Spring-time. A welcome touch of brightness around the vegetable garden Summer-time. The foliage makes a perfect screen, and the fruit is easily observed 



Think Now About Dwarf Fruit Trees— By w. c. McCollom, ess. 



IF YOU WANT TO SET OUT DWARF FRUITS IN THE FALL, BEGIN NOW TO PREPARE THE PLACE 

 FOR THEM — HOW THE AMATEUR MAY RAISE HIS OWN TREES; THERE'S NO MYSTERY ABOUT IT 



NOW, when the orchard trees are in 

 flower, is the time when striking 

 comparisons can be made between the 

 regular standard, with its spread of forty 

 feet, and the compact growing dwarf, hardly- 

 occupying any ground space at all. The 

 Garden Magazine has, on several occa- 

 sions, told something of the advantages 

 that are claimed for the dwarf trees, which 

 are ideal for the small lot owner or for the 

 occupier of a rented property. 



One hardly realizes that by beginning 

 immediately in thoroughly preparing the 

 ground so that stock may be planted early 

 in the coming fall, and thus giving the trees 

 every cultural advantage, it is possible to 

 gather fruit next year. But it can be 

 done if you buy good sized, established trees; 

 and in three years, if you start with small 

 self -grown trees. 



The wonderful satisfaction that comes 

 from the possession of a few dwarf trees is 

 something .that can only be felt and cannot 

 be told to others. The delight of gathering 

 your own apples and pears from trees that 

 have never been affected by disease or insect 

 pests, and which have been grown from 

 start to finish without blemish, is worth a 

 great deal of effort. But the beauty of jt 

 is that all this is accomplished without any 

 undue effort in any way. 



The dwarf fruit tree appeals most strongly 

 to the amateur because it occupies practically 

 no space and any spraying for prevention of 

 disease can be accomplished by ordinary 

 appliances, there being no necessity for the 

 addition of elaborate machinery and long 

 extension poles to carry the hose; or the 

 handling of scaling ladders, in order to do 

 the necessary pruning. 



Where a fence or hedge is desirable, a 

 wire trellis can be erected and the trees 

 trained upon it. And at this season of the 

 year their flowers in large clusters give a 

 brilliancy to the utilitarian garden that is 

 usually most noticeable by its absence. 



Beyond all this practical advantage, 

 these trees appeal to the lover of nature for 

 their intrinsic beauty; and later on, when 

 these little trees carry their profusion of full 

 sized fruits, they have an attractiveness that 

 is almost uncanny. 



The dwarf fruit tree is not a fad for 

 the man who plays at gardening but a 

 sternly practical solution of the problem 

 that is presented to every suburban gar- 

 dener who wants good fruit and wants 

 it quickly — ■ the best results with a mini- 

 mum of labor. 



The quality of the fruit of the dwarf tree 

 is superior to that of the tall standard, 

 primarily because the owner of the dwarf tree 

 is prima facie an enthusiast and, just be- 

 cause of this, the trees are actually given more 

 direct care. And then again, their con- 

 venient size enables the grower to at all 

 times keep in close touch with their actual 

 condition. The thinning of the fruit is 



Horizontally trained fruit trees make an efficient 

 hedge for lining a walk or drive 



293 



properly done on account of its ease, and 

 somehow or other it always seems so much 

 more easy to give proper cultivation and 

 extra feeding to these dwarfs — ■ a detail of. 

 good cultivation that is unfortunately gen- 

 erally denied to the commoner trees. 



MAKING YOUR OWN DWARFS 



Very few people offer dwarf fruit trees for 

 sale, and those that are offered are generally 

 stock imported from Europe; and as the 

 supply is not any greater than the demand, 

 it is necessary for you to make your plans 

 now if you are going to plant in the fall. 

 But perhaps you would like to make your 

 own trees. It is perfectly easy and you 

 Can be sure of having good sized speci- 

 mens fruiting abundantly in five years 

 from now. 



Begin by selecting a suitable piece of 

 ground. If it is quite open and the trees 

 are not to be grown upon a trellis, buy 

 young stock that has been headed in and 

 plant it, allowing ten feet each way; for 

 a trellis you need the same kind of tree 

 and by preference, allow a space of twenty 

 linear feet of trellis to each tree. It is better 

 to plant wide at the beginning than to have 

 to cut away a great deal of the best fruiting 

 wood after a few years. The ground must 

 be rich. Trench it, if possible, and turn 

 in a heavy dressing of manure. The ground 

 will be ready for planting in the fall if the 

 trenching and feeding are done any time from 

 now on, provided it is allowed to settle for at 

 least a month before planting. 



Trees for trellises should be started from 

 young stock that has not yet branched in any 

 way, using of course grafted stock in all 

 cases — apples, on the Paradise or Doucin, 



