238 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



merely mean the inducing a fruitful habit in fruit 

 trees which are of too gross a character ; such 

 may arise from other causes than mere richness of 

 soil. An apple, naturally of rampant growth, 

 may, by being grafted on a stock of great powers 

 (or, rather, of strong vital action and capacious 

 sap vessels,) prove too gross even on soils of mo- 

 derate fertility ; whilst one of delicate habit, graft- 

 ed on a weak or imperfect stock, may prove too 

 weak even to make sufficient young shoots on the 

 most powerful soils. The question of stocks for 

 grafting is a very broad one, and too broad and too 

 digressive in character to discuss now: it will re- 

 ceive attention in due time. To proceed: the 

 same remarks apply to all other fruits, and, after 

 all that has been said, written, or practiced, we 

 are persuaded that these things are as yet in their 

 infancy. There is, perhaps, more room for real 

 progress in fruit culture than in any other branch 

 of gardening; and it is to be anticipated (accord- 

 ing to the common order of things) that the wri- 

 ter of the fruit article in The Cottage Garden- 

 er of half a century hence will smile heartily at 

 our present lucubrations. So be it; we are but 

 links in a chain of which that very learned pcr- 

 s mage above alluded to will, no doubt, consider 

 himself as the terminating one. 



As preliminary remarks, it may be observed 

 that it is not very convenient to the classes to 

 whom we offer advice to take up and replant a 

 select lot of fruit trees which have been planted 

 some four or five years, and which, instead of 

 producing the owner abundance of fruit, have pro- 

 duced nothing but twigs. Cases like this, there- 

 fore, call for a plan which will cause but a small 

 amount of labor, and, at the same time, assuredly 

 give confidence that immediate bearing shall be 

 the result: such, then, is root pruning. 



We must now take into consideration the dif- 

 ferent circumstances under which we find fruit 

 trees ; for it is not expedient to apply the same 

 mode to all. The modification of the system is 

 not so much dependent on kind as on circum- 

 stance. Those trees which are growing on mar- 

 ginal borders, and which frequently are connected 

 with flower culture, cannot be reached in the ex- 

 cavating process with equal ease on every side. 

 Supposing, however, the flowers, or it may be 

 vegetables, to stand in a line parallel with the 

 walk or line of trees, the roots may be at least 

 reached on two sides — those, we mean, at right 

 angles with the walk, or general line of fruit 

 trees. Here, then, they may be attacked, and 

 our practice has always been 'o excavate a 

 trench as deep as we can discover the least trace 

 of a fibre: indeed, we generally go deeper (more 

 especially if we think the tree possesses tap roots,) 

 for whilst the trench is open it is comparatively 

 easy to search by degrees beneath the very bole 

 of the tree, and to cut away all those which have 

 penetrated into ungenia 1 , soil. We do not lay so 

 much stress on a precise depth for the roots to 

 ramble, as on the character of the subsoil; al- 



though we do think that wherever ripening of the 

 wood becomes a matter of importance, that from 

 half a yard to two feet in depth of a sound soil i» 

 better by far than any greater depth. 



Tap roots should bv all means be removed ; but 

 let it be understood that, for the removal of such 

 powerful agents in obtaining food for the tree, an 

 equivalent in degree must be provided. We name 

 this, by the way, in order to prepare the minds of 

 those who are merely in the hornbook of garden- 

 ing, to expect that such severe operations cannot 

 be practiced with impunity; in fact, that some- 

 thing more than a merely mechanical meddling 

 will be necessary; a little of what is termed 

 '' mind" must both precede and follow the opera- 

 tion. 



We will suppose, then, a trench or cutting ex- 

 cavated to the depth alluded to, and of a spade's 

 width; every root, of course, in the line of trench 

 cut away: these are severe measures; but fear 

 not — such are necessary at times as well in the 

 vegetable as the animal kingdom. After thus 

 proceeding, a fork or some pointed tool should be 

 used to dislodge a little soil from the surface of 

 the cutting on the side next the tree, in order that 

 the mangled points may be pruned back. This 

 becomes expedient in all cases of root mutilation 

 by blunt tools, because no one can tell but that a 

 gangrenous character may be superinduced, espe- 

 cially in roots of some size (and, of course, age,) 

 such being slow in healing in proportion to their 

 age. Let every point be pruned back with a 

 sharp knife an inch or two, cutting, where possi- 

 ble, back to where a rootlet or bunch of rootlets 

 branch from the root in question. 



When the case of grossness is excessive, we 

 have sometimes made a practice of leaving the 

 trench or excavation empty lor many weeks ; in- 

 deed, in the case of strong or adhesive soil, we 

 have at times left it open until May or June, or, 

 in other words, until the drouth of the spring has 

 penetrated the mass. The practice, however, is 

 an unsightly one, and, as there is no absolute ne- 

 cessity for it, w T e lay no particular stress on this 

 proceeding. 



In filling up the excavation, advantage should 

 at all times be taken of introducing maiden or 

 fresh soil; and, whenever such materials can be 

 commanded, we advise using rough turfy soil of a 

 loamy or sound character. Sound is, indeed, a 

 somewhat indefinite term, and we dare not digress 

 so far here as to enter into a definition of it. We 

 intend shortly to enter into the question of loams 

 and other soils, seizing the period for that pur- 

 pose when mere calendarial routine is at its low- 

 est point. The economical improvement of the 

 staple of soils is a question affecting, more or less, 

 most of our readers. Much has been written 

 about manures, but little about mechanical tex- 

 ture, the very key-stone of the arch. 



If loamy soil cannot be obtained, it is easy to 

 exchange the excavated soil for any fresh ordinary 

 garden soil at hand; and, indeed, the mere kitch- 



