POT FRUIT CULTURE AND ITS ADVANTAGES 



CHAPTER XIX 



POT FRUIT CULTURE AND ITS ADVANTAGES 

 House Suitable for Pot Fruit 



POT fruit has been grown for many years with much success, but only 

 in the past ten or fifteen years has it been grown to any extent in this 

 country. When this method was first started, many years ago, it 

 was generally thought that it would be impossible to produce high class fruit 

 under these conditions. Growers said that starvation would be the result, 

 or that the trees would be exhausted within a few years. But time and ex- 

 perience have taught us differently. It has been proved that trees adapt them- 

 selves admirably to this restricted way of growing, and that they are capable 

 of carrying good, average crops every year. In our climate the life of the trees 

 may, with good care, be safely set down as ten or fifteen years, and this is long 

 enough to satisfy most fruit men. 



Not only are the trees good for many years, but the fruit taken from them 

 is of excellent quality, with intense color. The Pear, for instance, will produce 

 finer fruit here under the pot system than in Europe. Our dry, bracing climate 

 secures a good set annually. The improvement in Pears grown under glass 

 is very noticeable, both as to size and finish, provided the proper kinds are 

 selected. In speaking of this class of fruit, it is customary to use the term 

 " pot fruit." At the establishment of Thomas Rivers and Son, England, which 

 is the home of the pot tree system, pots are decidedly preferred to tubs. But 

 there is a wide difference in atmospheric conditions between England and our 

 country; the former has a moist, moderate climate, while that of the latter is 

 dry, often with extreme heat. Therefore, tubs are to be preferred here when 

 the trees get large enough for them. When I first began to grow fruit in this 

 country, many years ago, I naturally clung to the training of my boyhood days, 

 when the pot system was used. But I found out in the course of time that 

 the pots are too dry and hot for the roots. I then tried plunging the pots, but 

 this did not seem congenial to the roots, and I then tried the tubs. I now recom- 

 mend tubs as being preferable to pots, that is, wiien tlie trees are large enough, 

 or from a 15-inch tub up. 



The advantages of growing tub fruit are many. In the first place, the work 

 is interesting because a variety of fruit can be grown in this way. I may say 

 that the orchardhouse is one of the most tempting of the whole range, from the 



