THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



285 



and wood ashes should be used freely, mixed with the de- 

 sired amount of chopped sod. Other stimulants should be 

 given during the growing season. 



In considering the subject of watering it must be un- 

 derstood that you are dealing with an artificially con- 

 structed border which is well-drained and water passes 

 through very freely. The vine border should never be 

 allowed to become dry. After the vines break into leaf 

 you should not water again with cold water until the crop 

 is ripe. The water used should be about the temperature 

 of the house. The atmosphere also should be kept moist. 

 This is done by syringing and dampening. It is also aided 

 by evaporating pans placed on the heating pipes. As soon 

 as you allow the atmosphere to become dry, red spider 

 will follow, and it is much easier to prevent this pest than 

 to get rid of it. Aside from this, the heavy foliage of the 

 vine needs the moisture. 



"Black Hamburg" and "Foster's Seedling" are the two 

 best for early forcing. "Muscat of Alexandria" is a great 

 favorite and does best when grown for midseason. Good 

 companions for this are "Canon Hall Muscat" and "Mad- 

 resfield Court Muscat." The two former varieties are shy 

 setters, while the latter is a good setter and greatly assists 

 in the fertilization of the others. This trio makes an ideal 

 Muscat house, and is by far the best grape in cultivation 

 when grown for a midseason crop. 



For late vines "Gros Colman," "Black Alicante," "Mil- 

 ton Constable" and "Lady Downe's" for black, and "Lady 

 Hutt" and "Mrs. Pearson" for white. "Lady Downe's" 

 is far the best keeper and can be kept nicely until the end 

 of March. 



A vine can be fruited in a twelve-inch pot very satis- 

 factorily, provided it is grown for that purpose, but the 

 same vine would not be satisfactory the next season and 

 should be replaced with a new vine. 



FRUIT TREES IN POTS. 



This method of growing fruit has many advantages, 

 not only that first-class fruits can be grown this way, but 

 it is also ornamental. There are few plants more decora- 

 tive than well-fruited cherry trees when placed in the 

 dining room or hall for a dinner party, aside from the 

 pleasure that is given the guests of feasting on the fruits. 

 Other fruits are no less valuable for this purpose. One 

 of the most essential points in the culture of fruit trees in 

 pots is annual repotting. This should be done about the 

 end of October. A good soil for this purpose is that pre- 

 pared for the rose bench, with the addition of some old 

 mortar. This should be prepared a few weeks before using. 

 It is not necessary that you should use a larger size pot 

 when repotting. This all' depends on the vigor of the tree 

 and the desire to have large or small trees. When you 

 remove the trees from their pots, you will find a mat of 

 fine roots on the outside of the ball. This, with a portion 

 of the soil, should be removed. A good tool for this pur- 

 pose is a claw weeder. 



If you were going to pot it into the same size ])ot it 

 would be necessary to remove more of the ball than if you 

 were going to give it a size larger pot. In either case, it 

 should have about one-half new soil each year to insure 

 its health and productiveness. 



It is very necessary that crocks and the pots used for 

 drainage shotild be clean. Leave room for water and a 

 light surface dressing during the growing season. 



The cherry should be repotted earlier than other fruit 

 trees, as it matures its fruit earlier. It should be well 

 rooted into its new soil in the autumn, and to that end it 

 is repotted about the last of .September. This also a])plies 

 to peaches and nectarines that are intended for early 

 forcing. As the trees are potted they should be placed 

 under glass and syringed once or twice daily mitil the 



leaves fall. Early in December the pots are plunged to the 

 rim in coal ashes. The upper part of the pots is covered 

 with meadow hay or some material to protect them from 

 frost. They are allowed to remain in this position until 

 starting time, when lifted and placed on the surface. 



It may be well at this point to say something about the 

 orchard house. We use an even span house, running east 

 and west, about twenty-five feet wide, with a walk through 

 the center. The border on each side is filled in with 

 twelve inches of coal ashes and is even with the surface 

 I if the walk. On this the pots are placed, either on the sur- 

 face or i)lunged, as we consider best for the dififerent 

 stages of their growth. They are left on the surface dur- 

 ing the spring, but wdien the hot weather sets in, they are 

 plunged to the rim. This gives the roots a more even tem- 

 [3erature and your trees are not so apt to get dry. 



THINNING. 



The number of fruits to leave on a potted tree, depends 

 wholly on the kind of tree and its variety. For instance, 

 a cherry will seldom bear more fruits than it is able to 

 mature and needs little or no thinning. Peaches and 

 nectarines w-ill bear many times more fruit than they are 

 capable of maturing. A good safe crop for a twelve-inch 

 pot of the mediu n size variety of peach or nectarine 

 would be about fifteen fruits, although with kind treat- 

 ment they could b; made to mature one-third more with- 

 out any injury to t le tree, or to the next year's crop. But 

 this is not so with ;he apple and pear. If you wish to pro- 

 duce an extra hea'y crop, you can easily do so and bring 

 \our fruits to a gr;at perfection, but you render your tree 

 fruitless for the next season. In this case the light crop- 

 ning is the best pn ctice. 



The plum is a /aluable fruit for pot culture. It also 

 should be thinned according to the size of the variety, 

 leaving about fortv fruits of a medium size variety for a 

 tree in a twelve-ir ch pot. 



Apricots are not as satisfactory as other stone fruits for 

 pot culture, and \,diere wanted they would be better on 

 trellises at the coo end of the peach house. 



Figs are very s; tisfactory when grown in pots and are 

 more easily managed and more productive than those 

 grow-n in a border!. 



After fruiting the trees are removed to the open border, 

 where they are plunged, and allowed to remain until pot- 

 tmg season. This gives more room in the orchard house 

 as the season advances. 



THE FERTILIZATION OF THE FLOWERS. 



As the trees come into flower it is necessary to use 

 some artificial means to fertilize the flowers. The method 

 most generally used is the camel'.s-hair brush. The flowers 

 are brushed over daily, carrying the pollen from one 

 variety to another. This works very well wdiere only a 

 limited number of trees are grown, but where several 

 houses are grown, it is more subject to neglect. 



We keep one or two hives of bees for this purpose and 

 find them satisfactory. When a house is coming into 

 flower we move in a hive of bees. They are allowed to 

 remain until the fruits are set. Then they can be moved 

 to another house if so desired. The bees should not be 

 moved in until there is work for them to do. If moved 

 in before they are liable to be lost in their efforts to escape, 

 but if moved in at night when the flowers are opening 

 thev will go right to work next day and fertilization is 

 assured. We use bees for fertilizing in the vineries with 

 equally good results. 



I believe when bees are more generally used for this 

 work, you will hear less about this or that variety being 

 a shv setter. Read before Boston Gardeners' and Florists' 

 Club. 



