140 Encyclopaedia of Gardening 



FRUIT cow tinned. 



this does not suffice the circle may be completed the following 

 winter. 



Fruit trees in pots. Now that glass houses are relatively cheap 

 the culture of what is known as orchard-house fruit is extending. 

 When the trees are grown in large pots or tubs they bear heavy 

 crops in proportion to their size, the bloom is protected from frost 

 and the fruit from birds. Heated houses are not required. The 

 structures should be large, airy, light, and well ventilated. Apples, 

 Pears, Plums, Cherries, Peaches, and Nectarines can all be grown 

 successfully as bushes in 10 and 12-in. pots. The soil may be 

 decayed turf with a fourth of decayed manure and some grit. 

 Every other year will suffice for repotting; in the alternate years 

 the top 2 ins. of soil and hair roots may be torn out and a top dress- 

 ing of fresh mould rammed in. The trees may stand out of doors 

 in summer after the fruit has been gathered to ripen the wood, 

 indeed they may be left out all the winter, with the pots packed in 

 coal ashes, if the house is wanted for something else, and housed 

 when they come into bloom in spring. 

 Watering and keeping free from insects and 

 fungi must be attended to in the growing 

 season. Liquid manure will improve the 

 crop. Six or eight main branches will 

 suffice, and the side shoots may be summer 

 pruned and spurred (see under Apple). 



Labelling. All fruit trees should be 

 labelled, or their names and positions in 

 the garden marked on a plan. But wire 

 should not be fastened round a young 

 branch and forgotten, or it will become 

 embedded as the tree grows. 



The following are the principal fruits in 

 COIL WIRE LABEL WHICH DOES alphabetical order' 



NOT INJURE THE GROWING ^ ~T, ^ , N T , 



TREE. Apple (Pyrus malus). It would be 



difficult to write too emphatically in 



commending the Apple, for it is valuable as a food, useful as a 

 medicine, beautiful in appearance, delicious in flavour, and may 

 be grown in many forms. Every owner of a garden should grow 

 Apples. The planting, pruning, and general culture will interest 

 him, the flowers will please his eye, and the fruit will prove both 

 enjoyable and wholesome. The Apple is a very old fruit in British 

 gardens, and the tree is perfectly hardy. It is not, however, equally 

 at home in every district. All the many varieties do not thrive 

 equally well on all soils. The Apple must be studied, therefore, if 

 satisfactory results are to be secured. Classification : Apples are 

 subdivided into two great classes: varieties for cooking and varie- 

 ties for dessert. A few are good for either purpose, and a notable 

 example is the old Blenheim Orange ; but for general purposes the 

 two sections must be kept separate. Subdivision may take the 

 form of providing classes for early, medium, and late-maturing sorts. 

 Stocks ; Apples are rarely grown from seeds or cuttings nowadays, 



