OCTftBEB 20, 1688. ] 



THE GAliDENEES' CHRONICLE. 



439 



I have the consolation, however, of knowing that 

 common sense has prevailed. The horticultural 

 papers altered their tone on the subject of pruning 

 from that date ; practical gardeners who lead by 

 intelligence and example saw and acknowledged I 

 was right, and to their advantage they have used the 

 knife less freely than formerly. Moreover, since the 

 year 1876 we have had a succession of Apple and 

 Pear Conferences, and their collective lesson appears 

 to be Magna est Veritas et prevalebit, for have we not 

 entered on a new career in fruit culture, common 

 sense guiding the way, because only where common 

 sense prevails does Nature prove herself in every 

 sense the friend of man. While we repudiate reason 

 Nature destroys our false work and does not even stop 

 there, for she destroys man himself, and history is in 

 great part the record of the price that man has paid 

 for adherence to unreason, superstition, and folly. 



Amongst the many persons who have carried out 

 my proposals, I will name Mr. James Hudson, the 

 gardener at Gunnersbury House, who is known to 

 you, and whose work is near at hand. He had long 

 lamented the unfruitfulness of a collection of 

 good varieties of dessert Pears, but he saw no 

 way to treat them but to resort to the prac- 

 tice of pruning. He saw my sample trees in 

 1876, and from, that time he allowed the trees 

 to manage their own affairs, since when they 

 have been constantly and abundantly fruitful. Mr. 

 J. James, then gardener at Redlees, took a similar 

 course, and secured equally happy results, In this 

 garden of the Koyal Horticultural Society you may 

 see collections of pyramid Pears that have been 

 systematically summer pruned for any number of 

 years, and have borne moderate crops intermittently. 

 But you may also see a collection of Apple trees in 

 the form of free bushes that have only been lightly 

 winter-pruned to keep them somewhat in order, and 

 they have been constantly and abundantly fruitful, 

 and, in fact, have every year for several years past 

 illustrated my idea of fruits displayed like ropes of 

 Onions. In the famous garden at Calcot, near 

 Heading, where the late Mr. Richard Webb had 

 every year finer crops of fruit than probably could be 

 found in any garden of similar extent in all the home 

 counties, there was absolutely no pruning practised, 

 the trees never made more than a moderate growth, 

 though in land of great strength, and the fruit was of 

 such quality that Mr. Webb took a high place in 

 great exhibitions as well as in Covent Garden 

 Market. When lately at Heckfield, Mr. Wildsmith 

 pointed out some Pear trees under reverse training 

 that proved more than ordinarily fruitful. This re- 

 verse training does not pay when it is carried out in 

 a severe manner by the aid of the knife and a multi- 

 plicity of ligatures, for that system is a mere warfare 

 against Nature, which can never pay. It is in this 

 case practised in a coaxing kind of way; the trees 

 know but little of the knife, and the long rods are 

 brought down gently, as I suggested years ago in 

 what I termed " pulley pruning." Many fruitful 

 trees acquire a half-weeping habit from the mere 

 effect of the weight of the fruit which brings down 

 the branches. There is no merit in observing this, 

 but there is merit in taking from the fact a lesson 

 in cultivation. The reverse position of the branch 

 checks growth, exposes the wood and the fruit most 

 completely to the sun and the air, and we may say 

 the mere fact of fruitfulness is promotive of fruitful- 

 ness ; the half-weeping habit that the law of gravi- 

 tation enforces on the tree exactly suits its constitu- 

 tion as a fruit producer. Very much of the prevail- 

 ing practice in pruning promotes rigidity of growth, 

 and compels the tree to be a mere leaf-producer. 



Now to conclude. Observation and experience 

 have taught me that summer pruning is too pro- 

 motive of useless secondary growth to be advanta- 

 geous ; and it tends also to keep the roots in action 

 until late in the year, when they ought to be at rest. 

 The effort of the tree to ripen useless wood is detri- 

 mental to its more profitable duties. Prune immedi- 

 ately after the fruit is gathered, first cutting out all 

 dead wood, then cutting out cross and ill-placed 

 shoots that would interfere with the free play of light 



and air, and then conceal the pruning knife lest any- 

 one should venture to cut back the long rods, and so 

 renew the old warfare between useless wood and use- 

 ful fruit. 



Pyramid trees of many sorts of Pears will acquire 

 beauty of contour, and become regularly furnished, 

 and will produce abundance of fruit without any 

 pruning whatever, as I have shown by my trees that 

 for fifteen years continuously were never touched with 

 the knife. The lower branches of pyramid trees 

 never bear fruit, probably from proximity to the 

 ground and its exhalations, as well as from the low 

 temperature that often prevails at that level. When 

 left to form themselves or aided in quite an infini- 

 tesimal degree they remain open to light and air, and 

 soon become well clothed with spurs that ripen per- 

 fectly and do their duty. The dense, leafy pyramids 

 are useless in proportion to their leafiness, and very 

 often it may be said that the free bushes and 

 standards are useful in proportion to their leanness, 

 and it must be owned that many of the lean trees are 

 amongst the most profitable. Long rods pay, short 

 rods are more plague than profit. 



A most instructive contrast between the useless 

 pyramids and the profitable standards has occurred 

 in the garden planted many years since by my friend 

 Mr. .1. B. Saunders, then of The Laurels, Taunton, 

 now of Teignmouth. Mr. Saunders was proud of his 

 pinched pyramid trees, and managed them with 

 orthodox care. They were but moderately fruitful, 

 though models of form, and as handsome in leafage 

 as Camellias. In the course of time, my friend 

 having left Taunton, a portion of his beautiful garden, 

 of which many of the pyramid trees were occupants, 

 came into the possession of Mr. Godding, nursery- 

 man, of that town. This gentleman soon discovered 

 that the pyramids would never pay rent for the land 

 they covered, and he determined that they should 

 pay liberally, and cover no land at all. lie cut them 

 back to sheer stems of 7 to 10 feet or so. according 

 to their form and stature, and allowed them to form 

 free heads over the gravel walks. They have done 

 this ; he crops the borders under them to their very 

 stems, and they arch over the walks, forming rustic 

 bowers, and their fruitfulness is such that it is 

 necessary to provide artificial support to save them 

 from self-destruction. You have never seen pinched 

 pyramids in the deplorable condition of needing 

 artificial support. 



Of wall and cordon trees I do not propose to say 

 anything at this time, except that they must be 

 amenable to common sense, and Nature must have 

 some freedom even when the trees are so fettered. 

 Of one thing I am satisfied, that any system of prun- 

 ing that promotes a late summer growth is perni- 

 cious, for it is not in this climate that fruit trees can 

 make aud mature useful wood after the passing of 

 Midsummer Day. 



CAMCEE: ITS CAUSE A>"D CURE. 



By JAJIES DOUGLAS. Ilfor.l, Essex. 



This troublesome disease in fruit trees has very 

 frequently been the subject of discussion in the gar- 

 dening periodicals and elsewhere. Nearly every 

 gardener has had to deal with it in his experience of 

 the details of fruit culture, and as I had considerable 

 experience of it some twenty-five years ago. in an 

 old Kssex garden, I may at least claim to bring it 

 forward as a subject for discussion. 



At the outset it may be taken for granted that it 

 is absolutely necessary to ascertain the cause of a 

 disease before any attempt can be made to find a 

 remedy. The late Mr. Robert Thompson, author of 

 the Gardener's Assistant, and Superintendent of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society's Garden at Chiswick, 

 writes on canker with considerable diffidence. In 

 the work above cited, p. 381, he says : — " The cause 

 of canker is imperfectly understood, and so, conse- 

 quently, is an effectual remedy." 



His idea of the causes of canker, as summarised 

 in his admirable work, are : — 



1. Sudden checks to the vegetation of the tree, 

 especially in spring and the early part of summer. 



2. Derangements of the flow of sap, from vicissi- 



tudes of heat and cold, as well as of moisture and 

 dryness. 



3. Unskilful and severe pruning. 



4. Vitiation of the sap by deleterious substances 

 in the soil or subsoil. 



5. Dryness at the root doubtless gives rise to a 

 species of canker, which manifests itself on the 

 younger branches and on the shoots. 



Referring also to Lindley's Theory of Horticulture, 

 p. 110, it is stated that a Mr. Iteid, of Balcarras, bad 

 shown " that one of the causes of canker and imma- 

 ture fruit, even in orchards, is the coldness of the 

 soil." He found that in a cankered orchard the roots 

 of the trees had entered the earth to the depth of 

 3 feet ; and he also ascertained that during the sum- 

 mer months the average heat of the soil at 6 inches 

 below the surface was 61° ; at 9 inches, 57°; at 

 18 inches, 50° ; and at 3 feet, 4-t 3 . He took measures 

 to confine the roots to the soil near the surface, and 

 the consequence was the disappearance of canker and 

 perfect ripening of the fruit. 



Another cause has been suggested, viz., insect 

 agency. But this view of the matter will probably 

 not be sustained by practical gardeners generally. 

 That insects of various kinds, including that trouble- 

 some pest, American blight (Aphis lanigera), will 

 penetrate into the cankered part for shelter, is likely 

 enough. Indeed, I can assert they do ; but they are 

 not there as the cause of canker, but because the 

 cankered part affords a secure resting-place, which 

 the smoother, healthier portion of the bark does not. 

 Indeed, I can also assert that cankered trees may be 

 found in the garden with insects upon the affected 

 part, and others near them also cankered with no 

 insects upon them. 



My contention is that canker is caused in two ways, 

 and affects two different parts of the trees. Perhaps 

 the most serious disease is that which affects the 

 trunk or larger branches of the trees. This 

 I hold is caused by the roots pushing downwards 

 into coll, undrained, or unsuitable soil. The 

 other aspect of the disease is that which lays 

 hold of the twiggy portion of the trees, for even the 

 one-year-old shoots do not escape. The immediate 

 cause of this is probably owing to the rupture of the 

 sap-vessels by frosts, when the sap is in an active 

 state. But I have a firm belief that the primary 

 cause is also to be found in the condition of the roots, 

 which, being in an inactive state owing to unsuitable 

 soil, or their penetration to a great depth, prevents 

 the perfect ripening of the wood, or maturation of 

 the blossom-buds in the autumn. 



I come now to my own experience in our old 

 garden twenty-five years ago. There were upwards 

 of one hundred trees of various sir.es, some only a 

 few years old, others a hundred years planted at 

 least. Most of them were cankered, and in places 

 where the old trees had been removed and young 

 ones planted, canker showed itself in a few years. 



The soil was light, over a gravel subsoil, and was 

 naturally drained ; the water did not stand on the 

 surface for any length of time, even in very wet 

 weather. I was confident that want of drainage had 

 nothing to do with it, and that the fault was in the 

 cultivation. Young trees seldom do any good 

 planted amongst old ones, even if the soil has been 

 well dug up and enriched with manure where the 

 roots are to be placed. They require a wider and 

 better field for their ramifications. I found I had to 

 make gravel paths as well as fruit borders, and as 

 most of the old trees were on the wane, and the 

 young ones of but little value owing to their cankered 

 state, it was thought best to remove them. But 

 they were not all removed at once, as it was neces- 

 sary to keep up a supply of fruit for household use. 

 A space about 30 feet wide was lined oft' through the 

 whole length of the garden, and was cleared of all 

 trees and bushes. In the middle was a space 6 feet 

 wide for a gravel path. The borders on each side, 

 about 12 feet wide, were trenched, where possible, 2 

 feet deep, and we found the gravel cropped up in 

 places within a foot of the surface. Where this was 

 the case the gravel was taken out and used to make 

 the path, the soil from the path being used to fill up 



