330 



FRUIT CULTURE : 



treeS; it would of course be wise to include among them all 

 the sorts most liable to be injured by spring frosts. And 

 such kinds are so abundant that all the walls and espaliers 

 might well be devoted to them. 



The apparent utility of such an orchard is so great that 

 to speak of its beauty can hardly be necessary ; and yet we 

 question if those who ought to be most interested in the 

 matter have the least idea of this. It is difficult for those 

 who do not live in a good fruit growing or orcharding dis= 

 trict tohave any notion of what an ornamental as well as useful 

 thing a good orchard or fruit garden is. I have never any- 

 where seen in gardens of the usual type such a picture as I 

 did during the past year in the well managed orchards or fruit 

 gardens of a west London market gardener — one who devotes 

 about sixty acres to fruit culture. His groves of Cherries, 

 Pears_, and Plums were superb — the Plum trees, densely laden 

 with their purple eggs, being as attractive from colour alone 

 as many ornamental plants are when in flower. The pro- 

 duce is enormous, compared to what we are accustomed to 

 from the garden managed in the ordinary way. Of course 

 such a scene is a garden in the best sense of the word. An 

 acre or two planted after this fashion would be productive 

 of more satisfaction than any other attempt at fruit growing, 

 though it is by far the most inexpensive of all. 



The only points to be attended to as regards pruning, 

 are an occasional winter pruning to open them up to the 

 fall influence of light, and a thinning of the fruit buds to 

 concentrate the energies of the trees, and thereby much im- 

 prove the value of their produce. These operations per- 

 formed once every second or third winter will do much good. 

 It is true that without them the pear may be profitably culti- 

 vated; but I know of one instance near London in which a 

 grower of the Pear as a standard, or orchard, tree on an exten- 

 sive scale has doubled the market value of his fruit by well 

 thinning the buds and branchlets — operations which are 

 carried out in winter, when time can be most readily 

 spared for such work. If this were generally dane by 

 orchardists it would lead to much improvement. The 

 orchard once planted it would not prove much addition to 



