28 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[January 13, 1912. 



Training Young Standard Fruit Trees. 

 — The remarks on this subject by Mr. A. Petts 

 (see p. 476, vol 1.) are opportune, but if he 

 had tackled the old, well-worn subject of prun- 

 ing versus non-pruning the same season as plant- 

 ing he would have gone at once to the crux 

 of the question. Few advocate the non-pruning 

 method outside of a nursery; there, of course, 

 they have ample opportunity of testing the sub- 

 ject more fully than anyone else, because they 

 plant later than others, as they have to make up 

 their quarters of fruit trees of all sorts after 

 others have had their pick of the trees. When 

 such late planting, as is frequently the case, has 

 to be done, I would not say but that the non- 

 pruning method is best for that season, but where 

 trees are planted, of any form of training, before 

 the end of .March they should be pruned at once. 

 How to obtain a maximum of growth the first 

 season is the main point to study, as the sooner 

 a large area is properly covered with the tree the 

 earlier is a full crop of fruit obtained. I am a 

 strong advocate of close pruning to induce extra 

 vigour and quick progress of the tree, having 

 seen so many practical illustrations in coppice 

 work and the remaking of hedges, apart, from 

 experience in fruit-tree growth. Trees that are 

 not pruned when planted make so little progress 

 for two or three years that I regard this treat- 

 ment as causing a gross waste of time. Those 

 who plant two fruit trees can test the matter for 

 themselves if so inclined ; they will find the ex- 

 perience thus gained of distinct value. M . 



The Potato and Floral Sterility. — Tho 



letter on this subject from Mr. A. Dean (p. 13) 

 notes a circumstance of considerable importance 

 to those interested in the breeding of Potatos. 

 The absence of pollen in many modern Potatos 

 seems to me to be a sure sign of degeneracy, and 

 is not, as Mr. Dean suggests, the result of ex- 

 haustion caused by excessive tuberation. I ques- 

 tion very much if we are getting such heavy 

 crops at the present time as were secured by our 

 forefathers, and there is room for considerable 

 improvement among Potatos by means of scien- 

 tific hybridisation. I have spent considerable 

 time among Potatos when the plants were in 

 flower, and the paucity of pollen in many varie- 

 ties and its sterility in others were features 

 which I could not fail to observe. One of the 

 heaviest-cropping and best-known main-crop 

 varieties in commerce will not, I find, yield a 

 grain of pollen out of thousands of flowers, while 

 another similar sort, but of a much later intro- 

 duction, will yield it in plenty. Exce-sive pro- 

 pagation by asexual methods has much to do 

 with floral sterility. George M. Taylor, Mid- 

 lothian. 



A Theory of Rat-catching. — It is an un- 

 fortunate circumstance that the most destructive 

 of rodents should be the most difficult to trap. 

 The caution and the cunning of the common rat 

 render all forms of wire trap practically useless, 

 even in the hands of those well acquainted with 

 the habits and peculiarities of the animal. It is 

 confidently asserted — in the writer's opinion with 

 but small justification — that the use of certain 

 essential oils, such as oil of aniseed, increases to 

 a great degree the catching power of a wire trap ; 

 yet it will be found that rats so caught belong 

 almost exclusively to a young and inexperienced 

 generation. The " clam " or steel trap is effec- 

 tive but brutal. The " break-neck " is an im- 

 proved form, but rats appear to avoid this style 

 of trap like the plague once they have seen or 

 heard it catch a comrade, or, worse still, if it is 

 94 sprung M prematurely, as often happens. Per- 

 haps the most effective form of spring trap is a 

 modification of the " clam M or gin, made entirely 

 of copper wire ; but even this is open to the vital 

 objection that it cannot be relied upon. The 

 only method of overcoming the difficulty — always 

 supposing that expert rat-catchers cannot be em- 

 ployed — is to meet the rat on his own ground, 

 and match human against murine cunning. The 

 reason that so many traps and other devices fail 

 is that the subject is approached in an unimagi- 

 native way. We expect to catch rats year after 

 year with the same old traps, by the same old 

 tricks. Variety and a bewildering combination 

 of devices, new and old, are essentials. This 

 principle was tacitly adopted by the inventor 

 of the following scheme. For it the writer is in- 

 debted to a German, w T hose work appeared in 

 1741. He says (in fairly close translation) : — 

 *• Take a cask and beat the top out. In the bot- 



tom place a brick on end, and pour water to the 

 level of the top of the brick. Cover the cask 

 with a skin, fastened at the edges. On this place 

 corn, tallow, or other things beloved of rats. 

 Make access to the top of the cask easy by means 

 of boards. The cask must remain in this condi- 

 tion for several nights and the bait must be con- 

 stantly renewed. After this period has elapsed, 

 cut the skin in the form of a cross and put bait on 

 as before. The rats, accustomed to feast in 

 security, approach confidently to the bait, and 

 several at least must fall through into the water. 

 These swim about seeking an exit, and find the 

 brick, whereon one probably takes his stand. 

 The others, finding no other means of salvation, 

 fight desperately for a place on the brick. The 

 noise and commotion below give the rats above 

 on the boards and the top of the cask the idea 

 that their struggling comrades are fighting for 

 some rare delicacy, and in they rush pell-mell to 

 the fray. The result is that a large number of 

 rats either kill each other or are drowned, since 

 the skin above them prevents their jumping out, 

 even if they are fortunate enough to get the 

 brick or the bodies of other rats to spring from." 

 The above method has one drawback — it i& in- 

 human; that struggling, biting, shrieking mass 



tice was to roast live rats in an iron pot in front 

 of a roaring fire, when their squealing was said 

 to attract all the other rats in the house. Tarring 

 a live rat and letting it escape is a practice un- 

 happily not dead yet. If ordinary traps be used 

 at all, they should be in as great a variety as the 

 market will allow. They should be baited and 

 not set for several nights to inspire confidence. 

 Oil of aniseed fairly well masks the human smell 

 which makes rats so cautious. In a wire trap 

 the bait should be poisoned to prevent the night- 

 long agony of captivity. Even rat-catching has, 

 or should have, its ethics in a civilized age. 

 Sydney II. Kenwood, B.A. 



The Colouring of Apples. — Colour is 



influenced to some extent by the root conditions 

 of the trees ; if the soil does not contain a suffi- 

 ciency of moisture at a time when the colour is 

 developing, naturally the tree cannot perform its 

 function. Apples, as a rule, colour remarkably 

 well here where the soil is of a heavy, moisture- 

 retaining character ; but last season was an ex- 

 ception in the lack of colour in many varieties, 

 particularly in Bramley's Seedling. When we 

 get a normal season for moisture regularly 

 through the various months this Apple colours 



^■■■■•■■■■■■■■■m^"" 



{Photograph by G. E. Low % 



Fig. i8. — begonia luxurians; flowers cream coloured. 



(See p. 29). 



* 



of rats is not pleasant to contemplate. The pre- 

 sent writer would suggest corrosive sublimate or 

 other non -odorous poison in the water. The plan 

 has great advantages over poisons, since the 

 bodies remain in situ and can be disposed of. The 

 ame old German has other quaint schemes. One 

 is to cut a sponge into small cubes and to throw 

 these for a few seconds into melted fat. When 

 removed from the fat the cubes are put in places 

 frequented by rats, and water is supplied near at 

 hand.^ The idea is that the rats, having eaten 

 the pieces of sponge, will be overcome by sudden 

 and great thirst; they will rush to the water, 

 drink deeply, and die as the result of the swell- 

 ing of the bits of sponge. The present writer 

 offers this scheme with all due reserve ; he has 

 never tried it, and includes it here chiefly as a 

 contribution to that variety of methods which he 

 recommends. The depredations of rats are apt 

 to induce a complete inhumanity in dealing with 

 them. Thus an old writer has the following 

 simple recipe for blinding rats, and remarks quite 

 coolly: — " Its results are extraordinary." Dry 

 common spurge, rub it through a clean sieve, 

 and nix with an equal part of flour. Rats are 

 said to eat it greedily. Another barbarous prac- 



richly ; but last year was an exception, mainly 

 because there was drought in August and 

 September. The average rainfall here for the 

 year is 30 inches ; in September we were 12 

 inches behind the proper quantity up to that 

 period, and although that deficiency has now 

 been more than made up, the experience is 

 sufficient to convince me that if trees do not ob- 

 tain sufficient moisture at the root the fruit will 

 be deficient in colour. An absence of sun, too, 

 has an effect upon colour. It is useless to say that 

 sun has no effect upon the colour of Apples. How 

 many times have we found a green or a yellow 

 blotch, as the case may be, on a single Apple? 

 while the remainder of the fruit has been a 

 brilliant red, this blotch of green caused by 

 a single leaf covering that portion of the 

 fruit. Again, where trees are covered with 

 nets to protect the fruit from birds, how 

 often the fruit bears the impress of the nets, 

 denoting clearly whether the nets are square 

 meshed or otherwise. Why are these significant 

 signs so prevalent if the sun has but little 

 to do with the colouring process, and the latter 

 is developed from within? Take another example 

 of the effect which the sun has upon the colour 



