Established Fruit Trees 



varieties for exposed positions will do much to 

 prevent disappointment. There are many ways of 

 providing shelter from cold winds, but these are 

 fairly well known, and need not be dealt with here. 



2. Imperfect pollination. Many varieties of 

 apples, pears and plums are self-sterile, which means 

 that they require pollen from another variety to 

 " set " the blossoms. Fruit is usually lacking when 

 " Cox's Orange " (apple) or " William's Bon Chre- 

 tien " (pear) are planted in isolated positions with no 

 varieties in the immediate vicinity, both being self- 

 sterile. Regular crops of fruit may be obtained by 

 planting certain varieties somewhere near the sterile 

 trees. " Bramley's Seedling " (apple) will give 

 excellent results with " Cox's Orange," and " Fer- 

 tility " (pear) will provide pollen for the " Bon 

 Chretien." Strange to say, the pollen of the latter 

 although useless in its own case will " set " the blos- 

 soms and give good fruit on " Fertility." Many 

 other instances of this peculiar fact might be given, 

 but space is limited. Fruit growers will realise how 

 necessary bees are in orchards and plantations. 

 Amateurs possessing only a few trees could make the 

 pollination of self-sterile kinds certain with a rabbit's 

 tail tied to a stick, carrying the right pollen in this 

 way to the blossoms which need it. 



3. Lack of an essential soil constituent, such as 

 lime. Apples, pears, and the " stone " fruits especi- 

 ally, require plenty of lime. The wood ripens earlier, 

 and the fruit buds are more robust when the soil 

 is rich in lime. With the " stone " fruits it often 

 happens that much of the fruit is lost during the 

 " stoning " period owing to the lack of lime. Slaked 

 lime should be applied, where necessary, in early 



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