‘otheraerial Par- Thave yet known fucceed, is, gently to a an it had imbibed from its Mother Tree, or from nagement in the Pruning, E$¢. all which Mi of Diftempers in Trees, and are productive be larger, better fed, and finer tafted than thofe on the fame Tree, which are more expos d. f This every one, who hath ever made ly to have Strength to produce their Flowers; but this being the utmoft of their Vigour, the Bloffoms fall off, and many Timesthe Branches decay, either the greateft Part of their Length, or quite down to the Place where they were produced ; and this, wheneverit happensto be the Cafe, is afcribed to a Blizht. Others there are who fuffer their 'Tfees to grow juft as they ate naturally difpofed during the Summer Seafon, without ftopping of Shoots, or disburdening their Trees of luxuriant Branches, by which means, two, three, or four Shoots fhall exhauft thegreateft Part of the Nourifhment of the Trees all the Summer, which Shoots, at the Winter Pruning, are intirely cut out, fo that the Strength of thé Tree was employed only in nourifhing ufelefs Branches, while the Fruit Branches are thereby render’d fo weak, as not to be able to preferve themfelves: The Remedie: to this Evil fhall be explain’d in the Article of Pruning Peach Trees, &c. But if the Weaknef$ of the Tree procceds from an inbred Diftemper, it is the better way to remove the Tree at firft, and after renewing your Earth, plant a newone inits Place. Nourifhment fromthe Earth, fo they will much better fucceedin fuch a Soil thanin one that is more generous; we fhould therefore always hich are with Difficulty cured thereof, Now endeavour to fuit the particular Sorts of Fruits it was occafion’d by a Weaknef$ in the to the Nature of our Soil, and not pretend Tree, we fhould endeavour to trace out the to have all Sorts of Fruit good in the fame true Caufe, firft, whether it has been occa- Soil. fion’d by ill Management in their Pruning, But there is another Sort of Blight, againft is too often the Cafe, for how common which it is very difficult to guard our Fruit> obferve Peach-trees train’d up to the trees ; this is fharp pinching frofty Mornings, gth of their Branches every Year, fo which often happen at the Time when the as to be carried to the Top of the Wall ina Trees are in flower, or while the Fruit is ew Years after planting,8> when at the fame very young, and occafions the Bloffoms or Time the Shoots have been fo weak, as fcarce- Fruit to drop off, and fometimes the tender Parts |