1000 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



December 28, 1912, 



RAISING APPLE TREES. 



If the amateur makes a practice of rais- 

 ing his own trees to save buying them 

 from a nurseryman^ he will get very little 

 reward for ihis trouble, besides which he will 

 be giving up space and losing years of fruit- 

 fulness while his trees are growing into 

 bearing condition. In addition, he will 

 probably have some badly-shaped trees if he 

 is raising just the number he wants, for it 

 must be remembered that, when a nursery- 



number of trees of one kind of apple, even old tree of an indifferent sort which h 



been beheaded for the 



if it consists of only a dozen trees, will, on 

 taking careful note of them, observe that 

 the fruits are not of quite the same charac- 

 ter on all the trees, and he will detect this 

 more readily if it is a variety with iwhich he 

 is very familiar, say. King of the Pippins 

 or Blenheim Orange, to instance two kinds 

 which are rather notorious for their varying 

 character. Though w^e generally speak as if 

 by budding or grafting a variety we always 

 kept that variety true, yet it is a fact that. 



man has, say, a hundred two-ye-ar-old trees owing to what is known as bud variation, apples would result. 



XI, , . purpose, or the 



young growths resultmg therefrom This 

 kmd of work is of the most absorbing in 

 terest, for tliere is not only the pleasure of 

 watching the development of a tree of our 

 own making, as it were, but the acquirins 

 of a strain of a variety superior probably 

 to that in general cultivation. If amateur 

 fruit growers generally were on the watch 

 for opportunities of this kind tliere is little 

 doubt that improvements in some of our 



of a given variety, he will choose those for 

 espaliers which ^ by their manner of growth, 



it is possible to have different strains of 

 the same named variety. And this is not the 

 are best ada.pted for that form, and those only point to be noticed when looking at a 



number of trees of the same variety, for 

 we shall find that some of the trees are 



for cordons, pyramids, etc., in the same 

 way, so that each tree is trained into that 

 form for which, by its natural shape and 

 manner of growth, it is best suited. The 

 amateur, on the other hand, \\ho wants 

 a dozen bushes and buds or grafts as many 

 stocks, will find some of them very Ill-fitted qualities. 



^ There is another aspect, too^ of this occa- 

 sional raising of trees for ourselves, and 

 that is the field it gives us for experiment- 

 ing with stocks. There is a considerable 



field here, not only for 

 of a healthie- and cleaner growth than work, but for orio-inal 



others, more vigorous, or of a more fruitful 

 nature, one desirable tree, perhaps, by a 



possessing all these good 



most interesting 

 research, which 

 might possibly have valuable results. Little 

 seems to have been done in the matter of 

 the double grafting of apples by using an 

 intermediate stock between the PararliKA or 



A JAPANESE TE 



HOUSE AT GUNNERSBURY. 



With specimens of Beauty of Abereorn chrysanthemum, and a background of crimson and gold foliage. 



for this form, but, not liking to waste them 

 will let them grow on and make 

 shaped trees. This will ap^plv still more 



badlv- 



applj 



forcibly if, instead of bushes 



m 



he 



Now, in buying trees from a nursery we 

 cannot be sure what kind of a strain 



crab stock, and the variety grown. Neither 



perhaps the 



m m 



at 



IS aiming 



simplest form to raise 



cordons, fan-trained trees, or other fancy 

 forms. When, besides all this, we think of 

 the bother of procuring suitable stocks, •as 

 well as buds and scions of the varieties 'de- 

 sired, it will be seen what an nTiri^TYinTioT>Q 



may have, unless we are dealing with one 

 of the more careful nurserymen who select 

 stocks, scions, and buds very carefully 

 which is a very difficult matter where the 

 work IS on a vast scale, and has necessarily 

 to be left to men who cannot be supervised 



we has much been done in this country in ex- 



to see if any 

 diseases. If 



m ali the small details of the work throuKh- 



, . . . ^, , , , , ^^y- is in connection with tiiis 



tive business the amateur undertakes when aspect of the subject that it will sometime^ 



he sets a^bout rearing his own fruit trees. " -x--- - ''. wm sometimes 

 When, howe\^er, all has ibeen 



■ 



give immunity from certain 

 a few hundred people each 

 raised two or three trees with some such 

 object in view, some valuable results might 

 be obtained, while in the matter of interest 

 there is no work in the garden more absorb- 

 than trying some fresh device and 



ng 



s^iid that 



can be said to show the advisability of let- 

 ting the nurseryman raise our fruit trees 

 for us, it is still sometimes worth while to 

 raise two or three trees for ourselves when 

 they are of a kind Tvhich we cannot be sure 

 of being able to buy, especially as it takes 

 a coupk of years to find out whether we 

 can buy them or not. Anyone going into 

 an orchard or plantation where there are a 



pav us to raises frl rV , sometimes watching the result, 

 pay us to raise a tree or two for ourselves. 



fresh 



Algeh Petts 



...M^u »f ron.e acro.-s a specially fine strain 

 of a tavoiinte apple, say a Ribston Pippin 

 tree which is of unusually vigorous and 

 healthy growth, or a Wyken Pippin tearing 

 fruit which is unusually large, or of 



m 



■This 



exceptionally deep 'bmnzy-yellow, 

 beg or buy a few buds in Jidy, or scions i,i 



an 



we can 



February, and work them upo 



happe 



any 



or 



is an cxcoediiigly li.uidHonic perennial of com- 

 paratively recent introduction. 



t ^ 



tive white plumes attain a height of q^^^ 

 six foct uudor good cultivation, and are 

 es|x'cially <'ff^ctive, whether located in 

 hardy flower borders or in the wild gardei 

 It prefers a moist rooting medium, such ^ 



that found 

 Gardner. 



near 



the stream-side. 



the 



en. 

 as 



J, 



