88 PROCEEDING? COTTESWOLD CLUB 1912 



THE EFFECT OF GRASS OVER THE ROOTS OF 

 YOUNG FRUIT TREES 



BY 



G. H. HOLLINGWORTH, FR.H.S 



The fruit industry of Gloucestershire is an important 

 one. In view of this, it is unfortunate that many orchards 

 are not treated seriously enough : too little attention, in many 

 cases, is paid to details of cultivation. Careful planting, judi- 

 cious pruning, staking, and providing adequate protection, are 

 essential ; but, in addition, it has been found very desirable 

 not to allow the grass to grow over the roots of the young 

 tree for a few years after planting. It was for the pur- 

 pose of emphasizing the importance of this treatment that 

 an experiment was started in an orchard planted under my 

 direction on the estate of G. E. Lloyd Baker, Esq., at Hard- 

 wicke, near Gloucester, four years ago, and devoted entirely 

 to apples for cider making. When the trees were planted, the 

 general process was to cut up the turf taken from the surface 

 when digging the holes, and put it in the latter before fixing 

 the stake and planting the tree. The exceptions to this rule 

 were a number of cases in which the turf was simply laid back 

 over the roots and up to the stems after planting the trees. 

 For four years, then, a circle about four feet in diameter round 

 most of the trees has been kept free from grass by periodical 

 hoeing, while in other cases the turf has grown up to the 

 stems from the commencement. The following figures show 

 the measurements of the stems 4ft. from the ground, which 

 were taken in March, I9r3 :■ — 



Tree wiili grass Tree wiili circlt round stem 4ft. in 



Variety of apple. over roots. diain. free from turf. 



Royal Wilding . . 3.^ inches. . . 5! inches. 



Medaille d'Or . . 3I .. • • 5i .. 



Strawberry Norman . . 3I .. ■ • 5 



Kingston Black .. 3I .. •• sl 



Sweet Alford .. 4i ,, •• 6i ., 



Not only are there the above differences in the girth of the 

 stems, but the branches of the " grassed " trees are thinned 

 by comparison ; the heads are not more than half as big as the 

 rest, and they are conspicuously noticeable in the rows. The 

 experiment proves that the little expense of labour entailed in 

 occasionally hoeing round the trees is amply repaid by the 

 growth they make. 



