1873. ] 



THE APPLE : ITS CULTURE AND VAKIETIES. CHAPTER II. 



33 



obtain tlie best returns from limited spaces, it is desirable tliat lie sliould under- 

 stand tlie economy of obtaining trees wbicli should begin to make a return o 

 fruit at once. Tlie time, trouble, and expense of bringing trees into tbat state is 

 so great, that it is not worth his while to train such trees for himself, more par- 

 ticularly on the same ground where they are to remain for good, because by the 

 time the trees are brought into a bearing state, the soil will be very much 

 exhausted, and will require a considerable addition of new material. If, therefore, 

 the training is attempted, it ought to be done elsewhere, in order that the trees may 

 have new and unexhausted soil to begin with when they are planted in their per- 

 manent situations. At the same time, I would impress upon the mind of the 

 Amateur that it is a mistaken idea to suppose, as some do, that by planting 

 maiden trees at a low price, money will be saved ; it may be so in the first instance, 

 but time, valuable time, is lost, and after all, the Amateur grower may perhaps 

 get one or two trees out of several, as good as he could purchase at once, in any 

 respectable nursery where such matters are really studied, for half of the money 

 value which that of his own training must have cost him, time being saved into 

 the bargain. Verhum sat sapienti. 



It is diflBcult to describe the considerations which ought to guide an inexperi- 

 ■enced person in the selection of trees. A practical hand, or one who has had to 

 do with fruit-tree management, can see at a glance whether a particular tree is 

 likely to answer the purpose required ; but the uninitiated may be deceived by 



appearances, or led astray by 

 plausible representations. He 

 will not, however, be very far 

 wrong if, taking the diagram fig. 

 1 as a guide for the framework 

 of a Pyramid, he selects a tree 

 with a clean stem, five feet high, 

 well furnished from the bottom 

 upwards with healthy side 

 branches, which have been pro- 

 perly shortened and brought into 

 a bearing state, and, moreover, 

 takes especial care to eschew all 

 trees that show evidences of a 

 tendency to canker. 

 To ensure such trees being in a bearing state, it is necessary to stipulate that 

 they should have been assisted by frequent liftings and replantings to check 

 luxuriance, and induce fruitfulness. The mere pinching-back of the shoots 

 through the growing season will not always have the effect of inducing the 

 formation of fruit-buds, although it does influence root-action and checks the 

 tendency to make growth. But lifting and replanting bring into operation another 

 law of nature, according to which a threatened life seeks to perpetuate itself by 



Fig. 2.— Diagram of Bush Treh. 



