THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 189 



REMARKS ON FRUIT TREES. 



BY A SUBSCRIBER. 



VERT gardener at this season of the year is looking with 

 great interest to his fruit trees, endeavouring to divine 

 ■what kind of a crop each is likely to produce. This 

 important question cannot always be decided by the 

 presence of abundance of blossom, for many causes 

 may render abortive, trees which have been covered with beautiful 

 flowers. Frost may yet commit ravages ; blight may make the 

 young fruit to fall prematurely ; and even the excess of production 

 may so weaken the powers of vegetable life, that a crowded exhibi- 

 tion of bloom may end in sterility. 



It is too late now to suggest precautions against frost, nor can 

 we do much in preventing the damage done by blight except it is by 

 picking or washing off insects as they appear. But the last occasion 

 of a deficient crop comes under our own control, and deserves at 

 this time the thoughtful consideration of the gardener. 



When the florist wishes to have fine flowers at a horticultural 

 exhibition, he allows only a few to grow on the plant, which receive 

 the energies which would otherwise be expended on the perfecting a 

 greater number. 



For the same reason wall fruit is thinned when too many are set 

 to allow of all to be large and fine. 



This principle, generally well understood and acted upon, is little 

 thought of in reference to an overcrowded display of blossom. Fruit 

 trees are covered with one mass of flower, and we congratulate one 

 another on our excellent prospects. But a little consideration will 

 show us that, if too many set fruits may injure one another, too many 

 blossoms may come under the same category. 



It has been recommended to thin out the blossoms of pear trees, 

 in order to secure a crop, and the advice is philosophic. In the 

 case of trees whose fruit grows separate, as apricots and peaches, 

 this necessity is not so pressing ; but when it appears in a cluster, as 

 with the pear, it is obvious that there is danger of one pushing off 

 its neighbour in the act of growth. I have a pear tree at the corner 

 of the house with a southern and eastern aspect, so that the tree in 

 spring has two different climates to grow in. It is always covered 

 with blossoms, and makes but little wood. It would appear as though 

 a crop should be secured on one side or other of the tree, but in five 

 years we have gathered only four pears. Having read the advice to 

 thin out the blossoms, I ascended a ladder when the tree was in bloom 

 to reconnoitre and form my own opinion on the subject. The clusters 

 of flowers I found very large, some having as many as twenty on 

 one stem. The lower row, which blooms first, was set, while the 

 upper tiers were scarcely in flower. I pinched all off but the lower 

 row, consisting of three or four blossoms, and I now hope to succeed 

 better. However, if I do not, the principle will not be altered, and 

 I shall attribute the failure to a cause yet to be discovered. It is 

 manifest to me that with such a crowding of blossoms, all ran a 

 great risk of being shouldered out of their places. 



J()D». 



