REMARKS APPLICABLE TO FRUIT TREES GENERALLY. 599 



Jujube Tree (Z. Jujuba) ; the Kaki (Diospyros Kaki). The last four 

 will fruit in a greenhouse. Few of these, with the exception of the 

 Mangosteen and the Bread-fruit, will repay the trouble of cultivation 

 for their fruit alone, though all might be worth growing as objects of 

 botanical or economic interest. 



Remarks Applicable to Fruit Trees and Fruit-bearing Plants 

 Generally. 



Standard fruit trees occasion less trouble in managing, and are more 

 certain in bearing, than either wall-trees or espaliers j though there 

 are some trees, as the peach, which are too tender for being grown as 

 standards, and others, as the vine, which are unsuitable. In standard 

 trees, the top will generally be adjusted to the root naturally, and 

 hence in such trees very little pruning will be requisite beyond that 

 of thinning out crossing or crowded branches ; but, in wall and espalier- 

 trees, as the top is disproportionately small to the roots, pruning, or 

 disbudding, &c., as a substitute, becomes necessary during the whole 

 period of their existence. The nearest approach which a wall-tree can 

 be made to have to a standard, is when in the case of north and south 

 walls, one-half of the branches are trained on the east side of the wall, 

 and the other half on the west side ; or when one tree is made to 

 cover both sides of a double espalier. Pruning may be rendered almost 

 unnecessary by disbudding, disleafing, and stopping ; but this will not 

 always be the best course to pursue. When the root of a wall-tree is 

 to be strengthened, more shoots should be left than are required for 

 being laid in at the winter pruning ; and when the root is to be weakened, 

 transplantation or root-pruning is the best means of doing so. 



Keeping roots near the surface, and encouraging the production of 

 surface roots, will have a tendency to moderate the production of 

 wood ; and deep planting and stirring the surface to one foot or more 

 in depth, will throw the roots down to a moisture stratum, and en- 

 courage the production of wood, but of an inferior quality for the 

 future production of fruit. Dry sandy soil, not rich, will produce 

 moderate growth and precocity, both in the fruit and the ripening of 

 the wood, and rich deep soil the contrary ; hence dry soil, compara- 

 tively poor, ought to be preferred for cold late situations, in which it 

 is always desirable to ripen early both the fruit and the wood. As all 

 plants require a certain period of rest, by bringing on this period 

 sooner in autumn, by disleafing and depriving the roots of moisture, 

 by thatching the ground over them, they will be predisposed to vege- 

 tate sooner in spring. Hence the advantage of pruning all trees, the 

 young wood of which is not liable to be injured by frost, immediately 

 after the fall of the leaf. All wood that is not thoroughly ripened 

 should be protected during winter by branches, fern, hay, netting, or 

 some other means ; but as this is only applicable to wall-trees, the soil 

 for all others should be so adjusted to the climate as to ensure their 

 wood ripening in the open garden or orchard. As the most exhaust- 

 ing part of every fruit is the seed, and as the number of seeds in every 



