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4 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[January 6, 1912. 



branches which it would produce in the insides 

 of the trees must be cut out. 



Allington Pippin, as mentioned on a previous 

 occasion, is another variety of Apple difficult to 

 train, though its habit of growth is entirely 

 different from that of either of the varieties just 

 noticed. Its main shoots are comparatively 

 rigid, and its chief fault as a grower is that it 

 produces a profusion of laterals, mostly pointing 

 to the middle of the tree, and needing to be cut 

 out severely. Lane's Prince Albert is similarly 

 troublesome, and even more so in one respect, 

 as its tendency is to produce shoots pointing 

 downwards, while its growth is much less vigor- 

 ous than that of Allington Pippin. Both 

 varieties in my soil have a propensity to pre- 

 mature fruiting, which needs severe correction to 

 prevent stunting of wood growth. 



One of the most disappointing varieties of the 

 Apple planted by me is Domino, not because of 

 its shaping, which is naturally symmetrical, but 

 on account of its inveterate propensity to clothe 

 its branches so profusely with fruit spurs that 

 its wood growth is dwarfed, and a tree becomes 

 mature before its proper time. It appears to 

 require a very rich soil or profuse manuring. The 

 latter has been tried for the last and the present 

 season, but it should have been done earlier. 

 This variety needs very severe cutting-back in 

 its early stages to promote strong growth. 



Duchess of Oldenberg is not worth the trouble to 

 train well, as its fruit is not good enough in 

 flavour for dessert, nor big enough to cook. It 3 

 shoots have the bad habit of growing inwards. 

 and it is only by very severe thinning out of in- 

 ternal shoots and cutting the rest to buds point- 

 ing outwards, year after year, that trees of satis- 

 factory shape can be produced. Summer-pruning, 

 or, still better, disbudding quite early in the 

 summer, is needed in this case, as it is with 

 Allington Pippin and Lane's Prince Albert. 



Apple Trees Easy to Shape. 



Among the varieties of Apple trees in my 

 plantations found easiest to train in symmetrical 

 shape are Bramley's Seedling, Early Julyan, 

 Warner's King, Queen, Cox's" Orange Pippin, 

 Charles Roes, and Mr. Gladstone. They 

 differ widely in vigour of growth, but all 

 tend to form themselves well, with compara- 

 tively little correction. Warner's King tends 

 to the growth of sturdy branches too thinly 

 disposed, a fault to be corrected by some- 

 what severe pruning in its early stages. 

 Irish Peach might be included in the list, 

 if it w T ere not for the habit of that variety 

 of fruiting on its terminals, which, if not 

 checked, leads to the growth of a tree of pendent- 

 habit. With young trees of this variety the 

 plan of keeping the leaders short year after year 

 is being tried. This will check fruit produc- 

 tion, but the object is to produce short-jointed 

 branches stiff enough to bear the weight of the 

 fruit, and thus to prevent the formation of a 

 tree of " weeping " growth. 



Birds 



Buds. 



From the fact that birds have cleared off the 

 berries of the Hawthorn and most of those of 

 the Holly earlier than usual, there seems to be 

 reason to fear that they will soon turn their 

 attention to the buds of Plums and Gooseberries. 

 No attack has been noticed at present; but it is 

 necessary to inspect the trees and bushes fre- 

 quently in order to be prompt in spraying them 

 with lime-sulphur as soon as the first signs of an 

 attack are noticed. Unless the buds are 

 molested, there is no need to spray Gooseberry 

 bushes that are not covered with Lichen; while 

 the spraying of Plum trees is best deferred until 

 the buds are on the point of bursting, when 



the value of a 

 than it would 

 Fortunately, lime-sulphur, 



fungicide 

 be at the 



will be greater 

 i present time, 

 which is trouble- 



some and " messy " to prepare at home, is now 

 supplied by certain firms, who can instruct users 

 as to the respective degrees of dilution required 

 for their several solutions, which differ in 



strength. For a w T inter wash there should be 

 at least 12 lb. of sulphur in 40 gallons of water, 

 and if the maker will inform his customer 

 how much sulphur is in solution per gallon 

 of his preparation, the latter will know how 

 much water to add. Or the latter may obtain a 

 Baume hydrometer, and dilute according to the 

 density of the concentrated solution. The den- 

 sity of a well-made solution should show 32° to 

 33° on the Baume scale, and then 10^ to 11 gal- 

 lons of water should be added for a winter wash, 

 or half-a-gallon less for each degree lower than 

 32°, The subject of using a winter wash as a 



it at all likely that a bushel of Apples would 

 make 6d. more in a box than in a wicker sieve? 

 It seems to me entirely improbable, and the ad- 

 vantage of the wasteful system of using non- 

 returnable boxes does not commend itself to me. 

 There is no reason in using such boxes simply 

 because American and Canadian growers use 

 them. They must use a rigid and closely- 

 covered package, such as a box or a barrel, in 

 exporting Apples; but the same necessity does 

 not arise for home growers, whose fruit is sen 

 only one rail journey, and sold a day or two 

 after its despatch. A Southern Grower. 



t^^mm 



Fig. 3. — famous ash tree at ruthin. 



fungicide, however, may be left for a future 

 occasion, when it will be more seasonable than 

 it is at present. 



Boxing Apples. 



A paper read at the recent fruit show at Ash- 

 ford recalls attention to the question of packing 

 Apples in bushel boxes. Mr. C. S. Smith, the 

 reader of the paper, said that such boxes cost 

 5d. to 6d. each, 2s. per hundred for making up 

 (so that apparently they are received in pieces), 

 and l^d. each to pack. How can such expenses 

 be profitable w T hen first-class culinary Apples, 

 well graded, make only 3s. 6d. to 4s. per bushel, 

 less commission and rail carriage, as hundreds 

 of thousands of bushels were sold in the autumn? 

 One report states that the boxed Bramley's Seed- 

 lings sold at the end of the show averaged only 

 4s. 3d. per bushel, a price much below the 

 rate then current for firsts in London. Is 



FAMOUS ASH TREE AT RUTHIN. 



We are indebted to Sir Daniel Morris, 

 K.C.M.G., for our illustration (see fig. 3) of a 

 remarkable Ash tree in the grounds of 

 Ruthin Castle, North Wales. The measure- 

 ment from the base to the first fork is 

 25 feet, and the circumference at 6 feet from 

 the ground is 16 feet. From the ground level to 

 the first fork the circumference is practically 

 equal, so that taking the quarter girth, this part 

 of the tree contains something like 400 cubic fee fc 

 of timber. The height of the tree, in the opinion 

 of Mr. Forder, the agent, is about 100 feet. One 

 large limb was broken off in a storm two years 

 ago, but otherwise the tree is perfectly sound- 

 Mr. H. J. Khres, writing to Sir Daniel Morris 

 recently, expressed the opinion that the Rutnm 

 Castle specimen is probably the finest Arh tree 

 in Wales, 















