purity and contentment into mere devilry. I have seen people mad with fear, mad with anticipation, mad with hatred, and, in short, have learnt, that a man may make himself crazy by the unchecked influence of any passion. I will tell a tale.-There lived an individual at the bottom of one of those deep pits which are so common in the moon, (for the purpose of ascending from, and descending into which, the inhabitants use iron wings,) who was remarkably passionate, and whose anger was accustomed to settle down into revenge. One day, as I stood near the place where he dwelt, an enemy of his was observed by him not far distant, and he, forgetful of his wings, which had been left behind him in his house, ran furiously after his foe, who, having his wings on, immediately ascended into the air. The passionate man pushed his course unthinkingly up the side of the pit, (which was nearly perpendicular,) and had not gone more than two hundred yards, when, from the force of his passion, and the greatness of his exertion, he fell down dead. If Horace had written his odes in the moon, instead of "Ira furor brevis est," he would most properly have said, " Ira furor longus est," if the latter mode of expression did not destroy all the prosody of the line. I saw another species of insanity, which I will call the madness of moneygetting, and I will notice two ways in which it was displayed. There were persons who bore an outwardly fair character, and were generally reputed to be praiseworthy men, and who never launched out into any frenzied expression of their malady, but who, if their hearts were inspected, would be found bending the whole force of their souls to this one point-how they might get most money,-how heap together most treasure. The craziness of such conduct is seen in the neglect of higher sources of gratification, in order to draw from this muddy spring. On the other part, there were those, who deprived themselves of all gratification, bodily and mental, steeled their hearts to every benevolent feeling, lost the respect of all who knew them, and only gained universal contempt, in order to be rich men ; whose want of sense appeared in their voluntary scantiness of apparel, in the small | quantity of food they ate, and the filth and misery of the houses in which they dwelt.-Need I say, that such a character is a madman? In our world, pleasure means, or should mean, that amusement which recreates the senses, and conduces to their improvement; but in the moon, even pleasure is insanity. Her votaries pursue her till they are weary of pursuit, and yet, amid all their weariness, pursue her still. It would be toil for any common man, night after night, to deprive himself of rest, in order to compass some object, even if it conduced to his profit or benefit; but when neither profit nor benefit is concerned, when, for amusement, and that alone, beings frequent places of entertainment, theatres, ball-rooms, and gambling-houses, night after night, whilst their heads and hearts ache each day succeeding; are they not mad? To illustrate, -- Extract from the journal of a fashionable Lunarian :— Tuesday morning. Went, last night, to Jackdall's (a fashionable hotel) with some select friends,-got soundly drunk,-very ill this morning, obliged to doctor myself with sodawater, anchovies, &c.-have the headache dreadfully, can hardly see out of my eyes, my face is so swollen,begin to look pale and emaciated,bad sign; but what can I do? 66 Noon.-Been dunned all the time I stayed in the house this morning,went to Tom Tricksey's to drive away ennui by laughter, laughed till I cried; and as I walked along the street from his house, cried in good earnest, went to see what is called the most celebrated picture gallery in the planet, yawned seventy-four times while Í staid in the rooms,-went to see the flying monkeys in Novelty-row; wished the monkeys at the earth, where they say wisdom dwells; but, alas! she left us long ago;-came home,and here I am. 66 'Eight o'clock.-Just had my dinner,-feel as heavy about the belly, as I am about the heart,-dropt asleep three times while reading a most interesting romance,-Bah!—a parcel of women-kind been bothering me about poetry,-swore at myself sixteen times, because I had nothing to do. "Three o'clock, Wednesday morning.-Been at theatre,-sick, tired, jaded,-knew I should have no plea sure in going, and yet went,-had the strings of my heart well jarred, with stale nonsensical conversation, which I had heard many a time before, joined in an expedition, for excitation's sake; bepummelled three watchmen; got well bruised myself, and was laughed at into the bargain,-felt as sore as-as the goddess of thrashing herself, if there be such a deity." N. B.-I chose this extract, because it contains an account of the only whole day I could find, whose incidents were noted down. The days, generally began, in the accounts which I found kept of them, about noon, and some of them at dinner time. So much for the Lunarians. I will conclude with two observations. I am irresistibly led, most mournfully to deplore the condition of the people of whom I have been writing, in one respect. Through the whole of their planet, there is not so much as one lunatic asylum to be found. The crazy inhabitants wander about, and practise their various absurdities without restraint: but as we, on the earth, are very differently situated; as we have mad-houses for those who may be unfortunately bereft of their senses, and different places in such houses for the different degrees of the malady, it would be but a reasonable conclusion to suppose, that if the various classes of character to which I have formerly alluded, existed below, they would all be confined in the places which each degree of their diseases required. very reasonably conclude, that in the same degree in which a man does not use his reason and his sense, he is mad. To act unreasonably, is to act without sense; to be without sense, is to be insane. When a man acts insensibly, he displays his want of reason in many different ways. Thus, we have in the obstinate and stupid man, a parallel to the melancholy madman; for, as the latter sits always in moody silence, so the former displays his insensibility by remaining heedless of the right, and stupidly attached to the wrong. The man of gaiety, who has nothing more than silly and unmeaning nonsense to recommend him, and who employs himself only in the imitation of the airs of a man of fashion, levelling himself by folly to the standard of an ape or a parrot, may be compared, without injustice, to the idiot, whose laughter is senseless, and whose insanity is joyfulness: and the furious man, who loses reason in the whirlpool of his passions; or who, in pursuing an object, forgets that he pursues it beyond the boundaries of rectitude, and becomes, when carried away by his feelings, a raving monster and an afflictive scourge; may be likened, not unjustly, to that poor maniac, whose insanity has given him additional strength, and whose curses, and ravings, and roarings tell the lamentable extent of his madness. (To be continued.) TREE. (Concluded from col. 615.) There is no more plentiful source of OF THE CULTIVATION OF THE APPLEgratitude, than that which is opened by a comparison of our condition with that of those whose privileges are inferior to ours; and therefore the observation I have last made, should lead us to be unfeignedly thankful for the mercies we enjoy in the article of mad-houses, which ought to contain all persons such as those above alluded to; and as this is an age of speculation, I think it would be no bad plan to fit out an expedition to the moon, and also to any other planet that contained such characters as are to be found in her, in order to build lunatic asylums for the confinement of crazy people of all stations and ages. I said something at the commencement of this paper, about fixing the term madness. From the instances which followed, I think that we may IT is not my intention to write a dissertation on the diseases of trees, yet the mention of one or two more will not be amiss, although one is so far from being a cause of sterility, that it is often a cause of premature, if not increased, fruitfulness. This is, the Canker,-which consists in an ulceration of the bark of one side of a branch, and extends, perhaps com. mences, in the wood near the pith. When this seizes on a tree of luxuri ant growth, in which it is most com mon, a usual effect is to cause the branch in which it is seated, to become more productive. This effect is easily explained. If, as has already been remarked, the luxuriant formation of woodbuds prevents the forma From the enumeration I have made of the causes that render apple-trees unproductive, it appears, that in di tion or elaboration of fruit, whatever | principal organ of the circulation of stops this inordinate action, by inter- the sap, and that its inner portion, or cepting the sap, and decreasing the liber, is the source from whence the irritability, has the contrary effect of new layers of wood, that increase the bringing on the formation of fruitbuds. bulk of the tree, are derived. To the But, though the first effects of canker perfect production of these effects, it be rather favourable than otherwise, is necessary that there should be a the subsequent consequences are in- free transmission through its pores ; jurious in a high degree; and therefore and hence, when an old stock has a whatever tends to prevent its occur- new graft inserted into it, if the old rence, or, which is more easily accom- and dead layers of bark be not cut off, plished, to obviate its ill effects, must and the living portion exposed, it will be of benefit to the tree, Observation die; but if this be done, the grafting of the state of orchards in general, is likely to succeed, If the activity of enables us to ascertain another cir-| the living powers of the bark be sufficumstance, to which a deficiency of cient to cast off this exfoliation of the the crop may often be imputed. When external cuticle, the lichens and trees have been suffered to grow at mosses must drop with it; and hence random for several years, they get a freedom from them may be regarded very full of long and slender branches; both as a mark of health and a cause which, shutting out the air and light of it. from the interior parts, cause the extremities alone to be productive of fruit. They thus become liable to injury from storms, although in differ-recting our efforts towards improveent ways, according to the season at which the gale may happen. The extremities of the branches, by being beat one against another, are deprived of their bark, and thus effectually de- | stroyed; or at a more advanced period, the same cause deprives them of their bloom or young fruit, with a still further destruction of the bearing branches. This is far from being an unfrequent cause of unfruitfulness; and finally, I must add another, which perhaps of itself is not of much avail, but usually contributes its aid, where the other causes are found in operation. This is the moss, or rather lichen, an order of plants that rarely flourishes on the ground, but is often found clothing with its singular fronds the bare stone, or trunks and branches of not very flourishing trees. That these parasitic plants extract any thing from the stones or trees on which they grow, is not very probable; and therefore the injury which they do must arise from the effect they have in keeping the bark from the action of the light and air, and also in offering a shelter to the insects, which in these seasons prey upon the blossom, bud, and fruit. It also appears to me, that besides these hurtful effects, the presence of lichens on the bark of trees is a sign of another kind of evil, that has not been much noticed by naturalists or agriculturalists. It is well known that the bark is a ment, the following objects must be kept in view :-the trees should be kept from producing such an inordinate crop as may disable them from continuing a prolific action ;-morbid delicacy must be obviated, by which they are made liable to the impressions of disease, or changes of the weather; - they must be kept so thin of branches, as that the air and light may penetrate to all parts, whereby the whole tree, as well within as without, may be made productive ;-and that by pressing on one another, especially when agitated by the wind, the fruit and branches may not be injured;-still further to insure this effect, the stock and principal branches should be rendered as stiff as possible, and the extreme branches should be made to taper very visibly, whereby they alone would have any very sensible motion. Another material object is, to secure an annual supply of new branches, by which the life of the tree will be much extended, the regularity of bearing provided for, the effects of disease obviated, and a provision made against accidents. But before I proceed to mention the plan by which these indications may be answered, it is necessary that I should endeavour to remove a common impression that rests on the minds of cultivators, that manure is all that is necessary to make orchards to be as productive as we can wish. Who ever will notice the state of the soil with which manure has regularly been mixed in the common mode, must be convinced that the effect of rain is not to cause it to sink deeper in the earth, and, therefore, that whatever expectations are built on this method of applying it, will be disappointed. In illustration of this, I have a tree, now, from the time of its being grafted, about the age of thirty years, which grows in a garden in a deep soil, that has been regularly and plentifully manured. For some years it grew well, and bore plentifully a crop of fine fruit; it then ceased to throw forth new branches, so that no new wood was obtained in several years; it then began to bear fruit very regularly every second year, which was a year of plenty; in the intermediate season, scarcely an apple was produced. The fruit then began to dwindle in size; and at last, their growth was so stunted, that they would crack on the trees as if cut with a knife, the incisions being very commonly as deep as the core. This tree did not increase in girth or the extent of its branches for several years; in which it was a singular contrast to a tree of much younger date, that stood at some distance from it in shallower ground, that had not had the advantage of manure; but which had been treated in the method I shall presently describe. At last, tired with seeing the former tree produce but once in two years, and that too a crop, though sufficiently numerous, yet consisting of apples scarcely exceeding nutmegs in size, I began to apply the knife with a very liberal hand. The effect was apparent in the first year; it was decisive in the second; and now the tree is full of luxuriant branches, and the fruit has shewn a disposition to become of an increased size. It is a singular spectacle to see the effect which this renovation of energy makes in a tree thus operated on. Branches which, for several years, had not increased in size, and whose bark had grown dry and rigid, expand with such force as to rend asunder the rind as if it had been divided with a knife. The place where this mark of increased circulation occurs, is commonly in the branches between the main stock and the small twigs, and it is usually directly below and on the under side of the giving off of a branch. In what I have said on the subject of manure, I do not wish to undervalue the application of nutriment to the minute ramification of the roots of trees. This is of much service, partly from the manure itself, and partly from the loosening of the earth with which it must be accompanied. But where the trees are large, it is scarcely possible to dig so low down; and if done once, it will not be done often; whereas by the method proposed, a permanent effect will be obtained; and it may be repeated as often as it is desired, with little trouble or expense. From what has been said, it will readily be perceived, that pruning is the method by which I expect to obtain the advantages here specified. Such is the case; but the mode of conducting this operation differs materially from that which I have commonly seen practised. It will be readily allowed, that whatever parts of a tree are formed and elaborated when its vital action is first restored in the spring, are more likely to be strong and healthy than those which make their appearance when the vigour of the plant is nearly exhausted, and the leaves, the organs by which the sap is formed for use, are becoming rigid and inactive. Accordingly, the buds on that part of a newformed branch, which is nearest the root, have the greatest portion of vitality, and give forth the best branches. At the end of the year, after they have done this, my method is, to cut off the straight or leading branch close to the place where the lowest or first lateral shoot is given off. When, in the spring, this lateral shoot assumes its action, it is with vigour, which is propagated along the whole line of growth to the roots, so that an evident increase in the size of the trunk is the result. It will depend on various causes, whether this process of pruning shall be repeated in every following year; or whether, as seems preferable, an interruption shall not occasionally take place for the space of a year, or even, perhaps, in extraordinary cases, for two. If, in the mean while, a welllooking shoot has been produced below the former selected branch, it is preserved, and all above it, including even the space left below the former pruning, is removed. This, however, The only time proper for pruning the apple-tree is between the fall of the leaf and its development in the spring. Other periods, it is true, will not interfere with the health of the tree, but they had better be avoided, as rather interfering with the formation of fruit buds. The instrument with which the work is to be accomplished, is also of consequence. The small branches may be removed with a knife, but it will not do for those that are larger, and the saw is highly improper. I would strongly recommend a chisel, which should be fixed to a long handle, and used with a wooden mallet. The trees which I have been accustomed to treat in this way, (a way that has sometimes been denominated unmerciful,) are those which are either young, or of middle age. With them it succeeds admirably, as it not only increases their vigour, but, if Lord Bacon be correct, lengthens their lives. But with trees that have been left to grow without interruption until they have become old, it does not appear to succeed so well. My experience with them does not exceed four or five years; but in that space of time, it has somewhat diminished their fruitfulness, without adding much to their vigour; a circumstance that perhaps may be easily accounted for, as old habits may be as difficult to change in them as in the human body. is not very frequently to be done, as ever, should not be continued in its it would interfere too much with advanced growth; and whether the the formation of fruit buds; but the part removed be no larger than a crowbranches at the extremities are con- quill, or of the size of the handstantly to be thinned, on the same wrist, it is to be taken off close to anprinciple of leaving those that project | other branch; by which precaution, from the side, and removing those an undue formation of unprolific which are a straight forward continua- shoots is prevented. The season of tion of the principal stem. After the the year when all this work is to be continuance for a few years of the done, conduces to the same effect. latter course, it will appear, that the bearing extremities are removing further and further from the stock, and that they are susceptible of a very extended motion when acted on by the wind. The former practice is then again to be resorted to; and as some promising branch will by this time be found projecting at the side of the former, much nearer to the stock, this is to be made the leading branch; and the former, with all its fruit-bearing twigs, is to be taken off close to where the selected leader is given off. At the first view, this will appear to make very great havoc in the tree, and to reduce very considerably the quantity of the expected fruit. This, however, will not in reality be the case. On the contrary, I have found, that however great the deficiency may at first appear, it is very soon supplied; insomuch that I have known a tree thus treated to contain a much greater number of branches than those which had been left to grow without being meddled with; and to bear at the same time a regular crop of fruit. For though by the removal of the branches less blossom is displayed in the spring, yet an equal crop of fruit, and that too of an increased size, is the result. I have never suffered the size of the branch to be a sufficient reason against its removal, when this was called for on other accounts; for the growth becomes so rapid, that the wound is soon healed over. When a tree has been treated in this manner for several years, it will be perceived that some of the main branches, or those which divide from the trunk, are disposed to continue a vigorous growth; while others shew little disposition to increase in size, and throw off no lateral shoots. The latter are then removed, and the former suffered to go on unencumbered. For a year or two after a tree has been first grafted, it is usual to shorten the branches, to cause them to produce new shoots. This practice, how80.--VOL, VII, * J. COUCH, F.L.S. OBSERVATIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF MR. EDITOR. *Not "Gouch," as in No. 79. col. 609.) 2z |