138 PIOTOBIAL PRAOTIOAL FBUIT GBOWINO. 



is often made of putting it in a general store, which may contain such 

 assertive articles as Onions, or may abut on a manure yard. The fruit often 

 becomes tainted thus. A general store is rarely a good one, and it is usually 

 better to head the fruit up in barrels. As proving, hovfever, the very simple 

 conditions under which sound fruit will keep, I may say that I have had 

 Apples of many varieties on the wooden iloor of a clean attic at the top of a 

 dwelling house facing north-east from September to May, with nothing over 

 them but simple sheets of newspaper in very bad weather. Anyone who is 

 building a small fruit store may have the soil exoavated'to a depth of 2 feet, 

 unless the land is very heavy and cold. In any case, he should provide 

 double walls of matohboarding, and should thatch the roof to a depth of 

 1 foot. This will ensure an even temperature at a pleasant halfway stage 

 between dryness and dampness. 



Labels.— Here we have another of the " odd matters " connected with 

 fruit which so often lead to disaster. It would be interesting, if it were not 

 so disquieting, for each reader to recall the number of instances which he 

 has seen of wired attachments eating into the wood, causing great, gouty 

 swellings, and often leading to the collapse of branches. It seems to be 

 inevitable with many fruit growers that when they twist a piece of wire 

 round a shoot to hold a label they should assume that as the branch 

 thickens the wire will obligingly become elastic. Anyway, they make a loop 

 that fits close even when the branch is quite small. There is no necessity 

 for circling the branch at all, for the label may be attached by means of a 

 piece of soft zinc wire bent into a hook at one end. Or a coil of zinc may 

 be used. Zinc labels of various shapes and sizes may be bought from seeds- 

 men, with a small bottle of metallic ink, and these are tolerably lasting ; 

 but, as pointed out, a bad system of attachment is disastrous. Whatever 

 the labelling system may be, I strongly advocate a plan of the fruit plot 

 being made and put away for reference if required. The shape of the 

 ground can be roughly sketched, and the position of each tree marked, 

 with its name, so that if the label is lost there is something to fall 

 back upon (see next page), 



protecting Fruit Blossom, — In the case of large trees of Apples, 

 Pears, Plums, and Cherries growing in the open, the blossom is usually left, 

 perforce, to look after itself. Often nothing happens, sometimes a late frost 

 does great damage. As I have pointed out in earlier chapters, the con- 

 tingency of loss from this cause ought to be before the grower at the time 

 he is considering the making of his plantation. There is often a choice of 

 sites. One of these, situated in a bottom, is tempting, perhaps, because of 

 its rich soil ; bat it must be remembered that frosts will be far more severe 

 there than on higher ground; A hilltop is not the best, because the soil is 

 often poor, and there is great exposure to wind ; a slope is better. By the 

 exercise of a little, foresight in the direction indicated, a natural protection 

 against frost may be secured, and if it will not secure the grower complete 

 protection from loss, it will greatly minimise his risks. In the case of 

 choice wall fruit, such as Peaches and Nectarines, Apricots, and even Pears, 

 [jrotection is needed, and there are several ways of securing it. The coping 

 or projecting ridge fitted at the top of the wall is a great advantage. Scrim 

 and tiffany, both of which may be bought from the seedsman at a very 

 cheap rate, are very light porous cloths which may be attached to the 

 upper part of the wall, or supported on rods, and dropped down in front of 

 the tree when in bloom, and frost threatens (see page 140). 



