"GUMMING" IN FRUIT TREES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1163, 15 June 1894, Page 5

"GUMMING" IN FRUIT TREES.

With regard to this question, which is exercising the minds of some of our orchardists, the following will be useful from the New South Wales Agricultural Gazette : I DESCRIPTION. The term " gumming " has been applied to the loss of sap which occurs through the bark cracking or breaking away from causes other than accidents. cause. It is supposed to be due to constitutional weakness of the stocks; but as this has not yet been determined with certainty, it is desirable to carry out investigations and experiments with a view to determining the true source of the trouble and the best remedies. INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. The following are recommended as having been found more or less useful : 1. Avoid narrow angles in the pruning ; the growing together of vigorous branches (or branches and trunk), situated so as to come together at a small angle, tends to cause gumming at the crutch. 2. Remove gum, as it ultimately causes the bark over which it flows to decay. 3. If gumming occurs, cut away with a sharp tool until clean wood and healthy bark are reached, and cover the cut with shellac dissolved in alcohol to the consistency of paint—rubber paint or grafting wax. 4. Secure good drainage. A very good grafting wax is made

as follows:—Take lib of mutton tallow, 2lb of bees' wax, 41b resin, mix together by means of heat and seo that the mixture is kept hot enough to be plastic, but not hot enough to run.