1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



47 



iartirtiltiiral lOfpflrfnifnt. 



EDITED BT P. BARRT. 



A SMALL FRtJIT GARDEN. 



A very large number of persons in our cities and 

 country villages have little gardens, that if well man- 

 aged might produce a considerable amount of fine 

 fruit, and be a great source of recreation and amuse- 

 ment at the same time. Managed as they generally 

 are, filled with half a dozen standard trees that take 

 five or ten years to come into bearing, they are com- 

 paratively of little account. Very few persons who 

 possess such gardens as these, have sufficient leisure 

 to enable them to cultivate culinary vegetables ; and 

 as in most places these can be purchased for less than 

 it would cost to hire labor to grow them, the garden, 

 in very many instances, is left to vveeds, or a very 

 poor, weedy, and unprofitable crop. To such per- 

 sons we present the annexed plan of a little garden, 



50 by 100 feet, planted entirely with dwarf fruit 

 trees, all of which may be in bearing the second or 

 third year from planting. 



ExPLANATiojf OF Px.A>'. — A, is the entrance gate, 

 four feet wide. B, a walk, four feet wide, all around 

 and across the center of tlie garden. C, a border, 

 five feet wide, between the fence and the walk. It 

 will be s^eu that the rows are numbered, beginning 

 at the one next the entrance. Nos. 1, 2, 3, are pyr- 

 amidal pear trees on quince stock ; No. 4, pyramidwl 

 cherries ; Nos. 5 and 6, two rows of dwa'rf apple 

 trees, one on each side of the center crosswalk ; No. 

 7, pyramidal or dwarf standard plum trees ; Nos. 8, 

 9 and 10, low standard peaches ; Nos. 11, J 2, 13 and 

 14, four quince trees in the end border ; Nos. 15, IG 

 and 17, are apricots trained on the fence which has 

 the coldest aspect ; Nos. 18, 19 and 20, grape vines 

 trained on the fence with the warmest aspect. One 

 of the fence borders is filled with gooseberries and 

 currants, four feet apart, and the other we will sup- 

 pose occupied with strawberries, or a few early veg'- 

 etables may be grown among the trees, but not with- 

 in less than three feet of the base of the stem. 



Here, by this arrangement, we have twelve pyra- 

 midal pear trees ; four pyramidal cherry trees ; twelve 

 dwarf apples ; four pyramidal plums, or if grown as 

 dwarf standards, three ; nine low standard peach 

 trees ; four quinces ; three apricots ; three grape 

 vines ; a dozen gooseberries ; a dozen currants ; be- 

 sides space enough for a couple dozen raspberries and 

 one hundred strawberries — in all, about fifty trees bo- 

 sides the small fruits. This, it may be said, is a very 

 large number of trees for so small a place ; and so it 

 is ; but not one more than we feel very certain can 

 be managed advantageously, if the proper system be 

 adopted. The pyramidal trees are eight feet apart 



lo }l 



PLAN OF A SMALL FRUIT GARDEN. 



¥ 



every way ; the dwarf apples five feet ; the standard 

 and peach trees twelve feet apart in the rows, and 

 the rows eight feet apart ; the quinces twelve feet 

 apart in the border ; the trained apricots and grape 

 vines, thirty-three feet ; and the currants and goose- 

 berries, four feet. 



The walks may appear narrow, but in such a small 

 garden horses and carts are not necessary ; all the 

 manures can easily be carried into and through them 

 by means of the wheel-barrow, and four feet gives 

 ample room for the use of this machine. The main 



walks have been placed around the outside, leaving 

 only a border suitable for espalier trees. This ar- 

 rangement gives the standard trees the fullest benefit 

 of the light. Those who prefer a smaller number of 

 fruit trees, and some space for vegetables, can alter 

 the arrangement to suit their tastes or wishes. In 

 such a case, it might be better to run the walk 

 through the center, retaining the crosswalk as in the- 

 cut, and plant pyramidal and dwarf fruit trees in a 

 border, eight or ten feet wide, along the sides of the 

 walk, only leaving- all the interior for vegetables. 



