442 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Octobee 20, 1888. 



Hereford, boastiDg its 27,000 acres of orcharding, 

 where in days gone by thousands of tons of good 

 fruit was lost, wasted, or converted into indifferent 

 cider, I am able to form a pretty correct opinion of 

 our own progress, and although less rapid than I 

 could wish, I may say it is fairly satisfactory. Cider 

 drinking amongst the working classes since I first 

 knew the county has gradually decreased, conse- 

 quently small parcels of the rosy Tom Putt and 

 other useful Apples, alike good for cooking or vintage, 

 are now stored for daily use by all the members of the 

 grower's family. If not wanted, then they are sold 

 to dealers, who make a profit, for conveyance to 

 retailers, who also make another profit, and that a 

 heavy one from their customers. Although a slight 

 step forward, this state of the case is not quite satis- 

 factory, neither will it be until a powerful fruit- 

 growers' association, which should be the outcome 

 of this Conference, has established a network of 

 markets in all provincial towns as well as in 

 London markets in which producers, as in all 

 parts of Paris, can meet face to face with consumers 

 without the aid of so many middlemen. In fruit 

 growing counties, like Hereford, Worcester, Glouces- 

 ter, Kent, Devon, and Somerset, these local markets 

 should be well supported, as we gather from statis- 

 tics that three-quarters of a million of money is sent 

 out of England annually for Apples alone. If land- 

 owners, hitherto blind to their own interests, and 

 legislators now take up the matter, I see no reason 

 why growers should not go forth to the production 

 of au article which the public must and will have, 

 and so keep the money at home. Our climate is all 

 that can be desired for the growth of fresh crisp 

 fruit, not quite so highly coloured or so large as 

 picked samples from the Colonies, but large enough 

 to command top prices when well grown, and packed, 

 and properly marketed. There must be no shaking 

 from the trees, but the cream of the crop must be 

 hand-picked, and honestly packed as firsts and 

 seconds. The residue or refuse, which added to the 

 best would increase expenses and pull down prices, 

 would then remain at home for various purposes. 



Mr. Knight, the great physiologist and hybridist, 

 who worked so much in Hereford and Salop, proved 

 by analysis that some soils, even in these favoured 

 counties, were preferable to others for producing 

 Apples of dense gravity, and full of saccharine 

 matter. The late Dr. Bull, of whom Hereford should 

 be proud, following in his wake, corroborated all that 

 Knight had said, proving, I think satisfactorily, what 

 past generations of shrewd men had found out for 

 themselves, both as regards the quality of the fruit 

 and the constituents of the soil which should be 

 chosen for Apples, also for Pears. The conclusions 

 at which they arrived were these : The light thin 

 soils will not grow the best Apples ; therefore, those 

 who would plant a successful orchard, must choose a 

 deep, stiff sandstone loam, if they have the oppor- 

 tunity of doing so. All the orchard land in this 

 county is not alike good ; indeed, some is very bad ; 

 but the soil here, as in Devonshire, which produces 

 the best fruit, owes its fertility to the plentiful supply 

 of lime from the marl or cormstone ; to its great 

 depth and sustaining nature. Scientists who will, 

 may peruse the first part of the Herefordshire Po- 

 mona, or they may follow Mr. Rivers through his 

 exhaustive address delivered at the Crystal Palace 

 (see p. 289), but my remarks, necessarily brief, will 

 guide plain practical planters to the best spots for 

 new plantations. 



Having been honoured by an invitation to con- 

 tribute a short paper upon the Apple, I have deter- 

 mined to confine myself to the West Midland 

 orehards, in which, I am pleased to repeat, some 

 progress has been made since the first Conference 

 was held [in 1883. Draining, grubbing, grafting, 

 and planting are still going on, but much remains 

 to be done before we can invite inspection. Although 

 the Apple is a long-lived tree, and perfectly hardy 

 in all its parts, save its flowers, the occupants of 

 many of our oldest orchards, crippled by age, bad 

 usage, and neglect, are past recovery, and should be 

 cleared away ; but the ground they occupy should 



not be replanted if better or equally good sites can 

 be found for new plantations. Other orchards, 

 again, containing thoroughly sound young trees, 

 although of inferior sorts, after the grubber's axe 

 has passed over the land, may be converted by 

 grafting, and resuscitated by draining and top-dress- 

 ing. Some of our oldest orchards, which date back 

 to the Wars of the Roses, contain a great number of 

 wildings, or kernel fruits, of no value to the owners 

 even ; whilst younger plantations are crowded with 

 healthy, vigorous trees, at one time supposed to be 

 Norman, but now proved to be English seedlings, no 

 better than the stocks used in large nurseries. Upon 

 the first I would not spend money, as they are too 

 old for grafting, too old to pay rent, too old for 

 anything save loss and disappointment. The second 

 I would behead, and regraft with choice varieties 

 which have been proved in the locality. Confining 

 myself to old orchards now existing or lan- 

 guishing in the Western Counties, I may close my 

 remarks upon this head by saying, Cut down all 

 useless trees, thin out the heads of those worth 

 keeping; cleanse the branches and stems from moss 

 and insects ; regraft sound, healthy trees into good 

 market sorts, and see that the drainage is satisfactory. 

 I will not presume to inform practical men who may 

 deign to read my remarks that sound, deep, naturally 

 drained orchards are better than others which require 

 artificial treatment, and that a certaiu quantity of 

 moisture in the soil is absolutely necessary, but on 

 no account must it be stagnant. All gardeners are 

 well acquainted with the fact that soils too dry pro- 

 duce fruit that is small and mealy, whilst waterlogged 

 soils are several degrees colder than others of similar 

 texture that are free from this root-chilling poison. 

 They know, moreover, that warm summer rains run 

 off the surface, whilst the sun acts very slowly in 

 raising the temperature of the wet subsoil in which 

 deeply seated roots soon perish, and those nearest 

 the surface are little better off, as they do not com- 

 mence fresh action much before midsummer. 

 Drainage, all good cultivators assert, is the first 

 essential in the preparation of new orchards or in the 

 renovation of old ones, and why? — well, simply 

 because the removal of stagnant, if not putrid, water 

 and the introduction of fresh air raises the tempera- 

 ture of the soil from 3° to 5°, a condition which not 

 infrequently forms the dividing line betwixt success 

 and failure. 



So far my remarks have been confined to old 

 orchards, planted haphazard upon all sorts and con- 

 ditions of badly-prepared land, as well as in un- 

 favourable situations. The best of these may be re- 

 tained for a time, upon the principle that half a loaf 

 is better than no bread ; but the majority of them 

 must go, and young ones must spring up before we 

 can hope to realize an average £10 an acre, or com- 

 pete with the colonists in our own markets. Some 

 years, as many present know, have passed since hor- 

 ticulturists commenced agitating, but the good seed 

 which was intended to put three-quarters of a million 

 of money into the British fanners' pocket for a long 

 time fell upon stony ground. Some recently has 

 taken root, and far-seeing landowners are now put- 

 ting our theory into practice by offering land upon 

 conditions that will induce capitalists to invest in 

 fruit culture precisely as they do in coal and iron. 

 In this and the adjoining counties good landlords are 

 raising and distributing to their tenantry Apple and 

 Pear trees by thousands. These mostly are standards 

 on free stocks, the only class of tree suited to pasture 

 and arable land. Nurserymen, again, who have 

 brought propagation up to a fine ait, are producing 

 standards and dwarfs by the million, and these 

 surely in a few years should make their mark. Mean- 

 time a complete network of markets, I insist, must 

 be created throughout the kingdom. 



From the preceding remarks, those who run may 

 gather the fact that I do not set much value on the 

 thousand of acres of ragged, decrepit, moss and 

 lichen laden trees, but until the new plantations come 

 into bearing we must make the best of them. Then, 

 with Gladstonian vigour, we may hew them down, 

 and let the Apple-sick sites go back to Hops, corn, 



and pasture. Upon this principle change of site may 

 be worked precisely as gardeners now manage their 

 Strawberry plantations, and with similar results. 

 I venture to say, one acre of modern orcharding 

 will beat ten of the old— at least in the West Mid- 

 land counties. 



Already I am afraid my paper is too long, but 

 having warmed to my subject, I should like to say a 

 few words upon the formation of the modern orchards 

 I might divide them into several parts, such as aspect, 

 site, soil, preparation, planting, the best style of tree 

 manuring, mulching, pruning, and protection, gather- 

 ing, storing, packing, and marketing, but my time 

 being limited, my words must be brief and general. 



Aspect and site being so closely dovetailed together 

 these I will not attempt to separate. All gardeners, 

 I believe, are pretty well agreed that a south aspect 

 is best, as trees in this position ripen their wood well, 

 and produce fruit of the highest colour and quality. 

 The Apple, however, being perfectly hardy, the quality 

 of the soil must not be lost sight of; neither must 

 altitude and shelter from north and east winds be 

 repudiated. Under these circumstances, the soil 

 being deep sandstone loam resting on marl, and 

 naturally drained, I should not object to a point east, 

 or any other aspect round with the sun to full west. 

 The latter, however, I should prefer, and for these 

 reasons : although western gales in this part of the 

 country do some damage, it is well known that if 

 plants are exposed to the first rays of the morning 

 sun when they are frozen they will suffer, but if they 

 are shaded until they are gradually thawed by the 

 rising temperature of the air they will stand a few 

 degrees with impunity. An orchard open to the 

 east or south-east is almost sure to suffer after an 

 attack of spring frost when in full flower or 

 setting, whereas one with a western aspect, 

 which does not receive the sun until the tem- 

 perature has risen and dispelled the frost often 

 sets and carries full crops to maturity. Hardly a 

 year passes in which the gardener does not find early 

 crops of all kinds are safer and finer upon west bor- 

 ders than upon others ; therefore, I think, few will 

 deny that his experience is of great value to the 

 planter. The site, I may say, should be above the 

 line of fog, and it should not be too near or on a 

 level with water. If naturally drained much time 

 and expense will be saved, otherwise this operation 

 must be well carried out as a preliminary to prepara- 

 tion. This may be performed in two ways, viz., by 

 trenching two spits deep for pyramids or bushes, or 

 by taking out large circular stations on grass or 

 arable land, for standards. If trenching is decided 

 upon, the bottom spit, if heavy and inferior, should 

 not be brought to the surface, but it may be amelio- 

 rated by the addition of burnt clay from the drains, 

 by road scrapings, or any other fresh friable material 

 short of rich animal manure. This, unless the staple 

 be very poor, I would keep back for use as a mulch 

 after the trees are planted. On all ordinary loams 

 young trees grow fast enough at first, but the time 

 comes when they must be fed, otherwise they cannot 

 be expected to yield, year after year, fruit of the 

 finest quality. 



In the preparation of stations for standards on 

 grass or tillage ground I would throw off the top spit 

 9 feet in diameter, break up the bottom, and throw 

 out clay or bad material to be carted away or burned. 

 If cold or at all unfavourable to root-growth, ex- 

 posure of the soil for a few weeks or months would 

 greatly improve its quality. Otherwise, after correct- 

 ing the bottom spit, that thrown off first, turf 

 included, with anything in the way of road-scrapings 

 or old lime rubble added, may be chopped in until 

 the hole is quite full, or a little above the general 

 ground level. A stout stake should then be driven 

 down to the solid bottom, as a support for the tree 

 when planted. 



Planting may be performed at any time from the 

 beginning of October up to the end of April. Autumn, 

 however, is best, as the roots at once take to the soil 

 and the trees make a fair growth the following 

 Summer. October and November undoubtedly are 

 the best months — that is, provided the land is in 



