28 ORCHARD FRUIT TREE CULTURE 



is worked on the quince stock, but a corresponding maiden on the 

 pear-free stock would show the same difference in size to the other 

 as the apples on the paradise and crab respectively. 



The maiden grafted apple tree (Fig. 14) has quite a different 

 character, just as " scions " differ from " buds." The latter develop 

 from one eye or bud only, though there is a possibility of two other 

 subsidiary buds breaking out from the base ; but grafts can send 

 up a leader from every bud on the scion, three, four, or five. The 

 character of growth is therefore entirely different, and thus they lend 

 themselves naturally to the making of trees of a more spreading 

 habit such as trained or pyramids, while the bud as naturally develops 

 a single leader to become standard or cordon. This is not a hard 

 and fast rule, but rather the general one. But perhaps the greater 

 danger that imperils the welfare of a maiden tree and, consequently, 

 the whole of its future, is found in the depredations of insect pests, 

 and it calls for all the watchful resource of the grower to fend them 

 off. They come in such incredible numbers, and so suddenly, as to 

 border on the miraculous. The blue aphis and the woolly aphis 

 on the apple, the black aphis on the cherry, the " blight " on the 

 plum, the red spider on peaches, and so on, are formidable and 

 deadly foes, and the very least of the evils they inflict is that they 

 prey on the foliage and prevent the leaves from functioning. The 

 greatest novice knows that unless the leaves function there can be 

 no growth, and consequently no healthy development. 



It is possible to prevent these pests by timely and frequent 

 sprayings, and even at the cost of some labour it is a better economi- 

 cal proposition to prevent their settling on the young trees than to 

 exterminate them after they have settled. But unfortunately this 

 is more conspicuous in its breach than in its observance, more by 

 lack of opportunity than lack of will. These pests come ; whose 

 trees are they to be, ours or theirs ? That is the issue to be fought 

 out, and that without any delay. It is little use to wait until the 

 mischief is done, so the wakeful grower makes ready and fights. 

 The maiden trees are of a size that every leaf is within reach and 

 easy to handle. The most drastic, effective, and cheap method of 

 procedure is to mix pails of a well-proved insecticide, remove the 

 ties of the trees, immerse all the affected parts in the insecticide 

 and wash off every enemy by the aid of a soft brush ; then retie 



