532 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



October. There are frequently large pyramidal trees in town gardens which have been 

 over-pruned, and the best way to treat them is to take out half the main boughs and then 

 allow the trees to grow naturally, when they will commence to bear the second year on the 

 young two year wood, the inner shoots or spray being kept down by pruning back the 

 shoots to four eyes about August ist. 



1 must here give a few words of warning to those who are not conversant with sorts. 

 The shops and hawkers se'l their fruit by labelling it with a popular name, which is seldom 

 correct, a William Pear serving for any autumnal kind. I shall only recommend, therefore, 

 planters to purchase such sorts as are naturally prolific, which require a minimum of 

 pruning, and also to avoid late sorts, as they are useless for those who have not a proper 

 cool store. Too often late sorts are gathered before they are fit and stored in a dry room 

 or cellar, and soon get shrivelled, so that they become useless. 



1 think the best friend of the villa gardener is a good syringe, as a spraying in the 

 early morning and evening will keep the trees 

 healthy and prevent attack's of red spider, 

 which so frequently occur in the close walled 

 gardens around our towns. Gooseberries an J 

 Apples are specially liable to this pest, and care 

 should be taken to syringe the under -sides 

 of the leaves freely as well as the upper. 

 Where Apples and Pears set a crop, thin the 

 fruits as early as possible, and those retained 

 should be allowed the best positions to receive 

 all possible light and air. 



With these precautions very fine fruit 

 can be grown even in the Metropolitan district, 

 as demonstrated at the shows near London. 

 In dry seasons water the trees freely, and 

 once a week some nitrate of soda or Clay's 

 Fertiliser, guano, or like manures may be added 

 to the water, say 2oz. to 4 gallons of water ; 

 it is a good plan to make a hole in the earth 

 near the trees so that the water can proceed 

 direct to the roots rather than cake the surface 

 soil, and thus lose a large proportion of the 

 stimulant. This plan is also admirable for 

 Strawberries. It should also be remarked that 



POT CHERRY (SINGLE TREE). 



not only does a tree require attention when 



it is in fruit, but that the care bestowed upon it after the fruit is gathered, more particularly 

 during hot dry seasons of July, August, and September, will be amply repaid, as it is 

 then that the subject is preparing to produce the crops of the following year. When the 

 foliage is destroyed by red spider and drought the necessary action of the leaves cannot be 

 carried on, and thus the crop fails. An idea of the forms of trees can be gathered from 

 the preceding chapters. 



With these preliminary remarks I will proceed to select the kinds of fruits best 

 suited to villa gardens, and give a few hints as to the best form of tree. I select only 

 those that bear freely and regularly. 



DESSERT PEARS (all succeed as pyramids and bushes on Quince or as cordons). — 

 July-August: Beurre Giffard, the best early Pear; Souvenir du Congres, large and good. 

 October-November : Triomphe de Vienne, large and good ; Louise Bonne, a constant bearer ; 

 Durondeau, large and handsome; Emile d'Heyst, good as Marie Louise; Beurre Clairgeau, 



