THE FRUIT-GARDEN. 



those which will not The choice kinds at present 

 include the Ribstone pippin, which will keep till 

 March, but is in its prime about Christmas ; the 

 Dowton nonpareil, scarlet pearmain, and Blenheim 

 orange. The Keswick, Manx, and Kentish cod- 

 lings, Lord Suffield, Ecklinville seedling, and 

 Hawthornden, are early ripe, but the fruit will not 

 keep beyond October or November. The nonsuch 

 is a fine apple, and remains good in November. 

 The old nonpareil is in every respect deserving of 

 its title ; its flavour is high and musky, and it 

 keeps long. Other choice long-keepers are the 

 scarlet nonpareil, the golden harvey or brandy 

 apple, the winter pearmain, and the Easter apple, 

 commonly called French crab. The best bak- 

 ing-apples are the Colvilles for early use ; the 

 rennets and pearmains for autumn ; the russets 

 and Padley's pippin for winter and spring. To 

 this short list, hundreds might be added ; but 

 those who can grow what we have enumerated, 

 and bring them to their full complement of bearing, 

 can require no others as stock-trees. It must 

 always be borne in mind, however, that what will 

 succeed well in one garden may not do so in 

 another, and that experience as to soil and climate, 

 independently of advice from skilled neighbours, 

 will in every case be necessary in the proper and 

 profitable conducting of the fruit-garden. 



For cottage-gardens, where the soil and situation 

 are favourable for the production of the apple, the 

 following sorts are recommended by Mr Thomp- 

 son : Where the space will admit of only one tree, 

 the best is the Ribstone pippin ; where two, add 

 the Dutch mignonne ; where three, the Wormsley 

 pippin ; where four, king of the pippins ; where 

 five, the old nonpareil, or the Dowton nonpareil ; 

 where six, the Alfreston ; where seven, the Worms- 

 ley pippin, king of the pippins, Ribstone pippin, 

 Alfreston, Dutch mignonne, old nonpareil, and 

 Dowton nonpareil. Beyond this, Pennington's 

 seedling and any other good sorts may be added. 

 Mr Loudon observes, in the Encyclop&dia of 

 Gardening: 'It often happens that one or more 

 trees can be trained against a cottage wall or 

 roof, or against some wall appertaining to a 

 cottage ; in these cases, the proper sorts are 

 Ribstone pippins, old nonpareils, and if a large 

 kitchen-apple be required, the Bedfordshire 

 foundling. In situations liable to spring frosts, 

 which so often kill the blossoms of the generality 

 of apples, the Court pendu plat is recommendable, 

 as its blossoms expand very late in the season. 

 Under less favourable circumstances, where the 

 Ribstone may not succeed, the Bedfordshire 

 foundling will be a hardier substitute, or the 

 king of the pippins, which is still hardier ; the 

 northern greening may be planted for late kitchen 

 use. For an autumn-apple, perhaps none in this 

 case is more to be recommended than the 

 Lord Suffield. To these observations, we need 

 only add, that the cottager will do well in all cases 

 to prefer one or two copious-bearing trees to a 

 number of fancy and fickle varieties ; but he may 

 increase his kinds by grafting several on one tree. 

 Standards. Pruning and Training. Stand- 

 ards are those trees which grow independently in 

 open ground, and are classed as Large and Dwarf 

 Standards. The proper object of cultivation is to 

 give figure to the tree, of whichever kind, and 

 bring it to a fertile or mature condition. Apple 

 and pear trees, as they approach to maturity, 



develop short spurs along the entire extent of the 

 branches, and those spurs are the best in every 

 respect which are produced naturally without the 

 aid of the pruning-knife. But in addition to fruit- 

 ful spurs, the trees produce a great number of 

 superfluous wood-shoots, which, if not entirely 

 removed, or at least so curtailed as to convert 

 them to bearing spurs, would render the tree 

 1 almost useless ; in short, to effect prolific fruit- 

 I bearing, the shoots must be kept in subjec- 

 j tion, or in the state of spurs by winter and 

 j summer pruning. A recent writer on this sub- 

 i ject observes : ' If a tree be a free grower, all 

 1 the leaders will be checked by shortening them 

 back every year to a distance from the point of 

 origin, which varies according to their strength ; 

 where they are very strong, the leading shoots 

 should not be reduced more than within twelve or 

 fifteen inches of their base ; but when they are 

 weaker, they may be cut to within nine inches. 

 By this means the onward growth of the branch 

 is momentarily arrested, the ascending sap is im- 

 pelled into the lateral buds, some of which will be 

 sure to grow so slow as to become productive.' 



The foregoing directions comprise a view of the 

 theoretical principles of pruning, and afford an 

 excellent groundwork for practice ; but those who 

 are strangers to the cultivation of fruit-trees, and, 

 as such, undertake the management of an orchard, 

 will be surprised and perplexed at the anomalies 

 which continually present themselves. It will 

 then be self-evident that gardening cannot, in its 

 routine, be learned from books ; that one tree 

 assumes a certain mode of growth ; another devel- 

 ops in an order which has not been foreseen or con- 

 templated ; one forms its fruitful spurs spontane- 

 ously, without solicitation or the adoption of means ; 

 while another, in despite of the most rigid fore- 

 shortening, continues for years to yield nothing 

 but leafy shoots. 



Experience instructs the pruner not to expect 

 too much, but to watch the figure which the tree 

 affects, and the course of its supernumerary 

 shoots. If it evince a decided tendency to form 

 short spurs naturally at a very early period, he may 

 prune short ; but if its habit be so luxuriant as to 

 produce wood-shoots after each pruning, it will be 

 wise to defer the summer-cutting of the spring- 

 shoots till the middle of July, instead of perform- 

 ing it at or before midsummer ; and then either to 

 snap the shoots or to cut them to a bud situated 

 at least five inches from their base. This pruning, 

 late as is the season, will generally cause each 

 shoot to break its leading eye ; in August, there- 

 fore, this new shoot is to be checked by nipping 

 off its point ; and finally, in September, the 

 spring-shoot is again to be cut at the eye, below 

 the one at which it was first pruned in July. In 

 this way the vigour of the tree will be moderated, 

 and several of the lower buds will probably en- 

 large, while the leading bud only expands into a 

 growing shoot. If these hints be understood and 

 acted upon, a young pruner will experimentally be 

 taught to apply them, and thereby acquire the 

 tact to discover the constitution of his trees indi- 

 vidually, and to coax them into a condition of 

 maturity. At the winter regulation, when the 

 buds begin to swell, it will be easy to discern the 

 fruitful eyes ; and where these are discerned, the 

 shoot projecting beyond them is entirely ampu- 

 tated ; and this may be done with safety, for spurs, 



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