902 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. i 



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Thomson, in his Seaso7is, speaking of the apple-gathering, says, — ' 



" The fragrant stores, the wide projected heaps ] 

 Of apples, which the lusty-handed Year, 



Innumerous o'er the blushing orchard shakes : ' 

 A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen. 



Dwells in their gelid pores ; and, active, points ] 



The piercing cider for the thirsty tongue." ' 



Soil and Situation. The apple, as a fruit tree, will do no good except in a | 

 fertile soil, and a sheltered situation. All the best apple orchards of England, 



and more especially those of the cider districts, it has been observed by ' 

 geologists, follow the track of red sandstone, which stretches across the island 



from Dorsetshire to Yorkshire. It has been observed in Ireland (see i 



Dublin Soc. Trans.'), that the best orchards there are on limestone gravel ; '■ 

 and, in Scotland, that the few orchards which are to be found in that country 



are on soils more or less calcareous. On the Continent, the two districts | 



most famous for apple trees are Normandy and the Vale of Stuttgard; and ; 



the subsoil, in both countries, is well known to be limestone. In short, every \ 



kind of fruit, to be brought to perfection, requires a soil more or less caica- ' 



reous. In general, the ol)servations made with reference to the pear tree | 



■will apply in the case of the apple tree ; but the latter tree is more injurious j 



to hedges, from its low spreading head ; and less favourable to culinary I 



crops in gardens, and to pasture in orchards, for the same reason ; and the j 



fruit, being larger, is more liable to be blown down by high winds, | 



The Propagation and Culture of tiie apple are the same as those of the 

 pear tree. ^VilJ crabs, like wiUl pears, are gathered when they are fully ripe, 



and either laid in a heap to rot, or passed between fluted rollers, and the ; 



crushed fruit pressed for the juice, which is made into an inferior kind of^ i 

 cider or perry, and the seeds are afterwards separated from the pomace hf^J^^^ 

 maceration in water and sifting. This is the mode practised in the Goldworth 

 Nursery, where fruit tree stocks arc raised on a more extensive scale than 



any where else in Britain. Where seedlings are to be raised from cultivated ' 

 apples, pears, or other fruits, application is made to the manufacturers of cider 

 or perry, or to the confectioners ; and from these persons seeds of the different 



kinds of garden fruits are obtained. The mode of sowing tiiese has nothing ; 



specific, and will be found detailed under the proper head (Nursery Culture) \ 



in Part VI. of this work. The apple, like the pear, may be grafted on the ■ 



common thorn ; but it does not form nearly so desirable a tree on that stock ; 



as the pear does, and, therefore, crab stocks are always to be preferred. As j 



a fruit tree, where it is intended to be grown as a dwarf, the paradise stock ' 



effects for it what the quince does for the pear, and the Cerasus Mahaleh for j 

 the cherry. (See Encyc. of Gard., edit. 1835.) 



Accidents, Diseases, aiid Insects. The apple tree is more liable to the , 

 attacks of insects, and to diseases, than the pear tree. It is subject to canker; ' 

 more especially when plantetl deep, or in soil which is annually dug round it ' 

 to some depth, and cropped with vegetables. In some soils, also, especially i 

 those which contain much oxide of iron, the tree is liable to canker under any 

 mode of culture ; and the remedy, or palliative, in such soils, is, liming abun- 

 dantly, to neutralise the oxide ; planting on the surface, and not digging the ' 

 ground, but only hoeing it, or keeping it entirely in pasture. Tiie leaves, \ 

 flo\yers, and fruit of the apple tree arc Hable to the attacks of many insects, ' 

 against which there are few or no remedies ; but, at all events, this branch of 

 culture belongs more to horticulture than to arboriculture. The American 

 blight, or woolly aphis, is one of the most common enemies of apple trees ; ' 

 and to destroy it the most simple modes appear to be, to brush it off' with a ; 

 mixture of salt and water, or with soot and salt, or alkali, or soap and water. ! 

 It will, however, be treated on more in detail hereafter. In the spring, the I 

 caterpillars of different moths and sawflies attack the leaves and flowers ! 

 (see Gard. Mag., vol. ix. p. 341.); and, in orchards, it is sometimes found j 

 worth while to produce a dense smoke among the trees, by burning moist j 

 straw or weeds under them ; the pyroligneous acid of the smoke poisoning ' 



