ERS HOMAS RIVE ti} i TTT TVATATTTTETTATeneTT HUNT TTT it HTT HO = TULLE Wi Pe IN ee aly OO Co CN a Nimes i ear ss “a is Ba 4) pens THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN; OB, THE CULTURE OF PYRAMIDAL AND BUSH FRUIT TREES. “There is no kind of fruit, however delicious, that may not be deteriorated, or however worthless, that may not be ameliorated, by particular modes of management.”—Der. LINDLEY. — By THOMAS RIVERS. FROM THE THIRTEENTH ENGLISH EDITION. 368 NEW-YORK : ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY, 245 BROADWAY. [1 $66] . 7 4 *. oY (eausrer from Pat. Ottce Lik, 4dru 1944 4) y “a? © ) | iy ay. 1) o 4 ; Aa): PUBLISHER’S PREFACE. A work by the veteran pomologist, Tomas Rivers, needs no commendation. That it has passed through thirteen editions in England, shows the high estima- tion in which it is held there. We republish it without any alteration, and without any attempt to Americanize it. No foreign work can be taken by the American gardener as an absolute guide, and there are many things in this which can have little or no application in this country. Yet the work is full of practical suggestions, and no one who has a fruit-garden can fail to find in it many hints of great value. We have no work that treats in such detail of the garden culture of dwarf pear trees. In this country we plant dwarfs, and are dissatisfied at the results they give in ordinary orchard eulture. Mr. Rivers truly says: “It must always be recollected that pears on quince stocks are strictly garden trees, v1 PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. and not adapted to orchards.” Those who have only a limited space, and wish to grow pears, apples, and other fruits, can, by the system of pinching and root- pruning combined, keep their trees as small as pot specimens. The selection of varieties given here is that suited to Mr. Rivers’s climate and locality, and includes some that are not considered valuable with us. The American gardener will, of course, consult home authorities in making out his list of varieties. New York, April, 1866. INTRODUCTION. My attention was drawn to the benefits fruit trees derive from root-pruning and frequent removal about the year 1810. I was then a youth, with a most active fruit appetite, and, if a tree bearing superior fruit could be discovered in my father’s orchard-like nursery, I was very constant in my visits to it. In those days there was in the old nursery, first cropped with trees by my grandfather, about the middle of the last century, a “ quarter,”’—i. ¢., a piece of ground devoted to the reception of refuse trees—of such trees as were too small or weak for customers, so that in taking up trees for orders during the win- ter they were left, and in spring all taken up and transplanted to the ‘“‘hospital quarter,” as the laborers called it. The trees in this quarter were often removed—they were, in nur- sery parlance, “driven together’? when they stood too thinly in the ground; or, in other words, taken up, often annually, and planted nearer together on the same piece of ground. This old nursery contained about eight acres, the soil a deep reddish loam, inclining to clay, in which fruit trees flourished and grew vigorously. I soon found that it was but of little use to look among the young free-growing trees for fruit, but among the refuse trees, and to the ‘hospital quarter’? I was indebted for many a fruit-feast—such Ribston Pippins! swch Golden Pippins! vill INTRODUCTION. When I came to a thinking age, I became anxious to know why those refuse trees never made strong, vigorous shoots like those growing in their immediate neighborhood, and yet nearly always bore good crops of fruit. Many years elapsed before I saw ‘the reason why,” and long afterwards I was advised by a friend, a F. H.S., to write a crude, short paper on the subject, and send it to be read at a meeting of the Horti- cultural Society: this paper is published in their ‘ Transac- tions.” I had then practised it several years; so that I may now claim a little more attention, if the old adage that “ prac- tice makes perfect” be worthy of notice. This little work is not designed for the gardens and gardeners of the wealthy and great, but for those who take a personal interest in fruit tree culture, and who look on their gardens as a never-failing source of amusement. In some few favored distriets, fruit trees, without any extra care in planting and after-management, will bear good crops, and remain healthy for many years. It is not so in gardens with unfavorable soils ; and they are greatly in the majority. It is to those possessing such, and more particularly to the possessors of small gardens, that the directions here given may prove of value. The object constantly had in view is, to make fruit trees healthy and fruit- ful by keeping their roots near the surface. The root-pruning and biennial removal so earnestly recommended are the proper means to bring about these results, as they place the roots within the influence of the sun and air. The ground over the roots of garden trees, as generally cultivated, is dug once or twice a year, so that every surface-fibre is destroyed and the larger roots driven downwards: they, consequently, imbibe crude watery sap, which leads to much apparent luxuriance in the trees. This in the end is fatal to their well-doing, for the vigorous shoots made annually are seldom or never ripened suf- ficiently to form blossom-buds. Canker then comes on, and although the trees do not die they rarely give fruit, and in a INTRODUCTION. red few years become victims of bad culture, existing in a sort of living death. There is, perhaps, no fruit tree that claims or deserves our attention equal to a pear. How delicious is a fine melting pear all the winter months! and to what a lengthened period in the spring may they be brought to table! Till lately, Beurré Rance has been our best spring pear; but this is a most uncertain variety, rarely keeping till the end of May, and often ripening in January and February. The new Belgian pears, raised many years since by the late Major Esperen, and more recently by Monsieur Grégoire, are likely for the present to be the most valuable for prolonging the season of rich melting pears; and of these Joséphine de Malines and Bergamotte d’Esperen are especially deserving of notice; they have the excellent quality of ripening slowly. But improvement will, I have no doubt, yet take place; for pears are so easily raised from seed, and so soon brought into bearing by grafting or budding them on the quince stock, that new and valuable late pears will soon be as plentiful as new roses. In the following pages it will be seen that I strongly advo- cate the culture of pyramidal fruit trees. This is no new idea with me. I have paid many visits to the Continental gardens during the greater portion of my active life of business, and have always admired their pyramidal trees when well managed, and I have for many years cultivated them for my amusement; but, owing to a seeming prejudice against them among some English gardeners, I was for some time deterred from recom- mending them, for I thought that men older than myself must know better; and when I heard some of our market-gardeners and large fruit-growers in the neighborhood of London scoff at pears grafted on the quince stock, as giving fruit of very inferior flavor, I concluded, like an Englishman, that the ie x INTRODUCTION. foreigners were very ignorant, and very far behind us in the culture of fruit trees. It was only by repeated visits to foreign gardens that this prejudice was dispelled; and when [f saw the beautiful pear trees in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris under the management of Monsieur Cappe, alluded to in Gardeners’ Chronicle, No. 28, 1847, I felt convinced that our neighbors excelled us in the management of fruit trees adapted to the open borders of our gardens, I have, therefore, endeavored to make the culture of pyramidal trees easy to the uninitiated ; and, having profited largely by experience in attending to it with my own hands, I trust that my readers will benefit by the result. A humid mild climate seems extremely favorable to the well-doing of the pear on the quince stock. Jersey, with its moist warm climate, as is well known, produces the finest pears in Europe: these are for the most part from trees on quince stocks. The western coast of Scotland, I have reason to know, is favorable for the culture of pear trees on the quince; and within these very few years Ireland has proved remarkably so, more particularly in the south, where some of our finest varieties of pears on quince stocks are cultivated with per- fect success. THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN, BTC., ETC. PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES ON THE QUINCE STOCK. TueErz is no description of fruit tree more interest- ing to cultivate in our gardens than the pyramid—a name adopted from the French, the originators of this species of culture. The word conical would, perhaps, convey a better idea of the shape of such trees, but as pyramidal trees are now becoming familiar things in English gardens, it is scarcely worth while to attempt to give a new name to these very pretty garden trees. For gardens with a moderately deep and fertile soil, pears budded on the quince stock will be found to make by far the most fruitful and quick-bearing trees ; indeed, if prepared by one or two removals, their roots become a perfect mass of fibers, and their stems and branches full of blossom-buds. Trees of this descrip- tion may be planted in the autumn, with the certainty of having a crop of fruit the first season after plant- ing,—always recollecting that a spring frost may de- stroy the blossoms unless the trees are protected. It must always be recollected that pears on quince 1 1Se) THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. stocks are strictly garden trees, and not adapted for orchards, The most eligible season for planting pyramidal pear trees is during the months of November and De- cember, but they may be planted even until the end of March; in planting so late, no fruit must be ex- pected the first season. Still, I ought to say here that I have frequently removed pear trees on the quince stock in March and April just as the blossom-buds were bursting, and have had fine fruit the same sea- son, particularly if sharp frosts occurred in May. The buds being retarded, the blossoms opened after the usual period, and thus escaped. The experiment is quite worth trying in seasons when the buds swell very early. : If root-pruned pyramidal trees be planted, it will much assist them if about half the blossom-buds are thinned out with a penknife just before they open ; otherwise these root-pruned trees on the quince stock are so full of them that the tree receives a check in supporting such an abundance of bloom. About ten or fifteen fruit may be permitted to ripen the first season ; the following*season two or three dozen will be as many as the tree ought to be allowed to bring to perfection ; increasing the number as the tree increases in vigor, always remembering that a few full-sized and well-ripened pears are to be preferred to a greater number inferior in size and quality. In the engraving at the commencement of this little volume I have given a faithful portrait of a pyramidal tree of the Beurré de Capiaumont pear, budded on the quince: this was taken in 1846; the tree was then PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES. 3 - about ten years old, and had been root-pruned three times. Nothing could be more interesting than this tree, only six feet high, laden with fruit of extraordi- nary beauty; for in my soil, pears on quince stocks produce fruit of much greater beauty and of finer fla- vor than those on pear stocks. I have, however, introduced the figure as much to show its imperfec- tion as its beauty: it will be observed that its lower tiers of branches are not sufficiently developed; this was owing to neglect when the tree was young—the upper branches were suffered to grow too luxuriantly. Summer pinching in the youth of the tree is the only remedy for this defect, if it be not well furnished be- low; and asevere remedy it is, for a// the young shoots on the upper tiers, including the leader, must be pinched closely in May and June, till the lower ones have made young shoots of a sufficient length to give uniformity tothe tree. This requires much attention. The quenouille, or tying-down system, is not prac- ticed in France at the present day; and, in truth, it does look very barbarous and unnatural. The trees trained in this manner in the Potagerie at Versailles are mostly on quince stocks ; they are from twenty to forty years old, and are very productive, but very ugly ; all the shoots from the horizontal and depressed branches are cropped off apparently in July, as M. Puteau, the director, is, I believe, adverse to the pinching system of M. Cappe. I have not for many years observed a single quenouille in Belgium: all are pyramids, even in the gardens of the cottagers, and in general they are very beautiful and productive trees. In many cases, when on the pear-stock, they are too 4 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. luxuriant, and require root-pruning; but this is not understood by continental fruit-tree cultivators. Pyramids and bushes are the trees best adapted for small gardens, and not standards such as are planted in orchards. To those conversant with such matters, { need only point to the very numerous instances of rich garden ground entirely ruined by being shaded by large spreading standard, or half-standard unpruned fruit trees. Now, by cultivating pyramidal pears on the quince—apples in the same form on the paradise stock—the cherry as pyramids and dwarf bushes on the Cerasus Mahaleb—and the plum as a pyramidal tree—scarcely any ground will be shaded, and more abundant crops and finer fruit will be obtained. bed THE YOUNG PYRAMID. If a young gardener intends to plant, and wishes to train up his trees so that they will become quite perfect in shape, he should select plants, one year old from the bud or graft, with single upright stems ; these will, of course, have good buds down to the junction of the graft with the stock. The first spring, a tree of this description should be headed down, so as to leave the stem about eighteen inches long. If the soil be rich, from five to six and seven shoots will be produced ; one of these must be made the leader, and if not inclined to be quite perpendicular, it must be fastened to a stake. As soon, in summer, as the leading shoot is ten inches long, its end must be pinched off ; and if it pushes forth two or more shoots, pinch off all but one to three leaves, leaving the top- most for a leader. The side shoots will, in most cases THE YOUNG PYRAMID. 5 assume a regular shape; if not, they may be this first season tied to slight stakes to make them grow in the proper direction. This is best done by bringing down and fastening the end of each shoot to a slight stake, so that an open pyramid may be formed—for if it is too close and cypress-like, enough air is not admitted to the fruit. They may remain unpruned till the end of August, when each shoot must be shortened to with- in eight buds of the stem. This will leave the tree like the preceding figure (Fig. 1), and no pruning in winter will be required. The second season the tree will make vigorous growth: the side shoots which were topped last 6 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. August will each put forth three, four, or more shoots. In June, as soon as these have made four leaves, they must be pinched off to three leaves, and if these spurs put forth shoots, which they often do, every shoot must be pinched down to one leaf, all but the leading shoot of each side branch ; this must be left on to exhaust the tree of its super- abundant sap, till the end of August. The perpen- dicular leader must be topped once or twice ; in short, as soon as it has grown ten inches, pinch off its top, and if it break into two or three shoots, pinch them all but the leader, as directed for the first season ; in a few years most symmetrical trees may be formed. When they have attained the height of six or eight feet, and are still in a vigorous state, it will be neces- sary to commence root-pruning, to bring them into a fruittul state. If some of the buds in the stem of a young tree prove dormant, so that part of it is bare and without a shoot where there should be one, a notch, half an inch wide, and nearly the same in depth, should be cut in the stem just above the dormant bud. If this be done in February, a young shoot will break out in the summer.’ I have thus far given directions for those who are inclined to rear their own pyramids. Time and at- tention are required, but the interest attached to well- trained pyramids will amply repay the young cultiva- tor. 1 Bare places in the stems of pyramids, and in the branches of espaliers or wall trees, may be budded toward the end of August with blossom-buds taken from shoots two years old. This isa very interesting mode of furnishing a tree with fruit-bearing buds. THE MATURE PYRAMID. y ¢ THE MATURE PYRAMID. The annexed figure (Fig. 2) is a pyramidal tree in its second and third year, and such as it ought to be in July before its leading side shoots and leading upright shoot are shortened. This, as I have said, is best done toward the end of August. The shorten- ing must be made at the marks —; all the side shoots must be shortened in this manner, and the leading 8 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. shoots; no further pruning will be required till the following summer. The spurs a, a, a, are the bases of the shoots that have been pinched in June; these will the following season form fruit-bearing spurs. The best instrument for summer and autumnal pru- ning is a pair of hooked pruning scissors, called also “rose nippers.” SUMMER PINCHING. As the summer pinching of pyramidal pears is the most interesting feature in their culture, and perhaps the most agreeable of all horticultural occupations, I must endeavor to give plain instructions to carry it out. The first season after the planting, about the mid- dle or end of June, the side buds and branches will put forth young shoots; each will give from one to three or four. Select that which is most horizontal in its growth (it should be on the lower part of the branch, as the tree will then be more inclined to spread) for a leader to that branch, and pinch off all the others to three leaves (see Fig. 2, a, a, a). Ifthese pinched shoots again push, suffer them to make three leaves, and then pinch them to two leaves; but if the horizontal branch has a good leader, it will take off all the superfluous sap, and prevent the pinched spurs from breaking; the buds will only swell, and the fol- lowing season they will be fruit spurs. The upper shoots of the tree, say to about two feet from its top, should be pinched a week before the lower shoots : this gives strength to those on the lower part of the tree. SUMMER PINCHING. 9 Fig. 3 is aside branch in June, with its shoots not yet pinched; Fig. 4 is a side branch with its shoots a, a, pinched in June; d is the leader of the side branch, which should be pinched or cut off at the end of August to ¢. vi Gy Fie. 8. In spring the perpendicular leader of the preceding year’s growth will put forth numerous shoots, which must be pinched in June in the following manner: those nearest the base, leave six inches in length, eradually decreasing upward, leaving those next the young leading shoot only two inches long. The 1* 10 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. leader of these ready-formed pyramids need not be shortened in summer, as directed for younger trees ; it may be suffered to grow till the horizontal leaders _are shortened in August, and then left six or eight inches in length; but if the trees are to be kept to six or seven feet in height under root-pruning, this leading shoot may be shortened to two inches, or even cut close down to its base. For tall pyramids of ten, twelve, or fifteen feet, it may be left from eight to ten inches in length till the required height be attained ; it may then be cut to within two inches of its base every season. I ought here to remark that pear trees differ in their habits to an extraordinary degree: some make shoots most robust and vigorous; others, under pre- cisely the same treatment, are very delicate and slen- der. In the final shortening in August this must be attended to; those that are very vigorous must not have their shoots pruned so closely as those that are less so ; indeed, almost every variety will require some little modification in pruning, of which experience is by far the best teacher. It will, I think, suffice, if I give the following directions for shortening the lead- ers of the side shoots, and the perpendicular lead- ers :—All those that are very robust, such as Beurré d@’Amanlis, Vicar of Winkfield, Beurré Diel, &c., shorten to eight or ten inches, according to the vigor of the individual tree ; those of medium vigor, such as Louise Bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise, and Beurré d’Aremburg, to six inches; those that are delicate and slender in their growth, like Winter Nelis, to four inches; but I must repeat that regard must be COMPACT PYRAMIDS. 11 had to the vigor of the tree. If the soil be rich, the trees vigorous, and not root-pruned, the shoots may be left the maximum length; if, on the contrary, they be root-pruned, and not inclined to vigorous growth, they must be pruned more closely. COMPACT PYRAMIDS. If pyramidal fruit trees, either of pears, apples, plums, or cherries, are biennially removed, or even thoroughly root-pruned, without actually removing them, summer pinching becomes the most simple of all operations. The cultivator has only to look over his trees twice a week during June, July, and August (penknife in hand), and cut or pinch in every shoot on the lateral or side branches that has made four leaves or more, down to three full-sized leaves. It is just possible that the three buds belonging to these three leaves will put forth three young shoots: as soon as they have made their four or five leaves, they must be shortened to two, and so on with every young shoot made during the summer, shortening the lead- ing shoot also to three leaves. This method of close pinching represses the vigor of the tree to a great extent, and, in soils that are not very rich, trees under it will not require root-pruning. It is a most agree- able method of treating pyramidal trees, for no strag- gling shoots are seen, and in small neatly-kept gar- dens this is a great relief. The pinched shoots in these compact pyramids become too much crowded with blossom-spurs, they should therefore be thinned in winter with a sharp pruning-knife. 12 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. ROOT-PRUNING OF PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES ON QUINOE STOCKS. Before entering on the subject of root-pruning of pear trees on quince stocks, I must premise that handsome and fertile pyramids, more particularly of some free-bearing varieties, may be reared without this annual or biennial operation. If the annual shoots of the tree are not more than eight or ten inches long, no root-pruning need be done. I have a large plantation of pear trees on the quince stock, which have been made very handsome and fertile pyramids, yet they have not been root-pruned, neither do I intend to root-prune them. But I wish to im- press upon my readers that my principal object is to make trees fit for small gardens, and to instruct those who are not blessed with a large garden, how to keep the trees perfectly under control: and this can best be done by annual, or at least biennial attention to their roots; for if a tree be suffered to grow three or more years, and then be root-pruned, it will re- ceive a check if the spring be dry, and the crop of fruit for one season will be jeopardized. Therefore, those who are disinclined to the annual operation, and yet wish to confine the growth of their trees within limited bounds by root-pruning—say once in two years—should only operate upon half of their trees one season;’ they will thus have the remain- 1In The Jvurnal of Horticulture for 1862, page 531, Mr. Lee, of Clevedon, gives an account of his root-pruning practice, which he carries out extensively on some hundreds of trees. It appears to be an alternate system of root-pruning, and may be done as follows :—Open a semicircular trench on one side of the tree, and prune all the roots that can be got at; the following season open a trench of tho ROOT PRUNING. 13 ing half in an unchecked bearing state; and those who have ample room and space may pinch their pyramids in summer, and suffer them to grow to a height of fifteen or twenty feet without pruning their roots. I have seen avenues of such trees in Belgium, really quite imposing. In rich soils, where the trees ° grow so freely as to make shoots eighteen inches in length in one season, they may be root-pruned an- nually with great advantage. The following summary will perhaps convey my ideas respecting the management of pyramids and bushes when cultivated as garden trees. In small gardens with rich soils, either root-prune or remove all the trees annually early in November. In larger gardens perform the same operation biennially at the same season. For very large gardens with a dry, good sub-soil, in which all kinds of fruit trees grow without any tendency to canker, and when large trees are desired, neither remove nor root-prune, but pinch the shoots in summer, thin them in winter when they become crowded, and thus make your trees symmet- rical and fruitful. Pyramidal pear trees on the quince stock, where the fruit garden is small, the soil rich, and when the real gardening artist feels pleasure in keeping them in a healthy and fruitful state by perfect control over the roots, should be annually operated upon as fol- lows :— = eaieene ae oe ae ae December OUI OIGUMAL A) a. o.6 scare: ware. o/o oom oleeya'e amis Hislesdinvaregsoiels iam alaiere) me August eure Gouhanlt sid ssccsee cence cee awe erase <= sedans September DoyennG ROUSSOCH 2: A cic acc srsimipings ccacetsc's 0 arsivicls us hiaaly aicin nies, Sorel October RP BIR ONG LCi oor nie cic naretestarel oa 74. THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. as they are properly cultivated. The great advantage reaped by the planter is the constant productiveness of his trees; from the second year after planting they will be always “ paying their way.” The unprejudiced fruit cultivator will quickly find out the great advantage of my mode of apple and pear cultivation. In the usual old-fashioned mode, Standard apple trees are planted in orchards at 20 feet apart, or 108 trees to the acre; if the soil be good and the trees properly planted, and the planter a healthy, middle- aged man, he may hope, at the end of his threescore and ten, to see his trees commencing to bear, and may die with the reflection that he has left a valuable orchard as a legacy to his children, but has not had much enjoyment of it during his life. Now, although, like most fathers, I have a strong wish to benefit my children, I hold the idea that one ought also to think of one’s own gratification; and so I have planted, and recommend the planting of such as will give me some satisfaction, yet leave a fertile legacy to my chil- dren. A French pomologist, who paid me a visit last year, said, “ Ah! now I findan Englishman planting for himself as well as for his children :” and went on to say that he was struck by seeing in England so many Standard trees in market gardens, the planters of which could have derived but small benefit from them ; and the apparent ignorance of fruit gardening as a lucrative occupation. This he, in fact, imputed to our climate, which, Frenchman-like, he thought totally unfit for fruit culture in the open air, yet felt APPLES AS SINGLE LATERAL CORDONS. W5 much surprised to see here the produce of a well-cul- tivated English fruit garden, in a climate not nearly sv favorable as the valley of the Thames. I have only to add that, besides my plantation of Cox’s Orange Pippin, I have another of upwards of 490 trees, which has now been in existence upwards of ten years, so that Iam not theorizing, but dedu- cing facts from a sound basis. APPLES AS SINGLE LATERAL CORDONS. The French gardeners often train an apple tree “ en cordon horizontale,” as an edging to the borders in their kitchen gardens, after the following mode:—A Nphrh VQ Fie. 18. tree grafted on the Paradise or Doucin stock, with a single shoot, is planted in a sloping position, and the shoot trained along a wire, about ten or twelve inches from the surface. (Fig. 13.) To carry out this method of training, oak posts, about three inches in diameter and two feet in length, should be sharpened at one end and driven into the ground, so that they stand one foot above the surface ; they may be from thirty to forty yards distant from each other. From these a piece of galvanized or common iron wire—if the latter, it should be painted—about the thickness of whipcord, should be strained, and sup- ported nine inches from the ground, at intervals of six 76 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. feet, by iron pins eighteen inches long, the size of a small curtain-rod, or smaller, flattened at the top and pierced with a hole, to allow the wire to pass through ; these should be stuck into the ground, so as to stand on a level with the straining-posts. The trees should be planted six feet apart, and when the top of one tree reaches to another the young shoot may be grafted on to the base ofthe next, so as to form a continuous cordon. This is best done by merely taking off a slip of bark, two inches long, from the under part of the young shoot, and a corresponding piece of bark from the upper part of the stem of the tree to which it is to be united, so that they fit tolerably well. They should then be firmly bound with bast, and a bunch of moss—a handful—as firmly bound over the union; the binding as well as the moss may remain on till the autumn. The trees do not grow so rapidly as common grafts, so that the ligatures will not cut into the bark. Every side shoot of these cordons should be rigor- ously pinched into three leaves all the summer, and the fruit, from being near the earth, and thus profit- ing largely by radiation, will be very fine. The double lateral cordon, see Fig. 14, which is a creat improvement on the French single cordon, requires the same training, pinching-in, and manage- ment. The great change in fruit culture that may be brought about by training these double lateral cordons under glass ridges is obvious enough. The figure (15) will give some faint idea of the advantages of this new system of culture—they are endless; for not only can peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, apples, and pears APPLES AS DOUBLE LATERAL CORDONS. yer¢ be rescued from spring frosts, but their fruit be ripen- ed in great perfection. There is no doubt but that in some of our cold and cloudy places in the north of England and Scotland, where even the Ribston Pippin will not ripen, it may be brought to perfec- tion under the glass fruit ridge. The figure (Fig. 15) gives but one tree trained to one wire; two rows of wire may, however, be trained under one ridge, which should be three feet wide at base, and the wires ten inches asunder. It is quite possible that this method of training to galvanized wires may, in some situations, be better adapted to vine culture than allowing the vines to rest on slates or tiles. I now, by permission, copy the de- scription of my new glass fruit ridge from my article in the Gardencr’s Chronicle for April 8, 1865, from which I have also derived the plate kindly lent to me :— ‘“¢ There are no cross-bars, but merely a frame three feet wide at the base. On the top bar, a, is a groove half an inch deep; in the bottom bar, 6, is a groove a quarter of an inch deep;' in the end bars, c and d, are grooves halfaninch deep. The pieces of glass, which should be cut so as to fit, are pushed into the upper groove, and let fall into the lower one when all are 1 An improvement on this is to have a rebate at bottom instead of a groove; the glass ia more easily fitted in. 78 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. fitted in; the two end pieces are pushed inwards, so a MOB RLM YY f i CLUE: i Fra, 15. as to drive all of them into close contact. _— Z CHERRIES AS PYRAMIDS. 91 The best of all protection, both from birds and wasps, is, however, Haythorn’s netting, or coarse muslin, formed into a narrow bag, which should be let down gently over the tree, and tied at the bottom; Duke cherries may thus be preserved till August. I may mention here, that with all these cordon trees, root- pruning or removal is seldom required, their vital force is so reduced by continuous pinching of the young shoots ; but if a rich soil gives too much vigor, it may be practised. There are a few kinds of plums, of upright growth, which may also be cultivated as vertical cordons. The Bigarreau and Heart, or Guigne cherries, are too vigorous for this mode of culture when grafted or budded, as they generally are, on the common cherry stock. The new mode of culture by double grafting, 7.¢., by grafting them on young trees of the common Morello cherry that have been grafted on the Mahaleb, will make them most prolific cordons. (See p. 102.) I must add a piece of very necessary advice: all cordon trees, whether pears, apples, cherries, or plums, should be supported by a slight iron rod, about the size of a goose-quill, which should be painted; this should stand six to seven feet above the surface, and be inserted ten to twelve inches in the ground, and the tree attached loosely to it by two or three ligatures of copper wire. BIGARREAU AND HEART CHERRIES AS PYRAMIDS ON THE COMMON CHERRY STOCK. Among the mysteries of vegetable physiology, there is nothing, perhaps, more interesting than the facts 92, THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. © discovered by the fruit-cultivator. Many kinds of pears grow with great luxuriance when grafted or budded on the quince stock, while other kinds, culti- vated in the same soil, and budded or grafted with equal care, will grow feebly, and die in the course of a year or two. The Noblesse and Royal George peaches form fine healthy trees when budded on the Muscle plum stock. The Grosse Mignonne and the French Galande die in a year or two, if budded on it. The Moor Park apri- cot grows readily and freely on the above-named stock. The peach apricot, its French congener, will not; why? The Bigarreau and the Heart cherries (or, as the French call them, Guignes) do not succeed well, on the Cerasus Mahaleb; they grow most rapidly for two or three years, and then generally become gummy and diseased. The stock raised from the small black and red wild cherries is the proper one for this race, except they are double grafted. Pyramidal cherry trees may be bought ready-made, or formed by purchasing young trees, one year old, from the bud, and training them up in the same way as directed for pyramidal pears (pp. 4 and 5), with this variation—pears, as is well known, may be grown as pyramids successfully, with or without root-prun- ing or biennial removal; but cherries on common cherry stocks will grow so rapidly, in spite of summer pinching, that biennial removal is a work of necessity. In the course of a few years, pyramidal cherry trees thus treated become pictures of beauty. In France they generally fail, and become full of dead stumps PYRAMIDAL CHERRIES. 93 and gum, owing to their trusting entirely to pruning their trees severely in summer and winter, without attending to their roots; the trees thus being full of vigor make strong shoots, only to be pinched and cut off. We must “manage these things better” in Eng- land. The mode of operation in removing pyramidal cherries is the same as that recommended for pears and apples, &c. It will be found, however, that more labor is required, for in two years the cherry on the common stock, like the apple on the crab, makes a vigorous attempt to lay hold of its parent earth. The second year the tree may be lifted by digging a trench round its stem, one foot from it and 16 inches deep. The fourth year this trench must be made 18 inches from the stem and 20 inches deep; the sixth year it should be 2 feet from the stem and 2 feet deep. This distance and depth need not be departed from if the trees are required to be only fair-sized pyramids; the straggling roots beyond this cireumference should be biennially pruned off with the knife. The tree man- aged thus will soon be in a mature, fruitful state, and its roots a mass of fibres, so that when removed it will, like the rhododendron, receive only a healthy check. Pyramidal Bigarreau and Heart cherries, cultivated after the method above given, may be planted in small grass orchards, with pyramidal pears on pear stocks, pyramidal apples on crab stocks, and pyramidal plums. A charming orchard in miniature may thus be formed. Cattle: and sheep must, of course, be excluded. 94 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. The following varieties form handsome pyramidal trees, and bear fruit of the finest quality :— Belle d’Orleans* Elton* Bigarreau Florence* Bigarreau Napoléon Governor Wood* Black Eagle* Knight’s Early Black* Black Tartarian Ohio Beauty Downton Werder’s Early Black T have thus far given the results of my experience in the culture of pyramidal trees. The method is not by any means new, for visitors to the Continent, for these last fifty years, must have often observed the numerous pyramids of France and Belgium. The system of annual and biennial root-pruning I must, however, claim as original, for I feel assured that in our moist climate—too moist for many varieties of fruit—such check is required to keep pyramids that are under summer pinching in a healthy, fruitful state. The defect in the pyramidal trees of the Continental gardeners is their tendency to an enormous produc- tion of leaves and shoots, brought on by severe annual pruning of their shoots. The climate is probably too dry for root-pruning; yet I cannot help thinking that if it were followed by manuring thickly on the sur- face, and occasional watering, it would make their trees prodigiously fruitful. At the risk of repetition, and writing from my own experience, I must say that no gardening operation can be more agreeable than paying daily attention to a plantation of pyramids. From the end of May to the end of July—those beautiful months of our short summer—there are always shoots to watch, to pinch, to direct, fruit to thin, and a host of pleasant opera- tions, so winning to one who loves his garden and every tree and plant in it. FILBERTS AND NUTS AS STANDARDS. 95 To conclude, I may mention that the small Alberge apricot, raised from the stone, and producing small high-flavored fruit, and also the Breda apricot, make very beautiful pyramids if lifted or planted biennially. In the southern counties of England, in a favorable season, they will ripen their fruit, and produce good crops. The large Portugal quince is also very prolific as a pyramidal tree. Some trees only two years old have borne fine fruit here. This is the finest of all the quinces, and in the south of Europe it grows to an enormous size. The Medlar will also form a hand- some and productive pyramid, and, “last, but not least ” in the estimation of the lover of soft fruits, the currant. A near neighbor—an ingenious gardener —attaches much value, and with reason, to his pyra- midal currant trees; for his table is supplied abun- dantly with their fruit tilllate in autumn. The lead- ing shoots of his trees are fastened to iron rods; they form nice pyramids of about five feet in height; and by the clever contrivance of slipping a bag made of coarse muslin over every tree as soon as the fruit is ripe, fastening it securely to the bottom, wasps, and birds, and fins and all the ills that beset ripe currants are excluded. With all these, summer pinching and root-pruning, or biennial eee (except the currant, which does not require the latter operation), as di- rected for pears, are indispensable; they soon form ‘very handsome pyramids, and make a pleasing variety in the fruit garden. FILBERTS AND NUTS AS STANDARDS. Filberts, as commonly cultivated, except in the 5* 98 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. - Kentish gardens, form straggling bushes, and are some years before they commence to bear. To cor- rect this, I some ten or more years since had them grafted on stems of the hazel-nut raised from Spanish nuts, as they were vigorous growers and formed stout stems, I have found these grafted trees answer ad- mirably, and come quickly into bearing, forming nice garden trees. As soon as the nut trees designed for stocks have made stout stems about four feet high, they should be grafted at that height with the choice kind of nuts, such as red and white filberts and the Cusford nut— an excellent nut. The purple-leaved filbert, gener- ally planted as an ornamental shrub, may also be grafted; it gives nuts equal to the common filbert, and forms a nice ornamental standard. Standard nuts require but little culture; they soon form round heads, and bear profusely. Care must be taken to destroy all suckers from the stem and root. The only pruning required is in winter, to thin out the crowded shoots, and shorten to half their length those that are inclined to be vigorous—that is, those that are more than nine inches in length. The short spray-like shoots must not be shortened, as they are the fruit-givers. If these standard nuts are planted in rich garden soils, they will soon make trees too large for small gardens. If, therefore, they are found to grow too vigorously, they should be lifted and replanted bien- nially in November. I have mentioned seedling nuts as good for stocks ; but I have lately employed a valuable sort introduced FIGS AS HALF STANDARDS OR BUSHES. 97 from Germany as Corylus arborescens; this makes a beautiful clear stem. The Algiers nut, Corylus algerensis, seems also to be well adapted for a stock for standards, as it makes shoots from six to seven feet in one season. FIGS AS HALF STANDARDS OR BUSHES. There is, perhaps, no fruit tree that disappoints the amateur fruit grower so much as the fig. If planted in the open borders of the garden, it soon grows into an enormous fruitless bush or tree, and if placed against a wall, unless a very large space can be given to it, but little fruit must be expected. It may, however, be made eligible for small gar- dens, where the climate is sufficiently warm to ripen its fruit, such as the gardens near London, and those in the eastern and southern counties. Fruitfulness and moderate growth are brought on by the following method. Trees should be procured of the Brown Turkey or Lee’s Perpetual, White Marseilles and Early Violet Figs—these are the only kinds that bear freely, and ripen their fruit well—such trees should be Jow or half standards, or dwarfs with a clear stem ~ (not bushes branching from the ground). The former should have a stem three feet high, and the latter one from one foot to eighteen inches; in each case the tree should have a nice rounded head. Trees thus selected should be planted in a sunny situation, and require only the following simple mode of treatment. They, we will assume, were planted in March or April. They will make a tolerably vigorous growth, and must be pruned by pinching off the top 98 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. of every shoot as soon as it has made six leaves, leay- ing five. The stem must be kept quite clear from young shoots. By the autumn, nice round-headed trees will be formed, and about the end of October they should be taken up (their leaves cut off, if they have not fallen) and placed in a cellar—no matter if dark, but a light dry cellar would be preferable—some earth should be placed over their roots, and there they may remain till the first week in May, when they should be planted out, and the same routine of culture followed. They will bear one good crop of fruit in a season, and ripen it in September. This annual removal brings on great sturdiness of growth in the tree, and the roots becomes so fibrous as to hold a large quantity of earth, which should not be shaken from them when they go into their annual winter abode. In the year 1857 I saw fine trees thus treated in the garden of the Duke of Altenburg, in Central Germany; their stems were as stout asa man’s leg and their heads full of fruit; and this season, 1865, my fig-trees, taken up last October, and placed in the orchard-house during the winter—their roots in the soil—have given me a crop of very rich, well-ripened fruit. The roots that have borne best are the Brown Ischia, Brown Turkey, and Brunswick. THE BIENNIAL REMOVAL OF FRUIT TREES WITHOUT ROOT-PRUNING. For some few years past I have felt a growing con- viction that peach trees trained against walls in the usual manner, without careful root cultivation, can- not, in our climate, be kept in a state at all healthy BIENNIAL REMOVAL OF FRUIT TREES. 99 or fertile for a series of years. A wall covered with healthy peach or nectarine trees of a good ripe age is rarely to be seen; failing crops and blighted trees are the rule, healthy and fertile trees the exception. The following mode of treating peaches, nectarines, apri- cots, and plums on the removal system I have found simple and efficacious. Supposing a trained tree, of the usual size, to have been planted in a border well prepared—z. e., stirred to a depth of twenty inches; it may be trained to the wall as usual, and suffered to grow two seasons. To- ward the end of October, or, indeed, any time in No- vember in the second season, it should be carefully taken up, with allits roots intact. Ifthere be two or three stragglers—. ¢., roots of two or three feet in length—for roots are remarkably eccentric, and often, without any apparent cause, run away in search of something they take a fancy to—cut off one foot or so, so as to make the roots of the tree more snug. Then make the hole from whence you took your tree a little deeper, and fit to receive its roots without bend- ing or twisting. Place in it any light compost. If the soil be heavy, leaf-mould, rotten manure, and loam, equal parts: if it be light, two-thirds tender loam, not sandy, and one-third rotten manure. Two inches deep of this compost will be enough for the roots of the tree to rest on; and mind they are care- fully arranged, so as to diverge regularly: then add enough of the compost to cover all the roots, and fill in with the common soil, so as not to cover the sur- face roots more than two inches deep. If the soil be light, the surface should be trodden down very firmly, 100 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. and then have a dressing of old tan, or decayed litter. A tree that has been planted two years will require one barrowful of the above compost; at the end of four years, two barrowfuls; when six years have passed, from three to four barrowfuls; and from four to six barrowfuls will be enough for a tree from twelve to twenty years old—in short, for a full-grown tree. A portion of the earth from the border must be re- moved when a large quantity of compost is added, to make room for it, so as not to have an unsightly mound. In the course of two or three removals, the roots of the tree will become a mass of fibres, and the trees so docile as to be lifted without difficulty. I have this day (Dec. 12, 1852) removed two plum trees that have been planted six years and removed twice. ‘Their roots are a mass of fibres without one straggling root; they have been replanted with a bar- rowful of light compost to each tree,’ and, if I may judge by the enormous quantity of blossom buds, they will bear a plentiful crop next season. They will re- ceive no unhealthy check, for abundance of earth adheres to the mass of fibrous roots. Now, as peaches, nectarines, and apricots, being budded on plum stocks, are all on plum roots, they will give exactly the same results from the same mode of culture, neither the szze nor flavor of the fruit will be affected, and the trees will always bear abundantly, and be healthy and flourishing. 1 The soil is rich, and one barrowful I thought quite enough. The quanti- ty of compost must be regulated by the wants of the soil, for in rich soils, where peaches and nectarines are apt to grow too freely, no compost need be added, but the tree merely lifted and replaced. A peach, nectarine, or apricot tree, under the removal system, that makes annual shoots more than fifteen inches in length, is too luxuriant, and will require no compost to its roots when replanted. REMOVING TREES BIENNIALLY. 101 The plethoric habit of the Moor Park and Peach apricots, which so often leads to disease and death, will be effectually cured by this simple mode of cul- ture, and peaches and nectarines will make short annual shoots, which will be always well ripened, so that they will be constantly full of healthy blossom- buds. For trees under Mr. Ker’s trellises, it answers admirably. Some mulch, or old tan, two inches in depth, placed on the surface of the soil so far as the roots spread during the spring and summer, will be of much service. All trees that are inclinéd to make very fibrous roots, such as plums, pears on quince stocks, and ap- ples on Paradise stocks, may be lifted—7. ¢., removed biennially, as above described—with equal or greater facility than root-pruning them. The effect is the same : they make short, well-ripened shoots, and bear abundantly. Apples on Paradise stocks, cultivated as dwarf bushes or as pyramids, if lifted every year, and a shoveltul or two of compost given to them, form delightful little trees! The most delicate sorts of apples, such as Golden Pippins and Nonpareils, may thus be cultivated in the most unfavorable soils ; and Roses, more particularly Bourbon Roses on short stems, and Hybrid Perpetuals, removed annually in the autumn, giving to each tree a shovelful of rich compost, and not pruning their shoots till April, will bloom delightfully all the autumn, never dropping their leaves towards the end of summer, and becom- ing, as is too often the case, blighted and blossomless. 1In moist retentive soils, the fruit-spurs of small trees become covered with moss; some powdered lime sprinkled over them will destroy it; this is best done in foggy weather in winter. 102 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. To conclude, I will, as a guide to the amateur, give the following summary :—If the soil be very rich, so as to induce the trees planted in it to make a growth of eighteen inches in one season, they may be removed annually till this vigorous growth ceases. If the trees make an annual growth only of eight to ten inches, the trees may be removed bzennially, and I may add that, in soils in which trees grow slowly, root-pruning is more advantageous than removal, as less check is given to vegetation. DOUBLE GRAFTING OF FRUIT TREES. I have not been able to find this mode of culture, likely to be so beneficial to fruit gardens in England, alluded to by the many authors of works on fruit trees; it may be “as old as the hills,” and have no claim to originality, but few so-called new ideas have. I can only therefore state how it originated here some fif- teen or twenty years since. I am not aware that it has been practised by the clever fruit tree cultivators of France and Belgium; if so, it has been recently copied from English practice, but I never remember having seen it carried out. Its history, briefly told, is as follows :—I observed, when budding and grafting pears on the quince stock, that some varieties did not grow freely on that stock, when budded or grafted; particularly the Gansel’s Bergamot and the Autumn Bergamot, the Seckel, the Marie Louise, Knight’s Monarch, and some others. Now, as the first and last mentioned are notorious for their shy bearing qualities, while the trees are young, DOUBLE GRAFTING OF FRUIT TREES. 103 even when root-pruned or frequently removed, I felt anxious to see them flourishing on the quince stock, which invariably makes pear trees fertile. I found that but few grafts of these sorts out of scores would survive on the quince, and when they did unite they were very short lived; this induced me to look nar- rowly into the habits of pear trees on the quince stock, and I found that the Beurré d’ Amanlis formed a most perfect union with the stock, and seemed most endu- ring, for I had seen trees in France at least fifty years old. I therefore fixed upon this sort for my experi- ment, and had thrifty trees, two years old from the bud, grafted with Gansel’s Bergamot; the grafts flourished, and became so prolific that, when three or four years old, they each bore from three to four dozen of fruit—a most unusual thing with that fine variety. This settled the question as to the fertility given by double grafting, which, since this experiment, has be- come here an extensive branch of culture. There are other kinds of pears which, from uniting with and growing freely on the quince stock, serve well for double grafting, such as Prince Albert, Bezi Goubault, and Conseiller de la Cour. Prince Albert is a sort well adapted for the Monarch, Marie Louise, Prince of Wales (Huyshe), Victoria (Huyshe), and British Queen; Beurré d’Amanlis may be used for the Jargo- nelle and Bergamots, as may also Bezi Goubault, the hardiest pear known. The cultivator has something to learn, for there are many pears of the finest quali- ty, but of a delicate and infertile habit, that may be much improved by double grafting. Our garden culture of cherries is, as yet, rude and 104 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. imperfect ; and espaliers of the Bigarreau and Guigne or Heart tribe are planted and trained along the sides of the garden walks, giving abundance of shoots and leaves, but very little fruit (which the birds appro- priate), and in the course of time give out gum— owing to their having been unmercifully pruned— and die full of years and barren shoots, having given much trouble to the gardener. I have pointed out how cherries may be cultivated in gardens as pyra- mids, &e., and have alluded to fertility in the Bigar- reau and Heart tribe being promoted by double graft- ing; this mode of culture is also interesting, as leading to success in soils that seem unfavorable to cherries under some circumstances. Cherries grafted on the Mahaleb are described pp. 85 to 90; they affect calcareous soils, and, as far as I can learn, do not succeed so well in the sandstone formations, and where iron abounds in the soil; in such situations, double grafted trees should be planted formed in this way—the common Morello cherry should be budded on the Mahaleb stock, and after two years it should be grafted with some kind of Bigar- | reau, Heart, or Guigne cherry; it will form a small or moderate sized tree, and bear abundantly. In cul- tivating cherry trees in soils inimical to their well- doing, abundance of chalk or lime rubbish should be mixed with the earth to the depth of two feet. Double grafting of apples is of very interior im- portance as compared with the same operation on pears or cherries, for our English Paradise stocks give the most perfect health and fertility in nearly all soils. Still there may be some peculiar positions, where the DOUBLE GRAFTING OF FRUIT TREES. 105 soils are very light and poor, in which strong, robust sorts of the crab stock are required to make healthy truitful trees. In such cases it is better to graft such sorts as the Hawthornden, Manx Codlin, and Small’s Admirable, on thrifty crab stocks, and when two years old regraft them with choice dessert kinds: all double grafting is best done when the first graft is two years old. I have now pointed out to a certain extent the advantages of double grafting, but much must be left to the intelligent amateur. It is to be regretted that English cultivators, more particularly nurserymen, have not turned their attention to the benefit choice fruit trees derive from having the proper kind of stock selected for them, or from being double grafted. Mr. George Lindley, father of Dr. Lindley, seems to have turned his attention to fruit tree stocks, more than any other nurseryman of his day; still he knew only those grown by the Surrey Nurserymen of the present day—a very imperfect list—for nurserymen, like farmers, move slowly. It is but a few years since that the common fruit-bearing quince, raised from layers —a most unfit stock—was sold in Surrey for stocks for pears, and Muscle, White Pear plum, Brompton, Brussels, and “‘Commoners” (7. ¢., common plum stocks), are still the plum stocks propagated in Surrey for sale ; all except the first and the last are of infe- rior quality and are surpassed by the French stock, the Black Damask plum, which suits Peaches, Necta- rines, Apricots, and all kinds of plums. The double budding of some kinds of peaches and nectarines is almost necessary to their well doing in some soils, yet this method of culture seems to have 106 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. been neglected by European nurserymen. The truth must be confessed, that nurserymen, as a class, have but little taste for pomology ; they take to flowers and plants eagerly, because they give a quick return; and thus Pomona and her gifts are always placed in the shade—as to experiments, “ they do not pay.” There are some free growing kinds of apricots which, when budded on the plum, and the young apricot budded with a peach or nectarine, produce the most favor- able effects on the peach tree, the union being perfect and the duration of it much lengthened. There are also one or two kinds of plums which, being budded on a wild kind of plum, furnish when double budded a most favorable stock for the peach, giving it hardi- ness and fertility. We are still very backward in our knowledge of the effects of stocks on fruits; the sub- ject requires much time and research, and no rushing to conclusions like some of our writers, who write on every thing and nothing well, only because they have not the necessary patience to master a few subjects thoroughly. HOW TO PREPARE A PEACH TREE BORDER IN LIGHT SOILS. In our southern counties, where light sandy soils abound, the difficulty of making peach and nectarine trees trained to walls flourish is well known ; in spring they are liable to the curl and the attacks of aphides, in summer they are infested with the red spider, so that the trees are weakened, and rarely give good fruit: they seem, indeed, to detest light soils. The follow- ing method of preparing borders for them in such PEACH TREE BORDER IN LIGHT SOILS. 107 soils may be well known, but I have not seen it de- scribed by any gardening author. The idea has come to me from observing peach trees, trained to walls, re- fuse to do well in the light sandy soil forming a part of my nursery, except near paths, and to grow and do well for years in the stiff tenacious loam forming another part. My bearing trees in pots, for which I use tenacious loam and dung, rammed down with a wooden pestle, also bear and flourish almost beyond belief; and so I am induced to recommend that, in light soils, the peach tree border should be made as follows:—To a wall of moderate height, say nine or ten feet, a border six feet wide, and to a wall twelve feet high, one eight feet wide should be marked out ; if the soil be poor and exhausted by cropping, or if it be an old garden, a dressing of rotten dung* and tenacious loam, or clay, equal parts, five inches in thickness, should be spread over the surface of the border: it should then be stirred to two feet in depth, and the loam and dung well mixed with the soil. The trees may be planted during the winter, and in March, in dry weather, the border all over its surface should be thoroughly rammed down with a wooden rammer, so as to make it like a well-trodden path; some light half-rotten manure, say from one to two inches in depth, may then be spread over it, and the operation is complete. This border must never be stirred, ex- cept with the hoe, to destroy weeds, and, of course, never cropped: every succeeding spring, in dry weather, the ramming and dressing must be repeated, as the soil is always much loosened by frost. If this 1 If the border be new or rich with manure, a dressing of the loam, or clav only, four inches in thickness, will be sufficient. J 108 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. method be followed, peaches and nectarines may be made to flourish in our dry southern counties, where they have hitherto brought nothing but disappoint-| _ ment. | * The two grand essentials for peach culture are stiff loam and a sunny climate. A CHEAP METHOD OF PROTECTING WALL TREES. At Twyford Lodge, near East Grinstead, Sussex, the seat of R. Trotter, Esq., is a wall 75 feet long, covered with peaches and nectarines, which, for sev- eral years, had given no fruit; some years ago, the gardener, Mr. Murrell, asked my advice about pro- tecting it with glass ; and, acting upon it with his own adaptation, has succeeded, every season since its erec- tion, in securing fine crops of fruit of superior flavor. The following is a description of this simple struc- ture s-— At the top of the wall, which is 12 feet high, is nailed a plate for the’ends of the rafters to rest on; 4 feet 6 inches from the wall is a row of posts, 6 inches by 4 (these should be of oak), 6 feet apart, and 3 feet 6 inches in height, from the ground ; on these is nail- ed a plate to receive the lower ends of the rafters ; the latter are 8 feet long, 3 inches by 14, and 20 inches asunder; and the glass employed is 16 oz. sheet, 20 inches by 12. Every fourth square of glass at the top next the wall is fixed into a slight frame of wood, with a hinge at the top of each, and made to open all at once by a line running in a wheel; the front is of ?-inch deal boards nailed to the posts, one of which, one foot wide, near the top, is on hinges, forming a STANDARD ORCHARD TREES. 109 drop shutter the whole length of the front. Now comes the management by which red spider, the deadly foe of the peach tree, is discomfited ; and let me quote Mr. Murrel :— “ All these ventilators, back and front, I leave open day and night after May, except in very wet and rough weather. The first season I had the red spider (it was in the walls), but the fruit was of the highest flavor; the second season the fruit was very fine, and the spiders never came, I believe, owing entirely to my syringing the trees twice a day, morning and afternoon, and leaving all the ventilators open ; be- sides this, the boards have shrunk, so that there are wide crevices, and the place is always airy. I thank you for your hints about giving plenty of air; the trees are admired by all who see them.” The roof, it will beseen, is fixed, and the whole structure a fixture; the trees can be pruned and nailed under shelter, and a crop of fruit always in- sured ; how superior, then, is this to all the tempo- rary protectors for walls so often recommended ! STANDARD ORCHARD TREES. Although in this little work I profess to confine myself to the culture of garden fruit trees, I feel that a few words as to my method of planting trees in an orchard under grass may not be out of place, for very frequently a villa residence may have a piece of pas- ture land attached to it favorable to the growth of orchard trees, and quite necessary as a convenient place for the cow or the horse or horses. The com- mon practice is to open large holes in the turf, six 110 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. feet in diameter, and from two to three feet deep; and in the centre to plant a tree. In rich deep loamy soils trees often succeed when planted in this manner, and as often fail, the hole becoming in wet seasons a pond. Orchard trees, as a general rule, should be planted twenty-four feet apart, row from row, and they are for the most part planted twenty-four feet apart in the rows, so as to stand that distance apart over the whole orchard. I now propose that the rows should be twenty-four feet apart, but the trees twelve feet apart in the rows, so as to allow of one-third more trees to the acre. Instead of digging large holes, slips, six feet wide, should be marked out on the turf, so that the centre of each is twenty-four feet apart; each slip should then be trenched, or, as it is often called, “ double-dug,” to a depth of two feet, turning the turf to the bottom of the trench and bringing the subsoil to the surface. A row of trees should be planted in the centre of each slip, twelve feet apart, and after the lapse of some fifteen or twenty years every alter- nate tree should be either removed and replanted or grubbed up.