Mabch 



THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE, 



119 



Arrears of Work. 



In 



consequence of the great waste 

 caused by the frequent rainfall, all kinds of work 

 in fruit plantations are sadly in arrear. For 

 mouths some of us have been deferring the fork- 



old-established plantation of Plums there was a 



of time bad attack last season, in spite of the drought, We learn as we liv, 



A Note as to Stakes. 



and probably there will be a worse one this year, 

 unless it can be checked by spraying. Investiga- 

 tions as to the treatment of thin destructive 



ing-over of the orchards, in the hope of the land disease have been sadlv neglected, and now that 

 getting into fair condition for the operation. Win- funds have been granted for research in fruit 



left 



ter spraying also has been postponed, because of 

 the reluctance to perform the work with the pro- 

 bability of rain following it immediately. A be- 

 ginning was made in my case over a month ago. 

 and has been only just resumed, at the end of 

 IVbruary. Soon it must be finished, or 

 undone altogether for the season, as fruit- 

 buds will shortly be too forward for the safe 

 application of caustic washes. Even pruning 

 has been delayed by the frequent wet days, 

 and so has the carting of manure into the 

 orchards and the forking-in around the trees. If 



diseases, this should be one of the first subjects 

 to receive attention. As to the effect of the wet 

 winter upon the development of canker, there is. 

 unfortunately, no doubt whatever. Small patche 

 of canker have spread quite round youni 

 branches, so that there is nothing to be done but 

 the complete removal of the shoots. The diseased 

 bark has become a wet and spongy mass of rot 

 Well-grown Cox's Orange Pippin trees plant I 

 some six and some seven years ago, include 

 many trees badly attacked. They were treated 

 for the disease when they were Buminer-imined. 



Having been persuaded 

 to accept some hop-poles for stakes, striped in- 

 stead of entirely stripped of bark, and some 

 short ground-end stakes not even partially 

 stripped, I found that two years after the plant- 

 ing the bark \\ s loose, so that it afforded shel- 

 ter for hibernating insects and pupa. With 

 this experience, any stakes purchased by me 

 in future will have to be completely stripped 

 of bark, as hop-poles usually are. It may be 

 added that a hop-pole 14 feet long makes three 

 stakes 4 feet long, after cutting off the tip, which 

 is often a little crooked. For short-stemmed, 

 half -standard Apples or Plums stakes should b- 

 only about 3 feet or 3 feet 3 inches abov, th c 

 -round level after having been driven in, as it i 



objectionable to have them high enough to bruis 



the branches which may be blown qgainst th n 



Fig. 63.— CHINESE BRAMBLES. 



LEFT to right: rubus coreanus, r. thibetanus, r. corchorifolius, r, omeiensis, and r. biflorus var. quinqueflorus. 



(See pp. 147-148.) 



a dry time sets in, everyone will be anxious to 

 get on with cultivation and hoeing, and these 

 classes of work will clash with arrears that should 

 have been cleared up long ago. 



A Fungous Season. 

 After one of the driest summers on record, 

 fruit-growers were congratulating themselves 

 upon a remarkable immunity from attacks of fun- 

 gous diseases. Never was there greater immunity 

 from scab, and even brown rot and canker seemed 

 to have had a severe check. It is to be feared, 



time. By the way, it is a necessary precau- 

 tion, I think, to apply Stockholm tar after a 



but the malady has developed afresh since that by a strong wind. Another " wrinkle " is the 



desirability of shaving off the sharp edge of the 

 sawn top of a stake and any knots on it, for 



surgical operation for canker well beyond, as although a wisp of straw or some other pad 



well as within, the limits of the portion of the should be placed between the stake and the tree 



bark cut out, in order to prevent the spread of 



the disease beyond the margin of the excised 



portion. 



Ties Girdling Trees. 

 It is necessary, as a rule, to renew the ties 



in tying, it often gets shifted, and then a wound 

 may easily be made in the trunk of the tree by 

 its chafing against anything sharp or rough when 

 the wand blows, and canker is apt to set in where 

 there is such a wound. 



A Great Brood of Ladybirds. 



however, that the wet winter has cancelled the where treeS are l \f t0 ^ es at ^ ° nCe in *" ° One of the desirable legacies of the last hot 

 benefits to a great extent. This may not be the y ears as tfie swelling of the trunks causes a be- - 



case with scab, which I do not find to any con- 

 siderable extent on young Apple shoots. But there 

 is grave reason to fear that a bad development of 

 brown rot will show shortly in Plum orchards 

 that have been affected with the maladv. In an 



ginning of girdling within that period, if not 

 before. Where tarred cord, commonly known as 



" ropey am," 



is used, it should be stout ; haycord 

 is softer and cheaper, and, although it will not 

 last as long, it is less liable to girdle the trees. 



summer is an extraordinary number of ladybirds. 

 Never before have I seen a tenth part of the 

 number that I have noticed while pruning 

 Apple trees in the course of the present winter. 

 They were found protected in straw wisps used 

 in tieing trees to stakes and under loose pieces 



