November 22, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



395 







WEEKLY CALENDAR. 















Day 1 Day 



of 1 of 



Month Week. 



NOVEMBER 22—28, 1877. 



Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises, 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 before 

 Sua. 



Day 



of 



Year. 









Day. 



Night. 



Mean 



h. m. 



b. m. 



b. ra 



b. m. 



Davs. 



m. s. 





22 



Th 



J. Sherard died, 1788. 



49.2 



34.7 



41.9 



7 33 



4 



4 38 



9 44 



17 



13 30 



326 



23 



F 



Old Martinmas Day. 



47.6 



31.2 



40.9 



7 34 



3 59 



5 45 



10 43 



18 



13 22 



Si7 



24 



S 



Leeds Show. 



47.4 



34.7 



39 5 



7 36 



3 58 



7 5 



11 27 



19 



13 4 



328 



25 



Sun 



26 Sunday after Teinity. 



46.4 



33.7 



40 



7 37 



3 57 



8 32 



11 53 



20 



12 46 



3:9 



26 



M 





47.2 



82.9 



40.0 



7 39 



3 56 



10 



Ca20 



21 



12 27 



330 



27 



To 



Manchester Show, 



47.0 



33.6 



40.3 



7 40 



3 55 



11 25 



37 



( 



12 7 



331 



28 



W 



Sale of Balbs at Stevens's Rooms. 



48.1 



33 9 



41.0 



7 42 



3 55 



morn. 



51 



23 



11 47 



332 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, 



the average day temperature 



of the week is 47.9° ; and its night temperature 



33.5^. 











CHERRIES AS ESPALIERS. 



F all the fruits of the garden Cherries are 

 perhaps the most unsatisfactory. The trees 

 may grow freely, blossom freely, and fruit 

 freely, yet the harvest of fruit is often a 

 barren one owing to the depredations of birds. 

 I am not now writing of Cherry districts 

 where trees are grown by the acre, and where 

 there is much more fruit than the birds can 

 eat, but of ordinary gardens where there is 

 perhaps a dozen blackbirds and thrushes 

 to one Cherry tree. In that case it is not difficult to 

 decide where the Cherries will go, for unless effectual 

 steps are taken preventing them the birds will have 

 nearly every one. That has been my experience. From 

 the dozen fine trees in the orchard under my charge I 

 have reaped little beyond vexation and annoyance, for 

 Cherries I could secure but few, owing to what some call 

 " pets," but which I (during the fruit season) regard as 

 pests — the birds. The loss of the crop was the more 

 annoying, since I was frequently reminded that Cherries 

 were the "favourite fruit of the family" — the reverse of 

 "good news" to the family's gardener. To cover the few 

 large trees with nets was impracticable, and there was no 

 room on the walls for Cherry trees. It then became a 

 question, since Cherries must be had, whether to plant 

 trees and train them in the bush or pyramid form, or 

 whether to plant and train them as espaliers. I had an 

 inclination for the latter, my employer rather preferring 

 the former mode of culture. The result was a compro- 

 mise, and both systems were adopted. That is many 

 years ago, and many excellent crops have been gathered 

 from both sets of trees ; but those trees which have 

 given the most fruit with the least trouble have been the 

 espaliers. 



So admirably are Cherries adapted for this mode of 

 culture, so well do the trees bear, so attractive do they 

 look both when blossoming and fruiting, and, especially, 

 so easily can the fruit be protected from birds, that it 

 is a little surprising that espalier Cherry trees are not as 

 frequently seen as espalier Apple trees — not so numerous, 

 of course, but yet represented in every garden which is 

 considered well furnished for meeting the requirements of 

 an opulent family. Yet we seldom find a row or rows of 

 espalier Cherries. 



I know only one other mode of growing Cherries that 

 is at all comparable (leaving walls out of the question) to 

 growing them as espaliers and training their branches 

 horizontally, and that is training them to strained wire 

 fences on the diagonal-cordon system. I have not had 

 much experience with this mode of culture, yet I have 

 had sufficient to prove its worth, and were I now called 

 upon to furnish a garden with trees I should certainly 

 have a long stretch of diagonal-cordon Cherry trees. It 

 is the quickest of all modes of producing a " hedge," 

 affords the greatest variety of sorts in a given space, and 

 enables crops of fruit being perfected which cannot be 

 surpassed by any other means. Yet while I should make 



No. 860.— Vol. XXXIII., New Series. 



due provision for carrying out this system of Cherry 

 culture I should not ignore the value of the old-fashioned 

 horizontally-trained espaliers, for the trees on this plan 

 when established will, I believe, last for generations, and 

 would, I think, although I am not certain on that point, 

 continue in health longer than the much more restricted 

 diagonal cordons. 



A point of importance in essaying the espalier mode of 

 culture with Cherry trees is not to have the wires of the 

 fence too close together. The first espalier fence that I 

 had made for Cherries had the wires strained 8 inches 

 apart, but that, in the case of many varieties, proved 

 much too close, and after a time every alternate branch 

 had to be removed, to the great benefit of the trees and 

 crops. The simplest and the best rule of guidance for 

 determining the proper distances for training the branches 

 of fruit trees is to take note of the length of the leaves 

 during summer, and then adopt the principle carried out 

 with rows of Peas — namely, that the same distance should 

 be allowed between the rows as the Peas grow in height ; 

 so with fruit trees, the same (or a little greater) distance 

 should be allowed between the branches as the leaves 

 grow in length. The spurs then receive light and air, 

 which are essential to fruitfulness ; whereas if the leaves 

 of one branch are allowed to overlap and shade the next, 

 bold fruitful spurs cannot be produced. That applies to 

 all fruit trees, but to none with greater force than the 

 Cherries, and barrenness of these trees is more contri- 

 buted to by overcrowding than by any other mistake in 

 culture. 



Many varieties of Cherries have foliage a foot in length, 

 therefore when the branches are trained horizontally they 

 should be fully that distance apart. That is a good dis- 

 tance for such sorts as the Duke section, while for the 

 Black Hearts and Bigarreaus 15 inches apart is not too 

 much for straining the wires. 



I am not a believer in the orthodox height of 4 feet for 

 fruit-tree fences. I cannot see any good reason for limit- 

 ing a row of espaliers to that height when 2 feet more 

 can be added without occupying an inch more ground — 

 2 feet of clear gain I call it, and that in 100 yards length 

 means a great increase of fruit. I do not, however — at 

 least in the case of Cherries — advocate a greater height 

 than G feet, because they could not then be so conveniently 

 protected from birds, but for Apples, and Pears I have 

 had good evidence that wire fences 9 feet in height are 

 relatively more profitable than lower espaliers. 



Protection of the Cherries from birds is an important 

 point in the management of the trees. All the labour of 

 growing the trees and the cost of supporting them is spent 

 in vain if the pets or pests, as the case may be, are not 

 kept from the fruit : and it is in this matter that I have 

 found the value of espaliers. A bush can be netted, but 

 at the best I have always felt the operation as bungling as 

 it is bundling ; fastening and unfastening every time a dish 

 of fruit has to be gathered is no joke when other and urgent 

 work on all sides is waiting to be done. But with espaliers 

 the work of protecting is comparatively easy. Here is the 

 plan : Erect a rough framework over a hedge of Cherries by 



No. 1521.— Vol. LVIII., Old Series. 



