Orchard Fruit Grown in Pots-By Richard Barton, 



Connec- 

 ticut 



THE EASIEST GLASSHOUSE CROP TO HANDLE AND THE ONE THAT GIVES THE QUICKEST AND MOST 

 SURPRISING RESULTS — AN UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR THE OWNER OF A SMALL GREENHOUSE 



IT HAS always seemed to me that the 

 amateur gardener who possesses a 

 greenhouse can get more real results from 

 devoting it to the raising of fruits in pots 

 than in any other way. Everybody appre- 

 ciates luscious peaches or pears or plums, 

 and if they can be had of superlative quality 

 and some time earlier than those from the 

 orchard a person does not have to be a con- 

 noisseur to fully appreciate the results. 

 Moreover there is an untold satisfaction in 

 raising perfect dessert fruits that, it seems 

 to me, is never associated with flowers, be 

 they never so fine. And then, too, you can 

 easily buy all the flowers you want as good 

 as you want; but where can you look for 

 hothouse fruits? 



That I am not alone in this opinion is 

 attested by the fact that nowadays a great 

 deal more attention is paid to pot fruits for 

 forcing than formerly. The great advan- 

 tage that a pot tree has over a tree planted 

 out in the greenhouse is that it can be con- 

 trolled more easily, and also that the green- 

 house can be devoted to another purpose 

 for one-half of the year. 



Most of the pot trees which are forced in 

 this country are imported from Europe, 

 principally from England. One reason 

 that they are not produced more exten- 

 sively in this country is that the ordinary 

 market calls for a tree which will quickly 

 grow to large dimensions, and so the nur- 

 serymen manufacture to supply this demand, 

 while finding it convenient to act as middle- 

 men only in supplying the more limited 

 demand for dwarf or potted trees. 



To be successfully grown in pots fruit 

 trees must be kept dwarf, and to help 



Thinning the set is important. The tirst year 

 eighteen peaches or a dozen pears is ample 



accomplish this purpose nectarines and 

 peaches are budded on to a naturally dwarf 

 and slow-growing stock, usually the mussel 

 plum; pears are budded on to the quince 

 stock, and apples on to the paradise, which 

 is a dwarf apple of French origin. 



A tree cannot be dug up out of the open 

 ground, where it has become established, 

 and its roots trimmed, and then potted and 

 be expected to thrive. The tree must have 

 been grown in a pot from the start, so that 

 its roots form only a mass of fibres. 

 Such trees can be purchased two years old 

 (that is, two years from the time of budding) 

 in popular varieties of nectarines and 

 peaches, and three years old for pears and 

 apples, for $2 to $2.50 each. 



Some of the best varieties useful for pot 

 work are: 



Nectarines: Early Rivers, Lord Napier, 

 Elruge, Rivers' Orange, Humboldt. 



Peaches: Hale's Early, Rivers' Early 

 York, Goshawk, Noblesse, Thomas Rivers. 



Pears: Conference, Pitmaston Duchess, 

 Doyenne du Cornice (the best pear grown) . 



Apples: Irish Peach, Red Astrachan, 

 Cox's Orange Pippin, King of the Pippins, 

 for table; Lord Suffield and Emperor Alex- 

 ander for baking. There are very many 

 others available, but these would ripen in 

 the order named. 



The imported trees will arrive removed 

 from the original pots, the roots neatly sewn 

 up in burlap, and generally November is 

 the time of arrival. They are at once potted 

 into large pots, using a moderately heavy 

 loam, but first thoroughly mixing about one 

 half-pint of quarter-inch bone to the soil 

 for each tree, also a little charcoal broken 

 to small pieces and, if possible, some old 

 mortar or plaster refuse from a torndown 

 building. If this latter cannot be obtained 

 a little air-slacked lime should be used in 

 its place, but it is not so good. 



The tree must be potted very firmly, 

 using a short stick to firm the soil between 

 the roots and the side of the pot. If large 

 pots are used, say sixteen inches in diame- 

 ter, it would be best to fill only to within 

 five inches from the top, thus allowing room 

 for a good top-dressing the following winter. 



The greatest care must be taken not to 

 over-water the newly potted trees or the soil 

 will become sour and the trees unhealthy. 

 When the pots become filled with roots so 

 much care will not be necessary, as there 

 will not be so much danger of souring. If it 

 is too early to put them directly into the 

 greenhouse, they can be put into a shed or 

 cellar, if light and airy, where the tempera- 

 ture would not be likely to go much below 

 freezing, but where they would not be sub- 

 jected to any artificial heat, until about the 

 middle of January, which is time to start 

 growth. 



Trees may possibly be obtained from the 

 13 



The fruits raised under glass mature earlier and 

 are more luscious than the outdoor crop 



dealers at that time all ready for the season's 

 work. Now, although they are placed in a 

 greenhouse and "forced" the process is so 

 slight that but little heat is required — in- 

 deed, a great heat is ruination to the trees. 



At first a night temperature of 40 degrees 

 is quite sufficient, and in the day time they 

 must have plenty of air. In the case of 

 nectarines and peaches, if the trees are 

 unduly forced in the early stages the blossom 

 buds will shrivel and fall off. 



My record of the trees placed in the house 

 about the middle of January last year shows 

 that it was a full month before the buds 

 showed color, and another two weeks before 

 the flowers expanded, as shown in the illus- 

 tration on page 14. From March 1st devel- 

 opment is rapid, and on March 31st the 

 tree (see illustration) had been disbudded 

 and the fruit finally thinned. By May 31st 

 the fruit was ripening, several fruits having 

 really been gathered before the photograph 

 was made. The variety was Early Rivers 

 nectarine. The variety Humboldt did not 

 finish ripening its fruit until July 20th ; the 

 other varieties kept an unbroken succession 

 between the earliest and the latest. The 

 peaches, varieties already mentioned, wall 

 begin to ripen by the middle of July and 

 continue until the end of August. 



The Conference pear will be ready to 

 gather by the middle of August, but will 

 require, as is best with all pears, to be kept 

 a week or ten days until mellow before using. 

 Pitmaston Duchess and Doyenne du Cornice 

 will follow at intervals of ten days respec- 

 tively. 



