27G 



JOUBNAL OP HORTtCULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ April 22, WC^. 



sponding to the season represented! They are at Messrs. 

 Biok Eadclyffe & Cu.'e, Eeedsmen, High Holborn, and are well 

 worthy a vibit. 



THE PORTABLE ORCHARD. 



(Continued from page 226.) 



TlHrNIXG. ' 



Training comrirehends the form in which the tree is artificially 

 made to grow, and also the treatment of the branches of that 

 form, so as to obtain the best results in IVviit. I sh.iU divide this 

 portion of the subject into two — Forming anil Fruiiinr/ ; by the 

 former, meaning the methods of giving definite shape to the 

 trees, such as pyramids, goblets. Sec, and restricting the term 

 pnming to the cutting-in the shoots to produce fruit buds. I 

 am often asked by friends to " prune a tree " for them, the said 

 tree being in some cases a thicket, and in others a stump, and I 

 am expected to be able by the use of a knife to make the tree 

 as perfect as one that has been trained regularly from the graft. 

 Now, it most commonly is the case that a few years of neglect 

 ruin a tree irrefrievably, and no pruning can set it right ; but 

 it is universally the case that three or four years of careful work 

 are required to remedy the mischief of a single year's neglect. 

 In all training, the tree, for at least three years of its gTowth, 

 must be in the mind's eye of the gardener. This effort of ima- 

 gination is the grand difficulty in the art ; it. is certainly no very 

 great mental exertion, but still it is sutficicnt to divide the \7orld 

 into two classes — those who can train, and those who cannot. 

 At present the two classes are very unequal in number, because, 

 perhaps, the great mass of mankind never think about the 

 matter. Of this we have no right to complain, but I am sori'y 

 to say professed gardeners are too often quite in the dark about 

 fruit trees, and it is no easy matter to get the labour of training 

 taken off one's hands. I am obliged to depend upon my owu 

 knife here, as I could not hire a gardener in the district capable 

 of keeping in order even the trees already formed. Much has 

 been written on the subject, but not enougli to make it useless to 

 add more. I shall throughout adhere to the short-spur system, 

 or cordon style, as it is more commonly called now. 



FoKMixG. — We have for onr portable orchard no very large 

 range of forms, and therefore the subject is to a considerable 

 extent simplified to our hands ; it will be foimd, however, that 

 the mastery of any one form gives the power of dealing with 

 any other, so that a man who can train a pyramid tree can very 

 soon learn to apply his knowledge to wall trees. 



The principles upon which trees are formed are few and 

 simple. The fii-st is the fact that all trees try to grow upright, 

 and so those shoots that are allowed to grow upright become the 

 strongest. The second is that you can starve a branch by de- 

 priving it of its natural nom'ishment, either by removing leaves 

 during the growing season, or by cutting aw.iy a portion of the 

 bark and alburnum at its lower extremity early in spring. A 

 third and very useful principle for moveable trees is the fact 

 that they tend to grow strongest towards the light. 



All forms that are good enable the sap to flow regularly and 

 evenly to all parts of the tree, and at the same time admit light 

 and air freely to every leaf. A tree left to itself grows vigor- 

 ously for many years without bearing any fruit, and becomes a 

 dense mass of branches. When the roots have exhausted a 

 large portion of the soil the tree begins to grow less vigorously 

 and form fruit buds. For a few years such a tree will bear well 

 and have good fruit, but only for a few years. Nature is trying 

 to produce as many seeds as possible, and cares nothing about 

 the quality of the pulp in which they are enclosed. We, on the 

 contrary, care only for the pulp. Now, the seeds exhaust the 

 tree more than the pulp, consequently a large quantity of fruit 

 can only he carried by a iree at the cost of the pulp, and in far 

 more than what would be considered a fair proportion ; in fact, 

 if you take ofl' half the crop Irom a hfavily-loaded tree the 

 weight of the remaining fruit, when it has come to maturity, 

 ■will be greater than if all had been left on. Again, the quality 

 of the fruit depends npon its being fully exposed to the action of 

 ihe su:. .nd in a large natural tree only the fruit on the outside 

 can be so exposed ; all the interior of the tree for fruit purposes 

 is useless, though by no means so for the production of seeds. 

 Nature seems to have provided against bad seasons. The heavy 

 top spray of a natural tree forms a capital protection for the in- 

 terior against frost and wind, so that when the outer branches 

 fail the fruit in the interior are all the better for the thinning of 

 their brethren ; whilst in those seasons when the outer branches 

 are loaded, the fruit on the inner branches are far below the 

 average, and generally drop in large numbers. When, therefore, 



we deprive a tre'e of its freedom, we must take care to provide 

 for it what its own instinct (?) would find ; at the same time the 

 domesticatc-d tree is no longer to be allowed to cover the district 

 with €rabs. 



I will give aB my first example of form a very simple one of a 

 fan or palmcttc (Jig. 17). (Such a form is more suited for walls 

 than fur oiu- orchard ; however, for the outside trees it comes in 

 well as an espalier. It has the great advantage of insuring the 

 proper growth of those branches which are the most difficult to 

 obtain, and as the knife need never be used at all, there is no 

 waste of wood, for I may here, once for all, tell you that all severe 

 cutting is a mistake. The tree has a large portion of its flesh 

 and bones taken away, and what wonder if it becomes diseased 

 in consequence? At any rate, to what purpose is it to make 

 quantities of wood to be annually destroyed? Surely such a 

 pruner miist be a worse foe than all the aphides and grubs tha': 

 timber is heir to. 



i y 



/^A 



Fig. IT. Palmetto beat the first year after grafting. 



Early in spring select a clean-grown, vigorous, straight stem, 

 resulting either from a bud or the a shoot of a graft. Look 

 for a good eye, a (Jig. 17), on the point of breaking, and bend 

 the shoot down immediately above this eye by tying the upright 

 portion of the stem to a stake secured to the stock, and the bent 

 part to another stake crossing the first at the bend, and sloping 

 at an angle about 40" from the horizontal (1). Our object is to 

 make what was the natural leader of the tree the lowest branch 

 of the fan. and to develope a new leader from the bud a, which 

 new leader will in its turn be converted into branch No. 2. We 

 have a few points to think about in doing this, connected with 

 principles. The height of the eye, n, must be such as to be 

 above the snow line, and, therefore, must depend upon locality ; 

 the lower, however, the better. Then the bud a should be on 

 the south-we.st side for its own growth to be most vigorous, and 

 the lower side of the branch, 1, should be that on which are the 

 strongest eyes, and therefore. on its original south side. These, 

 excepting in potted trees, .are incompatible conditions. If the 

 tree is a fixture it is of more consequence to have the lower buds 

 of 1 well ripened than the bud a, because a piece of the bark 

 just above it may l)e removed in order to stop a portion of the 

 sap in its ascent; this will at the same time checlc all the buds 

 on the upper side of 1, but after all not to the same extent, as 

 the compression of the bend obstiiicts it on the lower side, and, 

 besides, the upper buds have more light and their own innate 

 tendency to grow upwards. That is the reason for not bending 

 the branch 1 down to its final po.sition at once. 



If the selection has been well made, the bud a will push 

 vigorously, and it must bo allowed to grow iqiright till the 

 following .spring. The bud at the end of 1 must bo encour.aged 

 to grow as much .as po.ssible, allo'^'ing the end of the branch to 

 curve upwards for this purpose ; but all the others must be 

 stopped at three leaves — that is, as soon as three full-sized 

 leaves are formed by any lateral shoot, all the rest, and the 

 point of the shoot with them, must he nipped off a quarter of 

 an inch above the third leaf When the branch is fit for this 

 operation the .shoots are so tender that the finger or thumb 

 nail is quite strong enough to pinch the portion off. As this 

 part of the business more properly belongs to ])runing, I will 

 say no more about it at present. If the pinched shoots make 

 ;fresh ones, these must be again stopped at the second leaf; after 



