BEST HARDY FRUITS FOR SOUTHERN SCOTLAND. 



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increasing interest that is taken in dairy- farming and stock-raising shows 

 that the occupiers strive to combat the agricultural depression in this 

 way rather than in fruit-growing, which has become so general in more 

 populous parts of the country. Hence but little change or progress during 

 recent years in fruit cultivation can be reported. 



Commencing with Apples, which here, as elsewhere, are recognised as 

 the most useful of hardy fruits, their cheapness generally, and the long 

 period during which they may be obtained, even by the poorest classes, 

 give them a value above all others. As may be expected, most of the 

 older trees are grafted upon the Crab stock, but the introduction of the 

 English paradise has proved a boon to most gardens, especially to those 

 where space for large spreading trees cannot be aftbrded. The lafter 

 stock succeeds well in this district, and handsome and fruitful trees are 

 very soon produced. It will be unnecessary to give a long list of the 

 names of all the varieties grown, as it would include many scarcely worthy 

 of cultivation. I shall therefore mention, in their order of ripening, only 

 the best and most constant bearers, which have proved reliable for giving 

 a good and plentiful supply of fruit for a long season. 



Dessert Apples. — For earliest use I have found none to equal ' Mr. 

 Gladstone,' which seldom fails to bear a full crop, and the size, colour, 

 and quality of the fruit are always good for an early variety. It usually 

 ripens upon bush trees early in August. 



To succeed this, ' Beauty of Bath ' has much to recommend it, and 

 although one cannot speak of it so confidently as of some others, owing 

 to the comparatively short time it has been cultivated here, yet its 

 behaviour, for several seasons, has given much satisfaction, and it wall keep 

 when gathered for a longer time in good condition than any other early variety 

 I am acquainted with. 'Lady Sudeley,' 'Devonshire Quarrenden,' and 

 ' Worcester Pearmain ' are all well-known varieties that succeed in almost 

 any position, or in any form of tree. These continue the supply until the 

 middle of October, when the best of dessert fruits, for northern parts at 

 least — ' James Grieve ' — is ready for use. This variety was sent here for 

 trial many years ago, and has proved in every respect worthy of the high 

 eulogiums that have since been bestowed upon it by growers in various 

 parts of the country. 'King of the Pippins,' ' Ribston Pippin,' and 

 ' Cox's Orange,' thrive well as bushes or pyramids. Some very old trees 

 of ' Eibston Pippin ' are growing against a west wall at Galloway House, 

 and are, for this variety, in a fairly healthy state and seldom miss a crop, 

 while in seasons like the present (1901) the fruit, for colom*, size, and 

 richness of flavour, could hardly have been surpassed in its most palmy 

 days. A fallacy is current that young trees of ' Ribston ' will not succeed 

 for long, owing to its susceptibility to canker, but, though admitting that 

 it is more liable to it than many others are, yet I have found no difticulty 

 in keeping up a sufficient number of healthy trees for the requirements of a 

 private garden. It does well when grafted upon the shy bearing ' Northern 

 Spy,' and on a large tree in good bearing order here no trace of canker can 

 be discovered. ' Cox's Orange Pippin ' is often considered tender : but, 

 given a favourable position and a well-drained soil, it crops very regularly 

 in bush form, and the fruit, though later, is in the end quite as fine and 

 richly coloured as others produced against walls. 



