THE HOME FRUIT GARDEN. 



lb;; 



Fig. 2784. Raspberries Between Apple Trees. 



new growth as early in the season as practica- 

 ble. For this purpose a modification of the 

 " horizontal arm " system of training will be 

 found most advantageous. By planting the 

 vines closely and carrying up single trunks to 

 a fixed height, and from the top of the stalk 

 carrying out horizontal arms along which 

 "spurs" are maintained, a short growth from 

 each spur will be sufficient to give a uniform 

 and sufllciently dense canopy of leaves for the 

 arbor. 



Raspberries and Blackberries. — Raspberries 

 and blackberries both bear their fruits on short 

 shoots which arise from canes of the previous 

 growth. While these shoots are usually axil- 

 lary shoots, the fruits are always terminal. In 

 the case of the grape, which bears its fruit upon 

 annual shoots arising from canes of the pre- 

 vious year, the fruit is produced at a node, and 

 takes the place of a leaf; several fruit clusters 

 may therefore arise from a sing>le shoot of the 

 grape. 



Currant and Gooseberry. — In the case of the 

 currant and gooseberry the fruits are produced 

 on both old and new wood ; the fruits appear 

 ns axillary growths from the shoot itself, and 

 wood three years or more of age is unprofitable 

 and should be cut away. • 



Strawberries. — St^a\^iberries are rarely pro- 

 duced in profitable quaneities by plants more 

 than one year old. Plants over two years of 

 age should be rooted out to give room for new 

 ones. 



DWARFING AND GRAFTING. 



In order to secure satisfactory results from a 

 limited area devoted to fruit culture, one must 

 know the form of plant and method of pruning, 

 training, and culture best suited to the space 

 at command. 



The fact that trees can be grown as dwarfs 

 as well as standards will ena,ble one to utilize a 

 space which had pi^viously been considered 

 considered unsuited iror the development of a 

 tree. The cultivator's art has developed many 

 devices which may be used to make plants con- 

 form to the conaitions in a fruit garden. 



Value of Dwarf Trees. — The modifications 

 which plants undergo are sufficient to convince 

 one of the great possibilities which await those 

 who choose to make use of the methods to se- 

 cure a large return from . a limited area. It is 



well known that, in proportion to size, dwarf 

 trees are more fruitful than standards ; that 

 they come into bearing sooner, and are there- 

 fore of special value for use in limited in- 

 olosures or fruit gardens. 



Dwarfing is accomplished by budding or 

 grafting robust growers on slow-growing stocks, 

 and most fruit trees lend themselves to this 

 treatment. While the dwarf pear is undoubt- 

 edly the most familiar example of a dwarf 

 tree, there are stocks upon which apples, 

 cherries, plums and peaches can be grown 

 with the same general result. Besides 

 this mode of modification, there are other 

 methods quite as important to the growers of 

 small areas. Standards may be grown as 

 " bushes " or as " pyramids," thus making it 

 possfible to grow them much closer together. 

 Pruning and training, used in combination, have 

 shown the possibilities of restricting plants to 

 the " espalier," " cordon," and other styles of 

 training employed in growing fruits against 

 walls. These methods not only allow plants 

 to be grown more closely than is common in 

 orchard practice, but they allow the grower eo 

 take advantage of locations and conditions un- 

 der which trees could not develop normally. 

 The side of a building may be utilized as a sup- 

 port to an apricoe, nectarine, pear, or grape, 

 the last named being the only one normally 

 adapted to such a position. 



Varieties Increased by Grafting. — Besides the 

 advantage of dwarfing, grafting may be turned 

 to good account to enable the owner of few 

 trees to increase his sorts beyond the limits of 

 the trees he possesses. By grafting, the list of 

 varieties can be increased almost at will. There 

 are single trees known which bear as many as 

 150 varieties of apples. While a tree of this 

 kind possesses little commercial value, it is of 

 interest in the way of proving what can be ac- 

 complished by grafting. 



COMBINING PLANTS OF VARIOUS HABITS 

 OF GROWTH. 



In addition to the advantages to be gained 

 from restricting the growth of plants by ti-ain- 

 ing and dwarfing, some of the methods of train- 

 ing offer adaptations which allow of comtoining 

 plants of various habits of growth, to the ad- 

 vantage of the grower and with little or no 

 disadvantage to the plants. To illustrate this, 

 currants may be combined with the grape, the 

 apples with currants or raspberries, as in Fig. 

 2784; grapes and strawberries, as shown in Fig. 



Fig. 2785. Strawberries Under Grapevines. 



