December, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



XV 



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grafted on Paradise, but usually the nurseries 

 have only a few kinds. 



Pears are dwarfed by working on quince 

 stock. Some varieties are spoiled in flavor by 

 the quince stock; notably the Seckel. Dwarf 

 pears, too, are hard to get in great variety. 

 They need a stronger soil and heavy feeding 

 because of the quince root, but otherwise they 

 are easy to manage. 



Cherries are dwarfed by grafting on Maha- 

 leb stock, and the domestic varieties of plum 

 are somewhat dwarfed when on Myrobolan 

 plum. 



All orchard trees need careful pruning, but 

 dwarf trees must be pruned to have them look 

 well, and in some cases to preserve their 

 dwarfness. They should branch two to three 

 feet from the ground and be what the growers 

 call vase form. 



In England fruit is grown on walls in order 

 to give it all possible heat and sunlight, so 

 that it will ripen in their short season, but 

 here we have no such difficulty and the trees 

 will do better on the north side of the wall, 

 where they are protected from the warm sun 

 in February and March and their growth thus 

 retarded. Then late frosts will not find them 

 too far advanced. 



Training trees on a wall js good fun. It 

 requires skill and intelligence and the results 

 are very satisfactory. Think of having a 

 peach tree, like that which used to be at 

 Chatsworth, covering a hundred feet of wall 

 in length and bearing thousands of peaches! 



When the wall is once covered they are 

 easy to care for; it is then only a simple mat- 

 ter of pruning every spring. 



Apricots are as hardy as the peach, but the 

 fruit is more highly flavored and ripens earlier 

 than the peach or plum. They are grafted 

 on peach and plum stock, according to the soil 

 in which they are to grow, and should be 

 planted on the north face of the wall. They 

 are much bothered by the curculio, which must 

 be shaken from the trees daily. 



Almonds too might be tried on the north 

 side of the wall. They are nearly as hardy 

 as the peach, but usually have their buds 

 killed by late frosts. 



The wall on one side of the garden might 

 be used for grapes, which will do as well as 

 in the open and they look particularly nice on 

 a wall. 



Figs are another possibility in such a garden. 

 They are half hardy, enduring ten degrees of 

 frost, and so in this climate they must be bent 

 to the ground and the branches covered with 

 earth. 



The ground about the trees should be culti- 

 vated until mid-summer, when a leguminous 

 crop can be sown. In late autumn this is 

 plowed under, improving the condition of the 

 soil and supplying nitrogen. 



Strawberries and other small fruits can be 

 grown between the rows for the first few 

 years, but after the fruit trees have grown it 

 will be too shady for any other crop. 



Peaches, of course, will be grown and a few 

 should be planted every year, as they are not 

 long lived and for this reason it would hardly 

 pay to have them trained on the wall. Necta- 

 rines can be grown if one cares to bother with 

 a smooth skinned peach, which is attacked 

 by the curculio as badly as the apricot and is 

 said to be inferior. Perhaps the name is the 

 best thing about the nectarine ! All trees of 

 the peach family are beautiful when in bloom. 

 The varieties of tree to plant and the dis- 

 tances apart to set them must be determined 

 by each individual ; the general directions in 

 handbooks and nurserymen's catalogues are 

 safe to follow. 



When one has the trees satisfactorily started 

 in the way they should go, and after they have 

 borne two or three times so that one can 



