198 



HORTICULTURE. 



Fruit- 

 Garden. 



Production 

 of new va- 

 rieties of 



fruits. 



It may here be mentioned, that in order to pro- 

 duce a hybrid variety, possessing perhaps a union of 

 the good properties of two known kinds, Mr Knight 

 had recourse to the nice operation of dusting the pol- 

 len of one variety upon the pistils of another : He 

 opened the unexpanded blossom, and cut away, with a 

 pair of fine-pointed scissars, all the stamina, taking 

 great care to leave the styles and stigmata uninjured. 

 The fruits which resulted from this artificial impregna- 

 tion were the most promising of any ; and the seeds of 

 these he did not fail to sow. Mr Knight lias generally 

 observed in the progeny a strong prevalence of the 

 constitution and habits of the female parent : in pre- 

 paring seed for raising new pears, therefore, he would 

 employ the pollen only of such delicate pears as the 

 chaumontel, crassane, and St Germain, upon the flowers 

 (deprived of stamina) of the swan-egg, longueville, 

 inuirfowl-egg, auchan, or green yair, which are hardy. 



Every seed, though taken from the same individual 

 fruit, furnishes a distinct variety : these varieties, as 

 might be anticipated, prove of very various merit ; but 

 to form a general opinion of their value, it is not neces- 

 sary to wait till they produce fruit : an estimate may be 

 formed even during the first summer, by the resemblance 

 the leaves bear to those of the highly cultivated or 

 approved trees or to those of the wild kinds ; the 

 more they approach to the former, the better is the 

 prospect : the leaves of goad kinds improve in charac- 

 ter, becoming thicker, rounder, and more downy every 

 season. The plants whose buds in the annual wood 

 are full and prominent, are usually more productive 

 than those whose buds are small, and shrunk into the 

 bark. But their future character, as remarked by Mr 

 Knight, must depend very much on the power the 

 blossoms possess of bearing cold, and this power is ob- 

 served to vary in the different varieties, and can only 

 be ascertained by experience. Those which produce 

 their leaves and blossoms early, are preferable ; because, 

 although tnore exposed to injury from frosts, they are 

 less liable to the attacks of caterpillars. It is also to 

 be observed, that even after a seedling tree has begun 

 to produce fruit, the quality of this has a tendency to 

 improve, as the tree itself becomes stronger and ap- 

 proaches maturity ; so that if a fruit possess any pro- 

 mising qualities at first, great improvement may be ex- 

 pected in succeeding years. 



Mr Knight has of late brought into public notice se- 

 veral new varieties of apples, pears, and cherries. 

 Some of these seem likely to maintain a high character 

 of excellence: they will be noticed in their proper 

 places. He has, at his seat at Downton in Hereford- 

 shire, many hundreds of promising seedlings coming 

 on, some of them annually improving in character. 



77. From this digression we return to the young 

 grafted or budded fruit trees. When they liave been 

 trained one year, they are called maiden plants ; and 

 these, especially in the apple and pear, are considered 

 as forming the best plants. But trees of two, three 

 or four years growth, or even more, succeed very well, 

 provided due care be taken in transplanting. 



Transplanting. 



Transplant- 78. Here it may be enough to observe in general, 

 ing. that in raising young fruit-trees from the nursery lines, 



or in transplanting them from one part of the garden 

 to another, much more care should be bestowed than is 

 often given, particularly in public nurseries. The 

 surface earth should be removed, and the horizontal 



roots carefully traced, and raised at full length if pos 

 sible : should this be inconvenient or thought nnneces- 

 sary, the roots should be cut with a sharp knife, not 

 hacked with a blunt spade. A tap root, or one which 

 penetrates straight down, should not be left more than 

 a foot long at most. If the trees are only to be car- 

 ried a short way, the roots should be as little cut as 

 possible. When they are to be carried to a distance, 

 it is thought best to prune off the small and soft fibres, 

 which are apt to rot and injure the whole root. If the 

 tree be several years old, and have a large head, it is 

 proper to dig a trench all round, and to scoop out the 

 earth from under the root. In this way a ball of earth 

 rises with the tree, and its success is ensured. A bass-. 

 matting is sometimes introduced as far as possible be- 

 neath the tree on one side ; and when it comes to be 

 turned over on the other side, the root and ball of earth 

 are completely included in the matting ; but this is sel- 

 dom necessary. As it unavoidably happens that some 

 roots are destroyed at the time of transplanting, and 

 the means of drawing nourishment are thus lessened, 

 many consider it proper to prune the tops of the trees 

 to a certain extent, that the demand on the roots may 

 be diminished. This however must be done cautiously, 

 and by an experienced gardener ; to lay down rules 

 for it, ia impossible. 



It may here be observed, that when the plants are of 

 considerable size, they are prepared for transplanting, 

 by cutting the roots a year beforehand, or in some sorts 

 even two years before lifting. In this way the remain- 

 ing short roots are induced to set out many radicles or 

 fibres, and the entire roots of the tree are contained 

 within a small compass. If the trees be young, this 

 abridgment of the roots may be effected by a downright 

 cut with a sharp spade all around, at a short distance 

 from the stem ; passing the spade entirely under the 

 plant on one side, if it be wished to cut off the tap root. 



It may scarcely be necessary to remark, that an es- 

 sential preliminary to transplanting, is the preparing of 

 the ground to receive the trees, by digging it over. 

 The distances should likewise be fixed, and even the 

 holes dug. Some gardeners make a point of digging 

 the holes for the trees perhaps a fortnight before plant- 

 ing: in this way the soil into which the fibres are like- 

 ly soon to penetrate, is softened and meliorated by the 

 action of the air ; but this practice is more applicable 

 to orchard planting. In putting in wall- trees, it is not 

 uncommon not only to have the border well prepared 

 generally, but to have a quantity of very good friable 

 mould for each tree in particular, into which it may 

 strike young fibres freely : this mould however should 

 not be screened or made fine, but should be of the or- 

 dinary degree of roughness natural to garden soil. 

 When the trees have been brought from a very great 

 distance, so as to have been several days on their jour- 

 ney, Miller recommends the placing the roots in water 

 for eight or ten hours before planting. 



It may be considered as a safe general rule, to plant 

 shallow, more especially for dwarf standards and half 

 standards, the soil for which is not particularly prepared. 

 Whether the general soil be cold and moist, or thin and 

 gravelly, it is found better to place the roots of the 

 young trees almost on the surface, and rather to heap 

 earth over them in the form of a hillock than to sink 

 them into the soil. Suppose the subsoil be a moulder- 

 ing rock, and a hole be dug in it, it is evident that the 

 tree will be placed in a sort of well, which will at once 

 retain water, and hinder the spread of the roots. If 

 the tree be placed on the surface, it will insinuate its 



Fruit- 

 Garden. 



