138 



IRISH GARDENING 



Influence of Water on Fruit 

 Trees. 



By W. Usher, Brenanstown, Co. Dublin. 



The results of an experiment which I tried last 

 year might interest some of your readers. I have 

 got eighteen " Cox's Orange " apple tre< s : these 

 trees areabout eight yearsold, trained open bushes, 

 some on Crab, some on Paradise stocks, and were 

 carrying a fair crop in August, 1912. The fruit 

 was not up to average quality ; the trees were 

 making what I thought to be far too much wood of 

 long-jointed soft nature (as indeed most trees in 

 the orchard were doing). I selected six out of the 

 eighteen, carefully removed the soil from one side, 

 and with a chisel cut through two or three fairly 

 strong roots. After a week or ten days I noticed 

 that the apples on those trees improved in size 

 and colour to a greater extent than those on the 

 unpruned trees. This year these trees are the only 

 ones of Cox's carrying anything like a crop of 

 fruit. Physiological botany teaches us that the 

 roots take in water in which are nitrates and other 

 mineral salts in weak solution; those are passed 

 on to the foliage to be properly manufactured for 

 plant building. The leaves give off water, more 

 or less, according to the climatic influences then 

 prevailing. If the root takes more water than is 

 required, or that there is very little given off by 

 the leaf, we get a lot of long, soft growths with a 

 long distance between the joints, and but few 

 fruit buds, thus showing that the balance had 

 been destroyed. And the leaves which, as well as 

 giving off water, take; in carbonic acid gas, which 

 is used in conjunction with the nitrates, &c, in 

 the manufacture of starch, sugar and albumen. 

 And under ordinary circumstances this work goes 

 on satisfactorily, but when we get weather con- 

 ditions such as prevailed last summer it is only 

 reasonable to suppose that a change takes place 

 in tin- life of the plants : it has been taking in too 

 touch or evaporating too Little water, with the 

 result that the leaves are over-charged with 

 moisture, and thereby prevented from changing 

 those mineral salts and carbon gas into starches 

 ami sugars. And as it is. those materials which 

 are used in the manufacture of fruit, fruit buds 

 and seeds, it stands to reason that the fruit 

 cannot be of first rate quality, that fewer fruit 

 buds will be formed, and 1 hat seeds are certain to 

 be of a poorer quality, their germination being 

 below average. Therefore, by cutting off some 

 of the water supply we give the leaves an oppor- 

 tunity to carry on their natural functions; and 

 although under normal conditions those trees 

 might not require root pinning, it became neces- 

 sary under conditions which prevailed last 

 summer; and had I restricted root action in all 

 the trees I believe I would have had a very much 



better crop of fruit all round, and that the want 

 of sunshine could have been somewhat remedied 

 by a rest ricted root act ion. 



It is for somewhat similar reasons t hat we root - 

 prune trees that have sent their roots down to a 

 depth where water is plentiful, and that plentiful 

 supply of water causes the tree to make a large 

 quantity of strong wood with but few fruit buds, 

 and although we may have a succession of normal 

 summers, the tree does not bear fruit as it should 

 do ; but when properly root-pruned, in nine cases 

 out of ten we bring it into fruit bearing. To sum 

 up, I believe it necessary to restrict root action in 

 abnormally wet summers if we are to get a crop 

 of fruit the following year. 



Varieties of Potatoes. 



A TRIAL of early varieties was made on a light 

 soil overlying red sandstone to compare the 

 cropping power and length of time required to 

 produce a profitable crop. Plalf an acre was 

 planted with the following varieties : — Eclipse, 

 Edina, Express, John Bull, Midlothian Early, 

 and New Success. The seed was obtained from 

 Midlothian. The ground received 12 tons of 

 farmyard manure per acre in winter, a dressing 

 of 3 cwt. of superphosphate and 1 cwt. of sulphate 

 of potash at the time of planting, and 1 cwt. of 

 nitrate of soda — half at the time of harrowing 

 down the ridges when the shoots appeared, and 

 the remainder when the crop was moulded up. 

 Unsprouted sets were planted on February 28th 

 and 29th. 



All the varieties were well through before the 

 end of April : moulding up was completed about 

 the middle of May ; and lifting commenced on 

 June 20th. The varieties were ready for digging 

 in the following order: — Express, Midlothian 

 Early, Edina, Eclipse. New Success. John Bull 

 was a failure. A portion of each was reserved 

 and lifted in August, when the following yields 

 per acre were obtained : — 



Variety 



Edina 



Midlothian Early 



Express 



Eclipse 



.New Success . . . . 



cwt. 

 171 

 15 

 2} 

 18 

 17} 



Seed 



tons 

 1 



1 

 1 



1 



cwt. 

 9 

 8| 



"J 

 61 

 17} 



Chats 



and 



Diseased 



tons 

 1 

 1 

 1 



cwt . 



6J 



4 



2J 

 17} 



« 



tons cwt. 



6 l:i} 

 6 7J 



5 16J 

 5 li 



3 19 



In a further trial with small quantities of the 

 same varieties which were sprouted before plant- 

 ing on April 6th, the order of ripening was: — 

 Midlothian Early, Express, New Success, Eclipse, 

 Edina ; and it was found that better shaped and 

 cleaner skinned tubers were obtained than in tin- 

 case of the early plantedand unsprouted " seed." 

 which indicates the value of boxing the " seed 

 of early varieties. It is stated that of the five 

 varieties, Midlothian Early and Express were the 

 most profitable, while Midlothian Early and New 

 Success were best as regards quality. In a trial 

 of a large number of early, mid-season, and main- 

 crop varieties the best as regards quality were : — 

 Early Varieties : Early Favourite, Early Russet, 

 and Early Short Top. Mid-season Varieties: 

 Dalhousie Seedling, Snowball, and Recorder. 

 Main crop Varieties : Redskin Elourball, Laird, 

 Monarch, Eastern Planet, and Peckover. 



Spraying with Bordeaux Mixture. This mixture 

 in solution was applied in the following strengths : 

 2 lb. to 20 gallons of water, and 2 tb. to 15 gallons, 

 at the rate of 50 gallons per aire, to the variety 

 Conquering Bero on July 3rd, and again on July 

 26th. It was found that while there was prac- 

 tically no difference between the yields on the 

 plots sprayed with different strengths, there 

 was an Increase in the sprayed plots over 

 the unsprayed of ware 1 ton li cwt. 1A qrs., 

 and seed ."> cwt. 1' qr. per acre. — (Harper 

 Adams Agricultural College Report on Field 

 Experiments, 1!H2, in the Journal of tlic Board 

 of Agriculture. 



