FRUIT-TREE BORDERS. 



31 



be made by mixing coal ashes with the 

 material, it will absorb the heat, causing 

 the roots to come to the surface of the 

 soil and lie warmly under the concrete, 

 where they are found to luxuriate in 

 great health and vigour. The most cer- 

 tain means of insuring healthy trees and 

 well ripened wood and buds, is to induce 

 the roots to range as near the surface as 

 possible; for the farther they descend 

 from it, no matter how rich the border 

 may be, they will continue to grow too 

 long in autumn, producing strong watery 

 shoots, that no season we have will suffi- 

 ciently mature. This, along with their 

 penetrating into a cold, and perhaps a 

 bad subsoil, lays the foundation of 

 canker, and all other diseases to which 

 fruit trees are liable. 



The principal objection started against 

 concreting the surface of the borders is, 

 that the roots are excluded from the air; 

 and this is to a certain extent true, and 

 comes in direct collision with the under 

 ventilating process equally advocated by 

 many. For ourselves, we have no objec- 

 tion to surface concreting, providing air 

 is admitted to the roots from below. 

 Ventilate and drain below, and concrete 

 above by all means ; the intention of the 

 former being to keep the roots dry and 

 to feed them with atmospheric air, from 

 which, no doubt, all trees and plants de- 

 rive a large portion of their food ; while 

 the purpose of the latter is to keep the 

 roots dry, by preventing an unnecessary 

 quantity of rain from saturating the soil 

 around them, and also to increase the 

 temperature of the border by the absorp- 

 tion of solar heat. Now, as this is the 

 real utility of surface concreting, it does 

 not follow that the whole surface should 

 be hermetically sealed down. Holes of 2 

 inches in diameter may be made in the 

 concrete without affecting the absorption 

 of heat to any sensible extent: these 

 openings may communicate with the 

 drainage below by means of earthenware 

 tubes, thickly perforated with holes to 

 assist in the circulation of air; they may 

 be easily closed up when the rainy season 

 approaches; and, even if they were not 

 so, no moisture could get at the border, as 

 it would fall immediately upon the drain- 

 age, and so pass off. Surface concreting 

 has also been objected to by some, from a 

 dread that the borders would become too 



dry. This, however, does not appear to 

 be the case after several years' trial. 

 Evaporation is prevented from going on, 

 (at least into the free air,) so that the soil 

 remains almost stationary as regards 

 humidity. We lay boards, slates, and 

 tiles between our strawberry rows and 

 other crops during dry weather, to keep 

 them moist by preventing evaporation 

 from going on so rapidly as it would 

 otherwise do. Concreting is the same 

 thing upon a larger scale. It has been re- 

 commended by some to form vaults under 

 such borders. Of the utility of such a plan 

 there can be no doubt ; and, where mate- 

 rial for the purpose is easily procured, the 

 expense is trifling — as all that is required 

 is to build brick or rubble stone piers, or 

 open walls, 1 foot or 18 inches high, in 

 lines across the border, and to cover them 

 with rough pavement, on which to lay the 

 soil for the trees. Air-shafts at back and 

 front should be built, and the air allowed 

 to circulate under them. Very deep as 

 well as very broad borders are objec- 

 tionable, even in the best soils, as the 

 roots will have too much scope to run 

 through, and hence an over-luxuriant 

 state will be brought on, and the trees 

 will be for years less productive of fruit. 



The extreme of refinement in the for- 

 mation of wall-tree borders is illustrated 

 by one lately constructed by the Marquis 

 of Tweeddale. A border for peaches and 

 apricots 20 feet broad, and covering an 

 area of 300 square yards, has recently 

 been constructed at Yester, chambered 

 below, and heated by hot-water pipes, as 

 in the vineries which will hereafter be 

 described. 



If Mr Shearer, the Marquis's intelli- 

 gent gardener, is correct in his calcula- 

 tions — and of his correctness we have no 

 doubt — that a chambered border as thus 

 constructed, even without the aid of fire 

 heat, is 9° increased in temperature over 

 one not chambered, then would we say, 

 every border in the kingdom should be 

 so constructed. 



The application of manure in the for- 

 mation of fruit-tree borders should be 

 studiously avoided, unless in a very de- 

 composed state ; and that soil is very unfit 

 for the purpose which requires artificial 

 enrichment : nor should manure, at any 

 time, or under any circumstance, be ap- 

 plied to the roots of fruit trees. 



