i88i.] FRUIT -CULTURE. 447 



system is explained, while all the materials necessary are detailed. It may 

 be as well to state, however, that the wires should be laid as closely against 

 the walls as possible, for it is found that, when they are placed some distance 

 from it, the trees do not receive the full benefit of the wall's shelter. When 

 the sun shines the walls are warmed by it, and they in turn raise the tempera- 

 ture of the air in close proximity to them, and the trees, which lie close to the 

 walls, are benefited by the higher temperature. When, however, the trees are 

 fixed to wires which are some inches from the wall, a current of air passes 

 between the wall and the trees, and much of the benefit which the walls atford 

 is thus neutralised. 



There is another thing to which we might profitably refer here, and that is 

 the distances at which branches should be trained. Hard and fast rules are 

 generally laid down for this, but we unhesitatingly say that this is wrong. 

 A recent writer in a contemporary says that the branches should be placed 

 " so thinly that the leaves of one branch do not overlap those of another. If 

 the spurs and leaves of a fruit-tree cover a space of 9 inches, the branches 

 of that tree should not be less than 10 inches asunder. This is a safe rule to 

 follow." We have no doubt that such is the practice of the writer of the 

 sentences quoted, and we believe that the writer's practice is success- 

 ful ; but it makes some difference in the results sometimes when a practice, 

 succcessful enough, perhaps, in the south of England, is applied four, five, or 

 six hundred miles further north. The greatest mistake made by persons who 

 have had no experience nor opportunities for observation is to overcrowd 

 trees of all kinds. The sunshine ought to reach every part of a tree which 

 bears fruit, and the more especially when the sun-rays are few and weak. 

 This applies with double force to trees on walls. They are planted there 

 partly for the sake of the shelter which the walls give, partly for the heat 

 which the walls radiate. If, however, the branches of the trees are so 

 thickly trained that the wall is wholly covered with leaves, the wall can 

 radiate little heat. To do this it must first be warmed, and for this pur- 

 pose part of the wall should be x>urposely left hare. In the sunny south the 

 bare portion might sometimes get damagingly hot ; in the cold north a portion 

 of bare wall is often necessary in order to raise the temperature a little. 



Not far from where we write are two Easter Beurre Pear-trees and two 

 Jefferson's Plums, planted at the same time and under precisely the same 

 conditions every way, and all fan-trained ; but the branches of one Pear and 

 one Plum are 15 inches apart (which is generally considered ample) and the 

 others are 2 feet. For what reason they were thus trained I know not, and 

 may never know, for the gardener who planted and trained them has gone to 

 his rest, and no one who was ever under him seems to consider it as anything 

 but just one of his " freaks/' as they call his many experiments; but this I 

 know, that the thinly-trained trees seldom fail to produce a good crop of very 

 fine fruit, while the others are neither so fruitful, nor yet is the fruit so fine 

 in quality, and it is always some days later. We have again and again seen 

 similar results from the same cause; and we are convinced that the cause is 

 the larger amount of bare and therefore warming wall-surface. In trying to 

 overreach others, it often happens that we only overreach ourselves ; and it is 

 exactly the same with plants. We have said a good deal on this point, but 

 not more than necessary, for it is a stumbling-block to many, and we don't 

 remember having seen the same view expressed before. 



Insects. — The most troublesome insect which attacks the Pear is a kind of 

 aphis or green-fly. A thorough washing with the syringe occasionally, is the 



