CHAPTER XXXVTII 



PLANTING HARDY FRUIT TREES 



HOW rarely does one see in the ordinary suburban back 

 garden any real attempt to cultivate hardy fruit trees I 

 Yet one cannot but suppose that if only the process were 

 better understood no garden, however small, would be without 

 its apple, pear and plum trees, its currant and gooseberry bushes, 

 or its raspberry canes. 



It may be urged that the larger kinds of fruit trees occupy too 

 much space, to the exclusion of flowers and vegetables ; but it 

 is not essential that the amateur with a small plot of ground should 

 needlessly use up his spare space by planting standard apple and 

 pear trees in it. These may be left to the gardener whose ground is 

 not confined within the usual limits of sixty feet by eighteen feet, 

 which is the customary space allotted by the builders of suburban 

 middle-class houses. 



The owners of such gardens will find it more profitable, both 

 from a utilitarian and a decorative point of view, if they direct 

 their attention to the cultivation of espaliers (trees trained flat 

 on a trellis or row ol stakes), bush trees, and pyramids. Walls 

 and fences may also be clothed with beauty at the time of pring 

 blossoming, and if the situation and method of culture be right the 

 reward in a bounteous harvest of fruit when the bearing season 

 arrives will amply repay any expenditure of effort and money 

 that may be made. 



The month of November is by far the most suitable period of the 

 year to take in hand the planning and planting of a fruit garden. 

 In a normal season planting should be started early in the month, 

 but if there has been an excess of moisture hi September and 

 October the downward falling of the sap and the resultant drop- 

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