HABDY FBUIT GARDEN 



1029 



To grow fruit well requires a good knowledge of the plants cultivated and of 

 everything that is likely to prove useful or injurious to them. It is true that an 

 amateur may grow excellent fruit, in fact quite as well if not better than the 

 professional, owing to natural intelligence and love of the work ; but it is quite 

 another matter whether he would be able to make it a paying concern from a 

 business point of view. That well-known novehst the late E. D. Blackmore 

 was an excellent gardener and grew fruit probably as well as any one in the 

 kingdom, but even he had to admit that he could not make it pay. Others 

 however who probably could not write novels, and had no university training, 

 were able to dispose of their produce at more or less remunerative prices. 

 This fact alone shows that a good many other things besides ordinary 

 intelligence are requisite to enable one to grow not only fruit but any other 

 class of plants in such a way that they will command a ready sale. 



This work however is not intended to teach fruit-growing for commercial 

 purposes. The amateur takes a keen delight in producing the finest fruits 

 possible, and the commercial aspect of the operation is not often taken into 

 consideration. In the following pages the cultivation of the principal fruits 

 suitable for outdoor cultivation in our climate is detailed with a view to giving 

 the amateur an idea as to the way in which he may secure the best results in 

 the quickest and most economical manner. 



Situation, — ■ An ideal fruit garden 

 shoiild be well exposed to the sun from 

 the south and west, and well protected 

 from the north and east winds. A level 

 or slightly undulating surface sloping 

 southwards is usually considered to give 

 the best results. If intersected at good 

 intervals by walls running east and west, 

 so much the better; and if bounded by 

 walls or tall thick hedges all round, the 

 best of shelter is afforded. The walls are 

 also extremely valuable for the cultivation 

 of the more tender kinds of fruit trees 

 that are apt to suffer in open exposed 

 situations. In the spring when frosts 

 often nip the blooms and thus spoil the 

 crop as it is about to set, walls give great 

 protection. I have seen a garden inter- 

 sected by walls produce immense quanti- 

 ties of fruit, notwithstanding spring frosts, 

 while adjoining gardens unprotected 

 except by low hedges had very meagre 

 crops. Hedges may be composed of Holly, 

 Yew, Privet, Hawthorn, White Poplar, or 

 any other shrub or tree which will make 

 a dense growth so as to serve effectually 

 to break cold and violent winds. Damson 

 and Filbert bushes, where not likely to 

 fall a prey to tramps and schoolboys, 

 make excellent hedges, and also yield 

 valuable crops. 



Soil. — The best all-round soil for fruit 

 growing is a rich yellow loam, not too 

 sandy nor too clayey in its nature, but 

 stififish rather than too hght on the whole. 

 The deeper it is the better, and if resting 

 on a gravelly or limestone subsoil, the 

 fertility will be all the greater. A soil 

 which is continually soddened with 

 moisture is useless not only for fruit trees 

 but for most plants, and it must be 

 thoroughly drained and brought into a 

 porous and friable condition before 

 attempting to grow crops upon it. Wet 

 heavy soils are improved by trenching 

 and ridging up, and deep cultivation 

 generally. Care, however, should be 

 taken in these operations not to bring 

 too much of the under soil to the surface 

 for the plants to root in. This under or 

 ' subsoil,' as it is usually termed, 

 although it may contain the elements of 

 plant food to a very fair extent, is unsuit- 

 able for the roots because as yet it has 

 not been sufficiently changed by the 

 action of rain, air, heat, cold &c. to yield 

 its food up in a suitable or digestible forra. 

 The more, however, the soil is tilled the 

 more food is liberated, and consequently 

 the more fertile the soU becomes. The 

 best soU should always be uppermost to 

 induce the roots to remain near the sur- 



