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Fruit Trees

By this contrivance, all the trees, both inside and outside the wall, can be most effectually watered and washed, in a very short space of time, and with little trouble. One man may go over the whole in two hours. At the same time the borders, and even a considerable part of the quarters, can be watered with the greatest ease, when required.

To transplant.

Transplanting consists in removing propagated plants, whether from seeds, cuttings, or grafts, according to their kinds and other circumstances, to a situation prepared to receive them. Transplanting, therefore, involves three things: first, the propagation of the soil, to which the plant is to be removed; secondly, the removal of the plant; thirdly, the insertion in the prepared soil.

The preparation of the soil implies, in all cases, stirring, loosening, mixing, and comminution; and, in many cases, the addition of manure or compost, according to the nature of the soil and plant to be inserted, and according as the same may be in open grounds, or pots, or hot-houses.

The removal of the plant is generally effected by loosening the earth around it, and then drawing it out of the soil with the hand; in all cases avoiding as much as possible to break, or bruise, or otherwise injure the roots. In the case of small seedling plants, merely inserting the spade, and raising the portion of earth in which they grow will suffice; but in removing larger plants, it is necessary to dig a trench round the plant.

In some cases, the plant may be lifted with a ball of earth, containing all its roots, by means of the trowel; and in others, as in large shrubs or trees, it may be necessary to cut the roots at a certain distance from the plant, one year before removal, in order to furnish them with young fibres, to enable them to support the change. In pots less care is necessary, as the roots and ball of earth may be preserved entire.

To accelerate Plants in Hot-Houses.

There are two leading modes of accelerating plants in these buildings; the first is by placing them there permanently, as in the case of the peach, vine, etc., planted in the ground; and the second is by having the plants in pots, and introducing or withdrawing them at pleasure. As far as respects trees, the longest crops, and with far less care, are produced by the first method; but in respect to herbaceous plants and shrubs, whether culinary, as the strawberry and kidney-bean, or ornamental, as the rose and the pink, the latter is by far the most convenient method. Where large pots are used, the peach, cherry, fig, etc., will produce tolerable crops. Vines and other fruit trees, when abundantly supplied with water and manure in a liquid state, require but a very small quantity of mould.

To protect Vegetables from injuries by means of Straw Ropes.

This is effected by throwing the ropes in different directions over the trees, and sometimes depositing their ends in pails of water. It has been tried successfully on wall-trees, and on potatoes and other herbaceous vegetables. As soon as the buds of the trees become turgid, place poles against the wall, in front of the trees, at from four to six feet asunder, thrusting their lower ends into the earth, about a foot from the wall, and fastening them at the top with a strong nail, either to the wall or coping. Then procure a quantity of straw or hay-ropes, and begin at the top of one of the outer poles, making fast the end, and pass the rope from pole to pole, taking a round turn upon each, until the end is reached, when, after securing it well, begin about eighteen inches below, and return in the same manner to the other end, and so on till within two feet of the ground. Strawropes have also been found very useful in protecting other early crops from the effects of frost, as peas, potatoes, or kidney-beans, by fixing them along the rows with pins driven into the ground.

The same by Nets.

The net should be placed out at the distance of fifteen or eighteen inches from the tree, being kept off by looped sticks, with their butts placed against the wall, and at a distance of about a yard from each other. In order to make them stand firmly, the net should be first stretched tightly on, and be fastened on all sides. If the nets were doubled or trebled, and put on in this way, they would be a more effectual screen, as the meshes or openings would, in that case, be rendered very small. Woollen nets are deemed the best, and are now in general use in Scotland. In screening with nets of any kind, they are always to be left on night and day, till all danger be over.

The same by Canvas Screens.

This is effected either by placing movable canvas screens over or around detached trees, portable hand-cases over herbaceous plants, tents or open sheds over the forests' productions, or frames or sheets against trees trained on walls. In all cases they should be placed clear of the tree or plant, either by extended, forked or hooked sticks, or any other obvious resource.

To raise and manage Fruit Trees.

In the removal or transplantation of trees, gardeners and nurserymen are generally very careless and inattentive in taking them up, and care not how much the roots are broken or lessened in number, provided they have enough left to keep the tree alive; the consequence is that although the branches left on remain alive, there is so great a deficiency of sap, from the loss of roots, that the vessels cannot be filled the following spring.

The roots are broken or cut off at random, and generally diminished more than one-half, or they are doubled back and distorted, and if there be enough left to keep the plant alive, it is thought quite sufficient, and by these means the appearance of blossoms and fruit being prematurely produced, those stinted and deformed plants are sold as half or full-trained trees for four times the price of others, and when sold they are again taken up and the roots treated and diminished in the same careless manner.

When the soil of a garden wherein fruit-trees are to be planted is not naturally comfortable or congenial to the first principle, it must be made so. The top of a wall should be so formed as to throw off water, for otherwise it will generally be damped, which renders the trees unhealthy, and when the substance against which the branches are fixed is dry, the temperature on all sides will be more equal.

In preparing beds or borders, due attention must be paid both to the soil and subsoil, as each equally affects the health and fruitfulness of trees, and principally as it retains or discharges water, stagnant water being at all times particularly detrimental to the fructification of trees. For peaches, nectarines, etc., a border of ten or twelve feet wide will generally prove sufficient.

In cases where the soil has been too close and retentive, and the roots apt to grow deep on the substratum, lay a stratum of six inches of the common soil of the garden and then form a strat um of about six inches for the roots to run and repose in, composed of two-third parts of fine drift sand (the scrapings of a public road that has been made or repaired with flints), and onethird part of rich vegetable mould, well mixed together; and the better way to perform this is, first to lay on about three inches of the composition, and on this place the roots of the plant, and over them spread the other three inches, and cover the whole down with from nine to twelve inches of the common soil of the place.

Where it is not found necessary to form an artificial substratum, it will be sufficient to remove the soil to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches, and there form the stratum of the roots, covering it down with a foot or nine inches of the common soil.

General mode of planting Trees.

The operation of inserting plants in the soil is performed in various ways; the most general mode recommended by Marshal and Nicol is pitting, in which two persons are employed, one to operate on the soil with a spade, and the other to with the grass side down, completely covering the fissures for the purpose of retaining the moisture at the root, and likewise as a top-dressing, which greatly encourages the plant to put fresh roots between the swards.

German method of forcing Trees.

With a sharp knife make a cut in the bark of the branch which is meant to be forced to bear, and not far from the place where it is connected with the stem, or if it is a small branch or shoot, near where it is joined to the large bough; the cut is to go round the branch, or to encircle it, and penetrate to the wood. A quarter of an inch from this cut make a second like the first, round the branch, so that by both encircling the branch a ring is formed upon the branch a quarter of an inch broad between the two cuts. The bark between these two cuts is taken clean away with a knife down to the wood, removing even the fine inner bark, which lies immediately upon the wood, so that no connexion whatever remains between the two parts of the bark, but the bare and naked insert the plant and hold it till the earth is put wood appears white and smooth; but this bark round it, and then press down the soil with the foot.

The pit having been dug for several months, the surface will therefore be incrusted by the rains or probably covered with weeds. The man first strikes the spade downwards to the bottom two or three times, in order to loosen the soil, then poaches it, as if mixing mortar for the builder; he next lifts up a spadeful of the earth, or if necessary two spadesful, so as to make room for all the fibres without their being anywise crowded together; he then chops the rotten turf remaining in the bottom and levels the whole. The boy now places the plant perfectly upright an inch deeper than when it stood in the nursery, and holds it firm in that position. The man trindles in the mould gently; the boy gently moves the plant, not from side to side, but upwards and downwards, until the fibres be covered. The man then fills in all the remaining mould, and immediately proceeds to chop and poach the next pit, leaving the boy to set the plant upright and to tread the mould about it. This in stiff, wet soil he does lightly, but in sandy or gravelly soil he continues to tread until the soil no longer retains the impression of his foot. The man has by this time got the pit ready for the next plant; the boy is also ready with it in his hand, and in this manner the operation goes on.

One general rule, and one of considerable importance in transplanting, is to set the plant or tree no deeper in the ground than it was originally; deep planting very often causes a delay, if not sudden destruction.

More expeditious method.

The following mode has been practised for many years on the Duke of Montrose's estate, in Scotland: The operator with his spade makes three cuts twelve or fifteen inches long, crossing each other in the centre at an angle of 60°, the whole having the form of a star. He inserts his spade across one of the rays, a few inches from the centre, and on the side next himself; then bending the handle towards himself, and almost to the ground, the earth opening in fissures from the centre in the direction of the cuts which had been made, he at the same instant inserts his plant at the point where the spade intersected the ray, pushing it forward to the centre and assisting the roots in rambling through the fissures. He then lets down the earth by removing his spade, having pressed it into a compact state with his heel; the operation is finished by adding a little earth ring, to compel the tree to bear, must be made at the time when the buds are strongly swelling or breaking out into bloom.

The Apple.

The best soil for the apple is a dry, loamy, rich soil, with a light clay subsoil that the roots can easily penetrate to a considerable depth; with an easterly or southern exposure. The best fertilizers are barn-yard manure, lime, and bone-dust. Care should be taken to apply the manure generally over the surface. The best varieties for cultivation are the following, which ripen in succession: the Early Harvest; Red Astrachan; Summer Rose; American Summer Pearmain; Large Early Bough; Gravenstein; Maiden's Blush; Fall Pippin; Smokehouse; Rambo; Esopus; Spitzenberg; Boston Russet; Rhode Island Greening; Baldwin; Wine-sap.

The apple-tree is subject to several diseases.

The best preventive of them is heading low, so that the trunk of the tree will be shaded from the hot sun, and washing the tree occasionally with soap-suds, a pint of soft soap to a gallon of water.

The Pear.

The best soil for the pear is a moderately heavy, sandy, and dry soil, with a sub-soil of light clay which is easily penetrated by the roots to a great depth; a moderate portion of iron in the soil is desirable. The best situation is an undulating eastern or southern exposure. The best fertilizers, as in the case of the apple, are barn-yard manure, lime, and bone-dust. Iron cinders are a good application when there is a deficiency of that element in the soil.

The most desirable varieties for general culture as standards to ripen in succession are as follows:

Doyenne d'Été; Bloodgood; Dearborn's Seedling; Beurre Giffard; Bartlett; Sickel; Tyson; Howell; Belle Lucrative; Buffum; Blemish Beauty; Beurre Bose; Doyenne Boussock; Beurre d'Anjou; Sheldon; Beurre Clairgeau; Lawrence.

The best varieties for dwarf pears, on quince stocks, are Beurre d'Anjou; Duchesse d'Angoulême; Glou Morceau; Vicar of Wakefield. The most serious disease of the pear is the blight. The remedy is, to cut the blight off well down into the second wood.

The Peach.

The soil most suitable for the peach-tree is a dry, light, sandy, undulating soil, with a light