90- ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Thomson, in his Seasons, speaking of the apple-gathering, says, — 



" The fragrant stores, the wide projected heaps 

 Of apples, which the lusty-handed Year, 

 lnnumerous o'er the blushing orchard shakes : 

 A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen, 

 Dwells in their gelid pores ; and, active, points 

 The piercing ciuer for the thirsty tongue." 



Soil and Situation. The apple, as a fruit tree, will do no good except in a 

 fertile soil, and a sheltered situation. All the best apple orchards of England, 

 and more especially those of the cider districts, it has been observed by 

 geologists, follow the track of red sandstone, which stretches across the island 

 from Dorsetshire to Yorkshire. It has been observed in Ireland (see 

 Dublin Soc. Trans.), that the best orchards there are on limestone gravel ; 

 and, in Scotland, that the few orchards which are to be found in that country 

 are on soils more or less calcareous. On the Continent, the two districts 

 most famous for apple trees are Normandy and the Vale of Stuttgard ; and 

 the subsoil, in both countries, is well known to be limestone. In short, every 

 kind of fruit, to be brought to perfection, requires a soil more or less calca- 

 reous. In general, the observations made with reference to the pear tree 

 will apply in the case of the apple tree ; but the latter tree is more injurious 

 to hedges, from its low spreading head; and less favourable to culinary 

 crops in gardens, and to pasture in orchards, for the same reason ; and the 

 fruit, being larger, is more liable to be blown down by high winds. 



The Propagation and Cidture of the apple are the same as those of the 

 pear tree. Wild crabs, like wild pears, are gathered when they are fully ripe, 

 and either laid in a heap to rot, or passed between fluted rollers, and the 

 crushed fruit pressed for the juice, which is made into an inferior kind of 

 cider or perry, and the seeds are afterwards separated from the pomace by 

 maceration in water and sifting. This is the mode practised in the Goldworth 

 Nursery, where fruit tree stocks are raised on a more extensive scale than 

 any where else in Britain. Where seedlings are to be raised from cultivated 

 apples, pears, or other fruits, application is made to the manufacturers of cider 

 or perry, or to the confectioners ; and from these persons seeds of the different 

 kinds of garden fruits are obtained. The mode of sowing these has nothing 

 specific, and will be found detailed under the proper head (Nursery Culture) 

 in Part VI. of this work. The apple, like the pear, may be grafted on the 

 common thorn ; but it does not form nearly so desirable a tree on that stock 

 as the pear does, and, therefore, crab stocks are always to be preferred. As 

 a fruit tree, where it is intended to be grown as a dwarf, the paradise stock 

 effects for it what the quince does for the pear, and the Cerasus Mahaleb for 

 the cherry. (See Encyc. of Gard., edit. 1835.) 



Accidents, Diseases, and Insects. The apple tree is more liable to the 

 attacks of insects, and to diseases, than the pear tree. It is subject to canker; 

 more especially when planted deep, or in soil which is annually dug round it 

 to some depth, and cropped with vegetables. In some soils, also, especially 

 those which contain much oxide of iron, the tree is liable to canker under any 

 mode of culture; and the remedy, or palliative, in such soils, is, liming abun- 

 dantly, to neutralise the oxide; planting on the surface, and not digging the 

 ground, but only hoeing it, or keeping it entirely in pasture. The leaves, 

 flowers, and fruit of the apple tree are liable to the attacks of many insects, 

 against which there are few or no remedies ; but, at all events, this branch of 

 culture belongs more to horticulture than to arboriculture. The American 

 blight, or woolly aphis, is one of the most common enemies of apple trees; 

 and to destroy it the most simple modes appear to be, to brush it off with a 

 mixture of salt and water, or with soot and salt, or alkali, or soap and water. 

 It will, however, be treated on more in detail hereafter. In the spring, the 

 caterpillars of different moths and sawflies attack the leaves and flowers 

 Gard. Mug., vol. ix. p. 341.) ; and, in orchards, it is sometimes found 

 worth while to produce a dense smoke among the trees, by burning moist 

 under them ; the pyroligneous acid of the smoke poisoning 



