AprU 16, 1809. ] 



JOOKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND GOTTAOK GAllDRNER. 



251 



CULTURE OF liENTISH ORCHARDS. ! 



AKEN in its simplicity, as it ninloiibtedly is by 

 those pontons who grow fruit for the markets, 

 fruit culture at once resolves itself into a ques 

 tion of profit and loss. No issue can be more 

 simple than this, at the same time none can 

 be of greater importance. Assuming this 

 reasoning to be correct, it might be thought 

 that the method of fruit culture, the results 

 of which appear to be most conducive to the 

 desired end, would at once command univer- 

 sal adoption, but this is not generally the case ; on the 

 contrary, in this matter at least, most fruit-growers are 

 decidedly conservative, and not without good cause, for it 

 is no light matter to undertake the formation of a planta- 

 tion of fruit trees. If a man is at all advanced in years, 

 and is but a tenant, or even a leaseholder, ho is apt to 

 take things very quietly as regards cai-rying out what 

 might be considered to be necessai'y improvements, such as 

 removing worn-out trees which give but half a cx-op, and 

 replacing them with improved forms and kinds. It is, 

 therefore, to the freeholder, who, if he reap but little 

 benefit himself, yet may reasonably hope to leave beliind 

 him an improved estate for his descendants, that we must 

 look for an interested, and in many cases, an intelligent 

 application of modern improvements. 



-Although the standard fruit tree is, without doubt, the 

 worst of all forms, yet it must be granted that there is 

 something very attractive in the old farmhouse, with its 

 quaint gables and many-paned windows, just visible through 

 the orchard of huge old trees, whose enormous heads may 

 occasionally be seen in favourable seasons laden with twenty 

 or more bushels of fruit, telling of cider-making, and, too 

 often, of acid treats for the pigs ; for the crop of standard 

 fruit trees is more exposed to the action of the elements 

 than that obtained by any other method of training. The 

 blossom is very apt to suffer from the action of cold cutting 

 winds, but it is when the fruit approaches maturity that 

 high winds so often prove fatal to the crop. Last season 

 was a bad one in this respect. Stormy winds were vei'y 

 prevalent just at the time when the fruit had attained its 

 full growth, and yet was not ripe enough to be gathered. 

 In one instance, an extensive purchaser of fruit on the 

 trees on one fatal Saturday had several hundred bushels 

 of Apples blown down, and he was glad to sell them at the 

 rate of a few pence per bushel. Nor does the mischief 

 caused by the l^•ind end here, for the greater part of the 

 firuit which remains on the trees receives so many con- 

 tusions during the storm, that the experienced fruiterer 

 knows full well how vain would be any attempt to keep it, 

 and it is, consequently, pushed into the markets very soon 

 after it is gathered : hence the oft-repeated exclamation 

 of the buyer. " How badly Apples keep this year." A 

 glimpse of first causes is not always to be had, but when 

 it is, what a light does it generally throw on the subject ! 

 As the crop of the standard tree so frequently sutlers, so 

 we find dwarf trees obtaining a more general adoption, and 

 it is to some very interesting and successful results in the 

 No. 420.— Vol. XVI.i New Sebies. 



culture of dwarf trees obtained by my neighbour, Mr. Ed- 

 ward White, that I wish to call attention. 



Part of the parish of Egerton is situated on that ridge 

 or eminence formed of irregularly-deposited strata of lime- 

 stone, or Kentish ragstone, and clay, which rnns for some 

 miles through Mid-Kent, and from which such magnificent 

 views over the wide-spreading undulations of the Weald, 

 onwards to tho uplands of Sussex and Surrey in the far 

 distance, are to be had. Along some parts of this emi- 

 nence abrupt declivities may be seen where the descent 

 is almost perpendicular, and it is at these points that the 

 irregularity of the strata is perceptible. The greater part 

 of the descent, however, is not so abrupt, but is very gradual 

 indeed, and forms a sunny bank sloping gently down to 

 the south-west. On a part of this fine natural position for 

 fruit-culture Mr. White's freehold is situated, and he, with 

 a ready appreciation of the excellence of the situation, has 

 planted part of it with fruit trees. 



The soil of this orchard, which is particularly interesting, 

 may be divided into three distinct kinds .—The upper part, 

 originally forming part of a quarry, or rock hole, since filled 

 up, consists of a mixture of loam, sharp gritty rock earth, 

 and shattery rock ; the next, or middle part of the slope, 

 is of a pure deep loam, which gradually becomes more and 

 more shallow tiU the lower or third division is reached, 

 where we find tho stiff, cold, Wealden clay. Thus it will 

 be seen that in this orchard of about 2 acres we find fruit 

 trees growing side by side in three different soils, and what 

 adds very much to its interest is that a few tree.s of the 

 same kinds of Apples are planted in all three soils, with 

 what results I shall presently tell. 



The orchard at the present time consists principally of 

 standard and dwai-f Apple trees, planted m rows 20 feet 

 apart ; these rows run longitudinally from the top to the 

 bottom of the slope (a distance of .j.")0 feet), and they are 

 thus planted ; — It is intended eventually to allow the dwarf 

 trees to occupy the whole of the space ; they are, therefore, 

 planted 20 feet apart all down the rows ; the space between 

 the dwarfs in the rows is planted with a standard tree in 

 the centre, or 10 feet from either dwarf, and a Gooseberry 

 bush is likewise planted between each standard and dwarf. 

 As I have before stated, these longitudinal rows are 20 feet 

 apart ; this space of 20 feet is occupied by two other rows, 

 placed at equal distances, and consisting entirely of dwarf 

 Gooseberry bushes. As the dwarf Apple trees require the 

 space, the whole of these bushes, together with the standard 

 Apple trees, will be gradually removed. The alleys, or 

 spaces between the rows, are annually dug, and a row or 

 two of Potatoes, or some other root crop, taken. 



The whole of the Apple trees are of Mr. White's own 

 raising. The stocks were obtained by sowing the kernels 

 of any sorts of Apples which came to hand, and they were 

 grafted as they became stout enough. The greater part of 

 the trees are seventeen years old. dating from the grafting 

 year, and they have been planted in thcii- present position 

 fourteen years. The treatment of these trees has been of 

 the simplest description, for Mr. White makes no preten- 

 sion to a profound knowledge of the science of pruning or 

 training ; Ids obj<;ct has been simply to obtain healthy 



No. 1072.— Vol. XLI., Old Serieb. 



