78 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



old, the walls substantial, not in a bad state, except where defective coping has allowed 

 wet to enter. Trained to their surfaces are large pear and other trees here and there, 

 testifying in the regularity and straightness of their branches to the advantages of 

 superior early training and management. Stone fruit trees are represented by a few 

 skeleton remains of plums, stumps of apricot and cherry, with younger trees planted 

 between them, some thriving, others stunted through neglect of early pruning or from 

 over-bearing. The trees in the walk borders, evidently intended to have been " kept in 

 the new order of dwarf trees," mentioned by Thorseby in his Diary, under date of March, 

 1702 (an intimation that this system was introduced from Holland by the Prince of 

 Orange), have assumed heads little inferior to orchard trees, being more prolific of 

 American blight, canker, moss, and lichen than of fruit. Large standard apple, cherry, 

 pear, plum, or damson trees attest the goodness of the soil, but their heads are a thicket 

 of crossed branches and twigs, as many dead as living ; the apples and pears produced 

 are scabbed, cracked, and useless. In the bush quarters a monster gooseberry or 

 currant stands out at intervals, with young bushes planted between, showing the 

 disadvantage of patching up old plantations. The raspberries do not thrive, and straw- 

 berry beds have become a wild, fruitless mass. The box edgings are gappy ; the walks 

 weedy or moss-covered ; the soil is wet and sticky in winter, and bakes and cracks 

 in summer : the whole is a plague-spot through weeds, slugs, grubs above and below 

 ground, everywhere is seen good material and land wasted. This is no fanciful picture, 

 but shows the result of neglect, lack of knowledge, want of means or their misappli- 

 cation. 



The first thing to be seen to is the drainage ; if defective, the ground must be re- 

 drained, placing the drains in fresh positions, not less than 3 feet nor more than 4 feet 

 deep, and not letting old drains into the new. Next put the walls in thorough repair, 

 making good the brickwork and coping, and raking the loose mortar out of open joints in 

 the brick or stone work; pointing them with well-tempered mortar; or, preferably, make 

 the joints good with cement, put in galvanised eyes, and wire the wall to save further 

 trouble in defacing through nailing. Then make a close scrutiny of the trees throughout. 

 Any that are healthy, even if they interfere with the orderliness of proposed alterations, 

 should be retained to produce fruit until the new trees come into bearing. Those not 

 misplaced, but not fruiting satisfactorily, yet healthy, may be reserved for re-grafting, 

 that is, apples and pears may, but cherry, plum, and other stone fruit trees cannot be 

 satisfactorily improved in that way. They can only have their heads thinned, cutting 



