POMACES. X. PYRUS. 



645 



Young trees are more likely to succeed in exposed sites and poor 

 soils, but the apple will bear transplanting at a greater age than 

 any other fruit tree. It may be planted in open weather from 

 November till February. 



Soil find site for permanent planting. Any common soil, 

 neither extremely sandy, gravelly, nor clayey, on a dry subsoil, 

 and with a free exposure, will suit the apple. On wet hilly sub- 

 soils it will do no good, but after being planted a few years will 

 become cankered, and get covered with moss. When fruit 

 trees must be planted on such soils they should first be rendered 

 as dry as possible by under-draining ; next provision must be 

 made for carrying off the rain water by surface gutters ; and, 

 lastly, the ground should not be trenched above a foot deep, and 

 the trees planted rather in hillocks of earth above the surface 

 than in pits dug into it. There is no point of more importance 

 than shallow trenching and shallow planting in cold wet soils, in 

 which deep pits and deep pulverization only serve to aggravate 

 their natural evils of moisture and cold. See Sang, in cat. hort. 

 mem. 4. p. 140. " The apple tree," Mr. Knight observes, 

 " attains its largest stature in a deep strong loam or marly clay ; 

 but it will thrive in all rich soils, which are neither very sandy 

 nor wet at bottom. It succeeds best," he adds, " in situations 

 which are neither high nor remarkably low. In the former its 

 blossoms are frequently injured by cold winds, and in the latter 

 by spring frosts, particularly when the trees are planted in the 

 lowest part of a confined valley. A south or south-east aspect 

 is generally preferred on account of the turbulence of the west, 

 and the coldness of north winds ; but orchards succeed well in 

 all aspects, and where the violence of the west wind is broken 

 by an intervening rise of ground, south-west aspect will be found 

 equal to any." " All the sorts of apple trees," Abercrombie 

 observes, " may be planted in any good common soil, with a 

 free exposure, whether that of a garden, orchard, or field, so 

 that the ground be neither very low, nor excessively wet, nor 

 subject to inundation in winter. Avoid as far as possible very 

 strong clayey and gravelly soils." 



Mode of bearing. " In all the varieties of the common apple 

 the mode of bearing is upon small, terminal, and lateral spurs, 

 or short robust shoots, from half an inch to two inches long, 

 which spring from the younger branches of two or more years' 

 growth, appearing first at the extremity, and extending gra- 

 dually down the side, the same bearing branches and fruit spurs 

 continue many years fruitful." Abercrombie. 



Pruning.- " As, from the mode of bearing, apple trees do 

 not admit of shortening in the general bearers, it should only be 

 practised occasionally ; first, where any extend out of limits, or 

 grow irregular or deformed ; and secondly, a good shoot con- 

 tiguous to a vacant space is shortened to a few eyes, to obtain 

 an additional supply of young wood from the lower buds of this 

 shoot for filling up the vacancy. But to shorten without such a 

 motive is not merely cutting away of the first and principal bear- 

 ing part of the branches, but also occasions their putting forth 

 many strong useless wood-shoots, where fruit-spurs would other- 

 wise arise ; and both effects greatly tend to retard the trees in 

 bearing, whereas the fertile branches being cultivated to their 

 natural length, shoot moderately, and have fruit-spurs quite to 

 the extremity." Abercrombie. 



Espaliers and nail-trees require a summer and winter prun- 

 ing. 



The summer pruning. " Train in the young shoots of the 

 same year which are likely to be wanted in the figure, and re- 

 trench them where ill placed or too numerous ; for as the trees 

 continue bearing many years on the same branches, they only 

 require occasional supplies of young wood ; therefore begin in 

 May or June to pinch off or cut out all foreright, ill placed, and 

 superfluous shoots, retaining only some of the promising laterals 



in the more vacant parts, with a leader to each branch ; train in 

 these between the mother-branches at their full length all sum- 

 mer, or where any vacancy occurs some strong contiguous shoot 

 may be shortened, in June, to a few eyes to furnish several laterals 

 the same season. Keep the shoots in all parts closely trained, 

 both to preserve the regularity of the espalier, and to admit the 

 air and sun to the advancing fruit." 



" The minter pruning may be performed from November till 

 the beginning of April. This comprehends the regulation of the 

 wood branches, the bearers, and the young shoots. First ex- 

 amine the new shoots trained in the preceding summer, and, 

 if too abundant, retain only a competency of well-placed and 

 promising laterals, to furnish vacant parts with a leading shoot 

 to each parent branch. Continue these mostly at their full 

 length, as far as there is room. Cut out close the superabun- 

 dant and irregular young shoots, and where any of the elder 

 branches appear unfruitful, cankcry, or decayed, cut them either 

 clean out, or prune short to some good lateral, as may seem 

 expedient. Also prune into order any branches which are very 

 irregular or too extended. Carefully preserve all the eligible 

 natural fruit spurs, but remove all unfruitful stumps or snags, 

 and large projecting rugged branches. As each espalier is 

 pruned, let the old and new branches be laid in at convenient 

 distances according to the size of the fruit, 4, 5, or 6 inches 

 asunder, and neatly tied or nailed to the wall or trellis." 

 Abercrombie. 



Heading down apple-trees that are much cankered, is strongly 

 recommended by Forsyth, who gives an example of one after it 

 had been headed down four years, which bore plenty of fine 

 fruit. The point at which it was headed down was within 1 8 

 inches of the soil, and under it on the stump were two large 

 wounds, made by cutting out a cankery part, and which, being 

 covered with the composition, were soon nearly filled up with 

 sound wood. Very little pruning is at first given to trees so 

 cut, but afterwards a regular succession of bearing wood is kept 

 up by removing such as have borne three or four years. Thus, 

 one branch whicli has done bearing is cut off, and succeeded by 

 another, and when that is tired also, it is cut off and replaced by 

 a third, and so on. 



Grafting old apple-trees of indifferent sorts with superior 

 varieties, is an obvious and long tried improvement. In this 

 case, if the tree is a standard, it is only headed down to standard 

 height ; in old subjects, most commonly the branches only are 

 cut over within a foot or two of the trunk, and then grafted in 

 the crown or cleft manner. 



On fertilising the blossoms of pear and apple-trees. An 

 almost general unproductiveness, as to the fruit of the superior 

 varieties of pear and apple-trees, has long been a subject of 

 complaint with horticulturists, both in south and north Britain. 

 The Rev. George Swayne (Hort. trans. 5. p. 208.) has a tree 

 of the Gansell's bergamot pear, which had for a long time baffled 

 all his attempts to alter its unfertile habits. The tree had all 

 the appearance of health and sufficient luxuriance, and produced 

 a profusion of blossoms at the proper season, but has never 

 borne more than three or four pears in any one year. Before 

 the blossoms expanded, he cut off all the flowers in each co- 

 rymb, except the lower three, in this tree, and another tree of 

 the brown beurre. He divested these trees of at least three- 

 fourths of all their flower-buds. On the beurre this operation 

 subsequently appeared to have the best effect, for there was scarce- 

 ly an instance in which the remaining blossoms did not set, which 

 afterwards produced a fine crop of pears. But on the Gansell, 

 although the blossoms at first seemed to set, and many of them 

 did not fall till Midsummer, yet not a single pear arrived at ma- 

 turity. By dissecting many of the largest which fell off last, it 

 was plain that the kernels had not been impregnated, indicating 



