The herbs generally used for this purpose are colt's-foot and wood betony-leaves; the leaves and flowers of lavender, rosemary, thyme, and some others of the like nature. THE ORCHARD. 1117. _To prevent Blossom and Fruit-trees from being damaged by early Spring Frost._--If a rope (a hempen one, it is presumed) be introduced among the branches of a fruit-tree in blossom, and the end of it brought down, so as to terminate in a bucket of water; and, should a slight frost take place in the night-time, in that case the tree will not be affected by the frost; but a film of ice, of considerable thickness, will be formed on the surface of the bucket in which the rope's-end is immersed, although it has often happened that another bucket of water, placed beside it for the sake of experiment, has had no ice at all upon it. 1118. _Chinese mode of propagating Fruit-trees._--The ingenious people of China have a common method of propagating several kinds of fruit-trees, which of late years has been practised with success in Bengal. The method is simply this:--They strip a ring of bark, about an inch in width, from a bearing branch, surround the place with a ball of fat earth, or loam, bound fast to the branch with a piece of matting: over this they suspend a pot or horn, with water, having a small hole in the bottom just sufficient to let the water drop, in order to keep the earth constantly moist. The branch throws new roots into the earth just above the place where the ring of bark was stripped off. The operation is performed in the spring, and the branch is sawed off and put into the ground at the fall of the leaf. The following year it will bear fruit. 1119. _To improve Fruit-trees by attention to the Color of the Soil._--The color and also the quality of soils have an effect on the color and flavor of fruits--even on the color of many flowers. The effects of the color of soils on that of fruits, are most perceptible on the delicate kinds, such as grapes, peaches, &c.; but to a nice observer, it extends in a greater or less degree to all fruits. For instance, if two black Hamburgh grapes, made from the cuttings of the same plant, shall be planted, the one in a dry, hazelly loam, and the other in a moist, black earth, the fruit of the one will be brown, or of a grizzly color, and the other very dark red or black; and the grape will be more juicy, though better in flavor, than the other grown in a dryer soil.