1 888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



23 



in fertile soil everywhere. The English 

 Walnut or Madeira nut (JurjJanfi rer/in ) is a 

 desirable nut for the Southern States, and 

 if the young trees are protected for several 

 years, in the North, becomes quite hardy 

 even here. Of these, other than the Com- 

 mon, the Thin Shelled is the best, while for 

 garden purposes, the Dwarf Prolific is 

 useful ; it can be easily protected where 

 required, and commences to bear at a height 

 of three feet and at three or four years of age. 

 Hickory Nuts. These nuts in several spe- 

 cies are well worthy of cultivation, both for 

 their delicious kernel, and for the handsome 

 character of the trees. 



THE PEACH. 



The Peach is noted for the beauty, delicious- 

 ness, and large size of its fruit, and the 

 prolificacy and early bearing of the 

 trees. It succeeds almost as far north 

 as the Apple, but is rather more par- 

 ticular as to its requirements. 



Soil, Cttltivntion, etc. For Peaches, 

 the best soil is a deep sandy or gravelly 

 loam, with a well drained subsoil; the 

 poorest a cold clay. The trees succeed 

 in a very lightsoil but generally strong 

 loams will produce larger and better 

 flavored fruit. A northern exposure is 

 to be preferred, as it retards spring 

 growtli, thus clearing danger from late 

 spring frosts to the early fruit buds. 

 Clean cultiu-e for the trees is the rule 

 of the most successful growers, al- 

 though on some light thin soils, the 

 trees do well if no cultivation is given 

 till after the first crop is borne, and 

 even then only shallow culture, apply- 

 ing Uberal top dressings of fertilizers. 

 The best manure undoubtedly is wood 

 ashes, either leached or fresh, in good 

 quantity yearly. 



Pruning. Pruning is of much impor- 

 tance with this fruit, because the 

 sap in this tree tends more to the ex- 

 tremities of the branches than in any -^^ 

 other fruit. Without pruning, a strag- ^' 

 gling form with long bare limbs 

 having only a bunch of foliage at the tip is 

 the result. By the shortcnin(i-in method of 

 pruning, now most in vogue, and whicli I 

 shall describe, the pruning aims to supply 

 every part of the tree continually with 

 young wood, full growth, and imparting 

 compactness to the form. First yearns 

 Pruning. Yearling trees are the best to 

 plant, setting them out only in the spring. 

 Cut these back to a single switch between 

 two and three and a-half feet according 

 to the length of the trunk later desired. 

 During the first year allow but three shoots 

 to grow and these for forming the frame 

 of the future tree. Second year. 

 Early in the spring the tree branches 

 of the previous year are cut back to fully 

 one half their length. The aim, this year, 

 should be to raise but two shoots to each of 

 the present branches, one on each, for con- 

 tinuing the branch. As nearly as possible 

 these should be evenly distributed, and 

 with a view to letting sun into the trees. 

 Third year and later. Cut back all the 

 shoots one half, early in the spring. Even- 

 ness of growth throughout the tree should be 

 secured by summer pruning of the soft 

 shoots. In later years when the head has 

 been formed as above, the pruning should 

 be limited to cutting back annually, all 

 young bearing shoots to one half their length 

 for inducing the formation of other bearing 

 shoots at their base, and to cut away those 

 that have borne a crop. To neglect a branch 

 for even one year will place it beyond its 

 best condition, as it reaches, a comparative- 

 ly dormant state, while if it were cut back 

 two new shoots will start at the base of 

 each shoot giving a growth for use the fol- 

 lowing year. 



Varieties. From the list of old standard, 

 budded kinds that have become firmly es- 

 tablished on their merit, I present a list of 

 kinds worthy of general culture: 



EARLY 



Ale.xander. 

 Beatrice. 



Coolidge's Favorite. 

 Early York. 

 Hiue's Surprise. 

 Rivers. 



Mountain Hose. 

 George the Fourth. 

 Crawford. 



MEDIUM. 



Foster. 



Conkling. 



Old Mixon Free. 



Snow. 



LATE. 



Crawford. 



Salwa.v. 



Stump the World. 



Ward. 



The Nectarine. This fruit is really a 

 variety of Peach, differing from the 

 common type in having a smooth skin, 

 and is hardly its equal in quality ; the 



A SHAPELY DWARF PEAR TREE. 



flavor being less rich but somewhat 

 spicy and decidedly agreeable. It is well 

 worth growing wherever Peaches do well. 

 The treatment is identical with that of the 

 Peach. There are a number of varieties, 

 among which the best are : Hunt's 

 Tawny, Hardwick, Early Violet, Boston, 

 Elruge, New White, and Red Roman. 



THE PEAK. 



The Pear is the most luscious of all hardy 

 fruits of an equally long season, and a uni- 

 versal favorite, both for dessert and for 

 culinary uses. In good soil and under fair 

 cultivation, the tree is vigorous in growth 

 and profuse in bearing. Indeed in the last 

 named respect I consider it is one year with 

 another even more reliable than the Apple. 

 The season of the Pear is from August to 

 March in the north. 



Pear culture has to do ordinarily with two 

 classes of trees, namely, standard Pears and 

 dwarf Pears. The former class is produced 

 by propagating the Pear cion or bud on a 

 Pear stock ; the latter by budding the Pear 

 on a Quince .stock, a union which takes 

 place readily with most varieties, and which 

 leads to the producing of a tree much 

 dwarfed, but prolific and early to come into 

 bearing. Some varieties, notably the 

 Augouleme (Duchess de) succeed better as 

 dwarfs, than otherwise, while Bartlett, 

 Seckel, and some others, do very indiffer- 

 ently as dwarfs. From a long experience, I 

 am convinced that the better course in Pear 

 culture is to aim for what may be called 

 half-standard trees. These are obtained by 

 planting dwarfs deep enough to bring the 

 point of union between the Pear and Quince 

 a little under the ground, by which Pear 



roots will form to induce increased size and 

 longevity to the tree. 



Soil and Vulture. Almost any good soil 

 that can be rendered fertile will answer for 

 the Pear tree, but still the tree has some 

 preference. The standard class thrive best 

 in a loam not too heavy, and which has had 

 the subsoil broken to a depth of 18 or more 

 inches to accommodate the long forked roots 

 of the Pear. The soil, for either standards 

 or dwarfs, should be well underdrained. 

 Dwarf Pears seem to prefer a loamy soil 

 having a clay subsoil. In this class the 

 roots are more fibrous than and not so deep 

 rooting as in standards. Half-standard 

 trees have both kinds of roots referred to. 

 The fertility of the soil for all classes is 

 of great moment, and after an orchard 

 has been established in well enriched 

 ground, ilmay be kept up by top dress- 

 ings of manure each autumn, and a 

 manure mulch applied in June of each 

 year. Wood ashes are an excellent 

 fertilizer. Dwarfs need rather more 

 liberal culture than standards. A com- 

 mon resource for securing both a deep- 

 er soil and better drainage is to have 

 the tree rows on slight ridges, with 

 furrows midway between. Such ridges 

 may be made by running the plow twice 

 in the same furrow, turning the land 

 first from and then twice to the line, 

 for the row of trees using the subsoil 

 plow in the bottom furrows, or in gar- 

 dens trenching with the spade instead. 

 While about 20 feet apart is right for 

 standard Pear trees, and 10 to 13 feet 

 apart for dwarfs, it is not uncommon 

 to plant both kinds in one orchard, 

 setting the former in rows 18 feet apart 

 and 24 feet in the row, and alternate 

 with dwarfs in the row. 



Pruning. The first aim should be to 

 secure a well-balanced head. A Pear 

 tree will always have a leading branch, 

 ^ and this should proceed from a bud 

 in the direction of the prevailing winds, 

 a matter easily governed by cutting 

 the top shoot back to near such a 

 bud when the young tree is being plant- 

 ed. Six or seven branches should, in 

 the young tree, be allowed to constitute 

 the frame work of the head. The head 

 should be well up from the ground, and 

 in order to cause it to spread somewhat, 

 for admitting air and light the cutting back 

 should always be done to an outside bud. 

 After the foundation of the head has been 

 provided little pruning is needed beyond 

 cutting out branches that appear in bad 

 positions, until the trees have reached a 

 dozen feet or more in height in standards, 

 and somewhat less in dwarfs, by which 

 time they will be somewhat bushy, and 

 then pruning should be more earnestly 

 begun. This on the simple basis of trimming 

 oxit some of the excessive interior branches 

 annually, and heading back the outer 

 branches rather severely, to induce the for- 

 mation of fruiting spurs along the sides. 

 From the fall until in early spring is the 

 most suitable time for pruning the Pear. 



A Selection of ^'arictics. In the follow- 

 ing list the kinds that are particularly well 

 suited to dwarfing by budding on the Quince 

 stock are preceded by a *. 



SOMMEB PEARS. 



♦Andre Desportes. 

 Bartlett. 

 *Clapp'9 favorite. 



Summer Doyenne. 

 Tyson. 



AUT0MN PEARS. 



*Angouleme. 



Gitfard (Beurre Giffard). *Belle Lucrative. 

 ♦Margaret. Beurre Bosc. 



Flemish Beauty. winter pears 



♦Howell. ♦Anjou (Buerr de). 



♦Louise Bonne of Jersey. Clarigeau (Beurre). 



Seckel. ♦Lawrence. 



Sheldon. Winter Nelis. 



♦Superfine (Beurre). ♦Easter Beurre. 



Souvenir du Congress. ♦Josephine of Malincs. 

 {To be Continued.) 



