1879.] HARDY FRUITS. 



HAEDY FRUITS. 



The importance of cultivating these under a recognised system to give 

 the best results is not at all so general and successful as might be 

 expected. From the amount of information scattered broadcast by 

 every garden periodical and standard work on pomology, one would 

 almost suppose that any advice on the matter is wellnigh superfluous. 

 But there are so many villa-gardeners, young amateurs, and others 

 continually entering into the list of cultivators, that there is a 

 continuous demand for "simple guides and instructors," so that no 

 apology need be offered for devoting a paper entirely to this inter- 

 esting subject. We say " simple guides " — any others are useless, and 

 disregarded by the most of readers. To give the most information 

 in fewest words is why the advanced writers on horticulture are 

 accepted as real teachers ; and all who aim at eloquence and profound 

 language when teaching horticulture defeat the object entirely which 

 they have in view. We know as a fact that much of the very long 

 letters on horticultural subjects is passed over and remains unread 

 by those who are thirsting for knowledge, time being too precious to 

 wade through words. 



Some of the evils most generally met with in fruit-gardens and 

 orchards are crowding of the branches, allowing the trees to grow 

 away at first into gross spongy wood — all pith, which does not ripen 

 and cannot bear fruit — badly drained land, woods belted closely 

 round the trees, so that they get very little fresh air, and roots getting 

 away from the surface -soil into a cold and barren subsoil, when 

 canker takes place, and probably death. Where soil is very suitable 

 for most kinds of fruit, as in this county (Worcester) and two or three 

 others, the attention given, except in comparatively few cases, to 

 high-class cultivation is rare, the soil and climate accomplishing so 

 much without the aid of cultural skill • but when the practice is of a 

 scientific character, as may be seen in a high sense at Rev. Canon 

 Lea's orchards at Droitwich, where every system of culture except 

 on walls is represented, the crops are invariably heavy and the 

 trees healthy, especially Plums, Apples, and Pears. Crowding 

 must be prevented by pruning out the branches and lifting the 

 trees, in their younger stages, out of the soil, and transplanting them 

 afresh. Cutting the roots off indiscriminately, often with a spade, is 

 barbarous work. Where they are long, naked, and grown far from 

 the space allotted for them, the knife may be carefully applied at lift- 

 ing time (when the growth of wood is nearly finished and the leaves 

 about to fall). A tree of bush form should be opened out in the centre 

 to allow light and air to have full power in ripening the fruit-buds, 



