374 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTirRE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



[ May IG, 1865. 



not the best possible for each individually, but unquestion- 

 ably the best for the two united. Let us see how these con- 

 siderations aifect the class of fruits whose cultiration involves 

 most uncertainty, and, coniniencing with the Peach, let us 

 examine the general conditions under which it is grown. 



I believe in a former article I have stated my belief that 

 the Peach thrives best in a soil containing more than the 

 average amount of saline matter, and in this view I was 

 confirmed by a correspondent who had seen the rapid growth 

 the trees make in South America, where the ground was 

 almost crusted with salt. There is also some reason to 

 believe that the soil of the districts in Australia where 

 the Peach thrive? so luxuriantly, is also moi-e or less im- 

 pregnated with salt, and in our own country some of the 

 best Peach trees that I know of are to bo found near the 

 coast, where the influences of the sea air as well as the salt 

 spray have given the required seasoning to the soil and 

 atmosphere. In inland districts the prosperity or otherwise 

 of the trees may also be iu some measure attributed to the 

 presence or absence of salt in the composition of the soil of 

 the district in which they are grown, coupled, of course, 

 with other favourable cii-cumstances. This, however, is a 

 digression from the object in view, which was to determine 

 •whether a surface rendered open and porous by tillage or 

 one that was firm and hard was the better medium for the 

 roots. On this point the evidence is naturally conflicting, 

 as there are comparatively few Peach-borders which are not 

 dug more or less, and the question of the utility of digging 

 is as often answered in the negative as in the affirmative, 

 by the trees not prospering in a cultivated border; never- 

 theless there are a few cases in which Peach trees on a 

 border in a gi-eat measure exempt from cultivation thrive 

 and produce good crops, and one of these cases of an ex- 

 treme character may be adduced iu support of the plan of 

 non-cultivation. 



About thirty years ago a gentleman who had a very good 

 ■wall of Peach trees, which up to that time had produced 

 good crops, and were by good management kept in tolerable 

 health, thinking they showed signs of declining vigour, 

 conceived that it aa'ose from the border being cropped. The 

 border, 10 or 12 feet wide, was not heavily cropped with 

 early Peas, &c., as is too often the case, but was devoted to 

 the gi-owth of the best herbaceous plants, with now and 

 then some from the greenhouse intermixed with them in 

 summer. Of course, a certain amount of digging was per- 

 formed in winter, and the gentleman thought there was an 

 apparent falling oiF in the health of the trees, and as he was 

 a keen horticulturist, he conceived the idea of haring the 

 flowers all removed, and the border covered with turf, which 

 was done much to the chagrin of many who admired the 

 choice collection of plants carefully arranged en that border 

 of some 500 feet in length, as well as on one on the opposite 

 side of a ten-feet-wide walk, llowever the turfing was ac- 

 complished, and the spade laid aside, and I was told with 

 good result. Unfortunately, my acquaintance with the 

 place ceased soon after the change alluded to, but from the 

 evidence of a friend the trees prospered for several years 

 afterwards. This, no doubt, is an unusual case, but it con- 

 firms Mr. Fish's views, in so far that tillage is not always 

 an essential feature in the culture of healthy trees. 1 may 

 add, that althougii the place in question was in the far 

 north, and on an elevated position, it was nevertheless a di-y 

 one, a sandstone shatter forming the subsoil, with a great 

 depth of sandstone underneath. Doubtless the fiee perco- 

 lation of water through the soil had much to do with 

 hastening the ripening of the wood. I believe that otlier 

 plants not usually met with so far north withstood the 

 winter very well in that garden, and one of tho largest 

 plants of Hydrangea I over saw was in it, and some stan- 

 dard Figs had stood gome years in a sheltered corner, but I 

 do not think that they bore much, unless it was in the hot 

 summer of 182C. To add to the favourable position of the 

 Peach trees, the wall was (lued, and for a month or more in 

 spring, and in-; liii« time in autumn, fires were kept on 

 to protect tlio blossom, and ripen thn wood. These advan- 

 ages, however, would aeem to be wanted to countorbalan ;e 

 tho bleakness of a situation at least 000 feet above the sen, 

 and only twenty miles from it, in a latitude north of Car- 

 lisle. Here, then, tho trees throve with a cultivated border ; 

 they also prospered wbeb the spade was laid aside, and 



though their being either better or worse afterwards, wae 

 doubtless in some degree dependant on the seaons, and 

 other circumstances, yet the fact of their doing well when 

 grown with their roots under the turf is a point worth 

 noticing, and in its way an unusual state of things. Now, 

 let us turn to another case, and see how trees of other kinds 

 thrive iu a soU unmoved by the spade, or other culturul 

 implement. 



In districts where the hardy finiits are grown extensively 

 there are various modes of managing orchards; but the 

 most general one is to plant the trees on ground that has 

 either been subjected to tUlage or been dug or trenched for 

 the expi-ess purpose ; and usuaDy tillage is continued for a 

 number of years, depending, of course, on the character of 

 the under crop, which may either be bush fruit, vegetables, 

 or farning crops ; but as the trees attain a greater size, 

 tillage is given up, the bush fruit removed by degrees, and 

 the ground sown with grass seeds. The last operation, I 

 may remai'k, is done earlier in a Cherry orchard than where 

 other fruits are under cultivation, as experience has proved ' 

 the Cherry to suffer more from the spade than any other 

 tree. Cherry trees on grass very often attain a patriarchal 

 age ; I believe there are instances of trees upwards of two 

 hundred years old, though such ancient specimens are long 

 past their best. Apple and Pear trees also thrive weU on 

 grass, and some very old specimens are now and then met 

 with iu such a position. At no great distance from where 

 I write are some venerable trees of a bygone age. Their 

 boles are in no place of less circumference than 4 feet ; and 

 though every winter destroys, or partly destroys, one or two 

 of these ancient trees, those remaining produce very fair 

 fruit in favoui'able seasons, and put forth leaves with the 

 vigour of younger members of the vegetable community. 

 They have existed on a piece of pasture land from a time 

 beyond the recollection of the oldest person in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Returning, however, to the case of Chemes, 

 there is little doubt but that they benefit more by being let 

 alone than when their roots are mutilated by the spade or 

 plough, as is done in some cases. 



It would be idle to point out instances in which trees 

 have maintained a healthy and fruit-bearing condition for 

 so many yeai-s with a turfed surface, and beneath an 

 impenetrable roadway the roots of good fruit-bearing trees 

 likewise very often exist. There is one thing, however, 

 that ought always to be borne in mind — good tillage in 

 the first instance promotes rapid growth, and therefore 

 it is advisable to bestow some pains in the first formation of 

 a plantation when the trees to be planted are required to 

 grow rapidly. This recommendation is not confined to fruit 

 trees, but is also applicable to forest trees and shrubs. 

 Indeed as regards these, even when the ground presents 

 some expensive obstacles to cultivation, the more rapid 

 growth often pays for the outlay. At no gi'eat distance 

 li'om here is a Chestnut coppice, one portion of which was 

 planted on the ground unprepared in any way, whilst for 

 the other the ground was trenched, and a considerable 

 quantity of stones removed. It was exceedingly stony, with 

 very little surface soil, and that composed of two-thirds 

 stones embedded in a hard impenetrable soil resembling an 

 old road more than anything else, and even when in culti- 

 vation it had anything but an inviting appearance ; never- 

 theless, on such a soil many kinds of trees thrive well, and 

 quickset hedges particularly so, but all aro tho better of 

 the ground having received a good grubbing-up. I am not 

 certain whether trees receive so -luM'Ai lienefit from ground 

 of this d^ncription being afterwards laid do'.vn in grass as 

 in some other cases ; at ail events it is not so often done, 

 for the reason that grass is by no moans a productive crop 

 on such soils. Tho above, however, is an exceptional case; 

 let us now endeavour to find a reason for the advantages 

 whicli middle-aged fi-uit trees unquestionably derive from 

 being left to themselves in a great measure, especially at 

 the root. 



'frees, like men, have their period of youth, maturity, and 

 old iige, and when duo encouragement has been given in the 

 first period of life, tho succeeding stages derive the benefit. 

 Now, in a fruit tree destined to attain great dimensions, tho 

 earlier period of its existence is devoted to growth rather 

 than to its producing fruit, and if let alono or judiciously 

 munoged its period of bearing cornea on by degrees, and in 



