50 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



largest markets the finest fruits may be seen 

 almost side by side with others comparatively 

 worthless. Experience throws a light on many 

 divergencies in results, and teaches that success 

 in fruit culture is largely dependent upon atten- 

 tion to details that at first sight often appear 

 unimportant. 



Situation. — Where the site for a garden has 

 been selected with judgment, there should 

 always be ample provision for the satisfactory 

 culture of the Apple as well as of other fruits. 

 But we have here to consider the special re- 

 quirements of this fruit alone, and the chief 

 preliminary matters demanding attention are 

 the situation where the trees are to be grown, 

 including altitude, aspect, climate, and rainfall, 

 and the nature of the soil. Throughout the 

 British Isles there is scarcely a district where 

 the Apple cannot be grown, except where local 

 conditions of exposure, soil, sterility, or exces- 

 sive soil-moisture are prohibitory. From Caith- 

 ness to Cornwall, in Great Britain, from Antrim 

 to Cork, in Ireland, Apples take the leading 

 place amongst hardy fruits. 



Altitude. — The range is proportionately as 

 wide in altitude. At the Royal Caledonian 

 Society's Apple and Pear Congress in Edin- 

 burgh, examples of twenty-seven varieties of 

 Apples were shown which had been grown at 

 Monaltrie, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, at an eleva- 

 tion of 1350 feet above sea-level. Farther 

 south there are many instances of successful 

 Apple plantations at considerable elevations, 

 one of the best known being that on Lord Rose- 

 bery's estate in Buckinghamshire, Mentmore, 

 which has an altitude 650 feet. Grown on the 

 higher elevations in the North of Britain the 

 fruits are usually small and wanting in colour, 

 while the dessert varieties are seldom satis- 

 factory except with the protection of walls. 

 The only extremes of altitude which are really 

 dangerous to the Apple are in low inland dis- 

 tricts where late spring frosts too frequently 

 destroy the flowers, as they are also apt to do 

 in valleys or near sluggish water-courses. 



Important differences in temperature may 

 often be caused by local conditions where the 

 elevation is very slight. For instance, at the 

 Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm there are 

 two stations for meteorological observations, and 

 the difference in the elevation is only 15 feet, 

 yet at the lower station the minimum radiation 

 temperature on the ground has occasionally been 

 5 degrees lower than that at the upper one. 

 This means that with such a small difference in 

 height, and within a distance of about 700 feet, 



all prospects of a crop of fruit might be de- 

 stroyed in the one place. The air temperature 

 registered in stands 4 feet from the ground 

 seldom shows such marked differences. Further 

 reference to this matter and to air-drainage will 

 be found in the chapter on Orchards. 



Aspect.— The aspect of the site chosen for 

 Apples usually has a much greater influence on 

 results than either latitude or altitude — at least 

 as far as the United Kingdom is concerned. 

 Remarkable illustrations of this fact occur in 

 many counties, especially in the north and along 

 the east coast. A favourable slope of the land 

 and a little shelter make more difference be- 

 tween two neighbouring situations than a hun- 

 dred miles north and south. For example, at 

 Dunrobin Castle, Golspie, in Sutherlandshire, 

 Apples are grown with success although it is 

 so far north; but the situation is open to the 

 sea on the south and well sheltered on the north, 

 north-east, and north-west side. Also at Skibo 

 Castle, Dornoch, in the same county, Apples are 

 satisfactory, but that also is well sheltered from 

 the north. From both these gardens collections 

 of good Apples, representing respectively twenty 

 and sixteen varieties, were contributed to the 

 Edinburgh Apple and Pear Congress. In each 

 collection Devonshire Quarrenden and Stirling 

 Castle were noted as of special merit. Yet 

 in a large proportion of that and neighbouring 

 counties in unfavourable aspects, Apple culture 

 would not yield such encouraging results. 

 Coming south some hundreds of miles there 

 are gardens both on the east and west sides 

 of this island where the aspect has not been 

 well chosen in the respects named, and where 

 the utmost efforts of the cultivator fail to pro- 

 duce as good results as have been attained in 

 the north of Scotland under better local condi- 

 tions. 



An essential part of the conditions included 

 in aspect is the slope of the land, as a slight 

 inclination in a suitable direction often ensures 

 Apples being cultivated in unfavourable dis- 

 tricts. The preferable directions are south, south- 

 east, and south-west, in the order named, the 

 respective advantages of which are reviewed in 

 the chapter on Orchards, where also the dis- 

 advantages of an eastern inclination are noted. 

 A fall of 2 feet in every 100 feet is a good 

 medium incline, if it is less than that the full 

 benefit of the sun's heat and light is not ob- 

 tained, and if it is greater other difficulties con- 

 nected with too rapid surface drainage are 

 introduced. On very steep slopes the terrace 

 method of planting must be adopted, similar to 



