700 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



4409. For spring table use, as the 



Hollow-eyed, Cornwall rennet, Hughes's I Cockle and Whitmore pippins, golden I Stone and spencer pippins, Rojal George, 

 new golden pippin, &c. which keep till and Piles's russet. Wheeler's extreme, 1 Ward, &c. which keep fill the end of 

 the end of March | &c. which keep till the end of April | May. 



4410. For Slimmer culinary use, till the aj)ple season returns, as the 



Lord Cheney's green, Baxter's pearmain, stoup, codling, &c. I Norfolk heauiin, Norfolk storing, French crab, which keep till 

 which keep till the end of June 1 the end of July. 



4411. For summer table use, till the apple season returns, as the 



Dredge's fame, oaken peg, carnation, &c. which keep till the I Nonpareil, Yorkshire greening, Norfolk colinan, which keep 

 end of June | till the end of July. 



4412. Other sources of choice. Another source of choice, under each of the above heads, may respect the 

 soil, situation, and climate of the garden, or orchard, in which they are to be planted, or the character, 

 whether of dwarfs, espaliers, or wall-trees, which they are to assume there. The winter and spring table 

 apples may require a south wall in one district, while in another they may attain equal maturity as standards 

 or espaliers. Where there is ample room, a selection of large sorts, as the Alexander and Baltimore apples, 

 or of such as are the most beautifully colored, as the violet, carnation, &c. may be made to gratify the eye ; 

 where room is wanting, useful sorts and great bearers are to be preferred, as the golden and ribstone pippin, 

 summer pearmain, codlings, grey russet, summer and winter colvilles, &c. In general, small-sized fruit, 

 as the Harveys and Granges, are to be preferred for standards, as less likely to break down the branches 

 of the trees, or be shaken down by winds ; middling sorts for walls and dwarfs, and the largest of all for 

 espaliers. In respect to a soil liable to produce canker, sorts raised from cuttings may be desirable, as the 

 Burknott and codling tribe ; and where an occupier of a garden has only a short interest therein, such as 

 come into immediate bearing, as the Burknotts, and others from cuttings, and the Hawthorndean, Apius's 

 apple, and other short-lived dwarf-sorts on Paradise or creeping stocks, may deserve the preference. On 

 the contrary, where a plantation is made on freehold property, or with a view to posterity, new varieties 

 on crab or free stocks, should always be chosen, as the Grange, Ingestrie, Harvey, &c. Some excellent 

 sorts will grow and produce crops every where, as the Hawthorndean, codling, and Ribston pippin ; 

 the latter of which, Nicol says, will grow at John o' Groat's house, and may be planted in Cornwall ; others 

 are shy bearers in cold situations, as the Newtown pippin of America, and most of the newly imported 

 French sorts. 



4413. Choice of jilants and planting. This depends in some degree on the object in 

 view, the richness of the soil, and the shelter ; young trees are more likely to succeed in 

 exposed sites and poor soils, but the apple will bear transplanting at a greater age than 

 any other fruit-tree. It may be planted in any open weather from November till February. 



4414. Soil and site for permanent planting. Any common soil, neither extremely 

 sandy, gravelly, nor clayey, on a dry sub-soil, and with a free exposure, will suit this 

 tree. On wet, hilly sub-soils, it will do no good, but after being planted a few years 

 will become cankered, and get covered with moss. Wliere fruit-trees must be planted 

 on such soils, they should first be rendered as ^ry as possible by under-draining ; next, 

 provision made for candying off the rain-water by surface gutters ; and, lastly, the ground 

 should not be trenched above a foot deep, and the trees planted rather in hillocks of earth, 

 above the surface, than in pits dug into it. There is no point of more importance than 

 shallow trenching and shallow planting in cold wet soils, in which deep pits and deep 

 pulverisation only serve to aggravate their natural evils of moisture and cold. [Sang, in 

 Caled. Hort. Mem. iv. 140.) 



4415. Knight observes, that " the apple-tree attains its largest stature in a deep strong loam or marly 

 day ; but it will thrive in all rich soils, which are neither very sandy nor wet at bottom. It succeeds best," 

 he adds, " in situations which are neither high nor remarkably low. In the former its blossoms are fre- 

 quently injured by cold winds, and in the latter by si>ring frosts, particularly when the trees are planted in 

 the lowest part of a confined valley. A south, or south-east aspect is generally preferred, on account of 

 the turbulence of the west, and the coldness of north winds ; but orchards succeed well in all aspects ; 

 and where the violence of the west wind is broken by an intervening rise of ground, a south-west aspect 

 will be found equal to any." 



4416. Abercrombie says, " all the sorts of apple-tree may be planted in any good common soU, with a 

 free exposure, whether that of a garden, orchard, or field ; so that the ground be neither very low nor ex- 

 cessively wet, nor subject to inundation in winter. Avoid, as far as possible, very strong clayey and gra- 

 velly soils." 



4417. Mode of bearing. " In all the varieties of the common apple, the mode of bearing is upon small 

 terminal and lateral spurs, or short robust shoots, from half an inch to two rnches long, which spring from 

 the younger branches of two or more years' growth, appearing first at the extremity, and extending gra- 

 dually down the side : the same bearing-branches and fruit-spurs continue many years fruitful " (Aber- 

 crombie.) 



4418. Pruning. " As, from the mode of bearing, apple-trees do not admit of short- 

 ening in the general bearers, it should only be practised occasionally : first, where any 

 extend out of limits, or grow irregular and deformed ; and secondly, a good shoot con- 

 tiguous to a vacant space is shortened to a few eyes, to obtain an additional supply of 

 young wood from the lower buds of the shoot for filling up the vacancy. But to shorten 

 without such a motive, is not merely the cutting away of the first and the principal bear- 

 ing part of the branches, but also occasions their putting forth many strong pseless wood- 

 shoots where fruit-spurs would otherwise arise ; and both effects greatly tend to retard the 

 trees in bearing ; whereas the fertile branches being cultivated to their natural length, 

 shoot moderately, and have fruit-spurs quite to the extremity." [Abercro^nbie.) 



4419. Espaliers and wall-trees require a summer and winter pruning. 



4420. The summer pruning. Train in the young shoots of the same year, which are likely to be wanted 

 in the figure, and retrench them where ill placed or too numerous ; for as the trees continue bearing many 

 years on the same branches, they only require occasional supplies of young wood ; therefore, begin in May 

 or June to pinch off or cut out close all fore-right, ill placed, and superfluous shoots ; retaining only some 

 of the promising laterals in the more vacant parts, with a leader to each branch ; train in these between 

 the mother branches, at their full length, all summer ; or, where any vacancy occurs, some strong conti- 



