624 



GA RDENERS MA GA ZINE. 



September 



2 4. 1898. 



and cared for there. Let me take a few plants that have come under my 

 care, as illustrating the evils of cropping fruit tree borders with vegetables, 

 and see how they bear out the foregoing. 



When I took charge of the gardens at Castle Howard, about three 

 hundred feet run of a wall had been more or less given up to apricot cul- 

 ture, and the border utilized for various things. The trees were in a very 

 unhealthy state ; many of their branches were dead and dving, and 

 annually each tree would throw up one or two gross shoots, which 

 partially died off the following winter. These trees were all cleared out ; 

 the ground worked eighteen inches deep, and others planted. Part of 

 the border was again covered with herbs. The trees planted where the 

 herbs occupied the border did little good ; some actually died, and the 

 whole eventually had to go to the burning heap. Not so with the others, 

 for I never saw finer, healthier, fruitful trees than they were, and the 

 individual fruits were really the largest I had met with. Another wall, 

 also about three hundred feet in length, was formerl/ utilized for 

 peach culture, but had been almost abandoned for this purpose, because 

 the trees failed to give satisfactory results. The border to this wall 

 was employed for the production of early vegetables. The few peach 

 trees left were merely existing, and the few fruits they produced only fit 

 for the pigs. I made a clean sweep of all the wall trees, prepared the 

 border two feet deep, and replanted with peaches. These did excep- 



on the arid hills of Malta, and it seems certain that in ffc* ji 

 soil and climate to be met with in the Cape Colony there m S Varieties of 



where it would grow freely. The successful result of such an p m * ny district * 

 be simply invaluable to the colony if merely as a supply for hor,?? "IlfT Would 

 the greatest difficulties in travelling at the Cape is to feed OM?K^ A fcr ° ne of 

 forage in some districts being extremely high, and the supply PnCe of 



short. Forage, moreover, as it consists of oats with their straw -* ln ^ 



can be carried in a small bag. The~ carob in Italy grows afo^id/SL 

 and lemons, and there can be no reason why it should not erow with t^Z I? °^ n8es 

 orange trees of Wellington, and become as superior to the carob of Tm^T 

 Cane orange tree is superior to its Italian prototype. T - y ^ * c 



— - " — ~ O * -v- MW *WfcU 



readily portable, but carobs enough for 



is 

 a 



not 

 day 



kindly to the <; Kopjes » near Colesber^g, ihe bush vlldtVf Z wJL^t 

 lower slopes of the Drakenfelds, or among the trees of the Knysna forest Tk 

 Consul being well acquainted with the Cape Colony, has investigated the matr>r 

 thoroughly, and, after lengthened consultation with practical arboriculturists th 

 following modus operandi has been decided upon. First, a sufficient quantitvrS 

 seed will be sent out to grow a number of seedlings in different parts of th 

 colony. These seeds will produce caiobasters, which will not have a fruit worthy 

 of the name till they are grafted. The strongest seedlings may be grafted in their 



border two teet deep, ana repiamea witti peaches. Ihese did excep- third year, but it is of no use to graft until the plant is strong and well pto^T 

 tionally well, making clean, healthy wood, and bearing very satisfactory which may not be till it is five or even seven years old. ' 



crops. There were no gross suckers produced, nor any indications of 

 gumming or canker manifested by them like that which reigned supreme 

 with their predecessors. Of course, I was careful to leave the surface soil 

 occupied by their roots undisturbed, and administered manure to it on 

 the trees intimation that assistance was needed. 



Not in a single instance can I recall what might be termed success- 

 ful wall fruit culture when the borders for the trees' roots were annually 

 dug and cropped with vegetables. Of course, this is not saying there 

 are none, for nothing is impossible, and an isolated case might crop up 

 at an odd corner, but if any one does exist, it will probably be found 

 that the soil is a very sandy character, or that the borders are raised 

 considerably above the soil adjoining them. Unfortunately, circum- 

 stances sometimes necessitate the employing of fruit tree borders for the 

 growth of early vegetables, but when these circumstances dominate a 

 portion at least of soil around the tree roots should be left undisturbed. 

 I would not have mentioned this preservation of surface roots, to which 

 " Lux " takes exception, had I not had sufficient practical proof of the 

 evil attending their destruction. "Lux" had better take a lesson from 

 Nature, by visiting gardens, fields, and forests, and noting the different 

 effects produced by the destruction and preservation of surface roots 

 generally. He will then find that the tree whose tQ As can breathe, as 

 well as its leaves, is the one that yields the best return for labour and 



money spent upon it. 



J 



The Carob Tree. 



The Carob tree ( Ceratonia siliqua), so extensively cultivated in the more arid 

 parts of Southern Europe, of which it is a native, has of late obtained consider- 

 able attention, in consequence of the opinion of those familiar with the various 

 aspects of vegetation in South Africa, that its introduction to the Cape Colony 

 would prove of immense value to an important section of the colonists. As 

 descnl)ed by the Kew authorities, it is a leguminous plant, usually from 15 to 25 

 teet high, with few branches and dark green pinnate leaves composed of two or 

 three pairs of leaflets of a leathery texture. The flowers are polygamous or 

 di«ecious(/.* f either self-fertilising or unisexual on different plants), arranged in 

 small red racemes. Trie pods, known as Locust beans or St. John's Bread, are 

 V a *f eet mu cilaginous pulp, 6 to 10 inches long, and contains numerous 

 seeds. I hey are often eaten by the poorer people in the Levant, and serve as a 

 useful food for cattle. The seeds are also said to be used in the preparation of 

 mucilage. In Italy and Southern Spain the tree is cultivated in dry, stony localities, 

 and yields valuable crops. The value of the carob pods exported from Cyprus 

 has, m some years, reached £65,000. 



There are several cultivated varieties, and as the tree is usually dicecious it is 

 necessary to engraft seedling plants in order to ensure large crops. For cultiva- 

 tion in not and dry districts, with stony soils, there is little doubt that the carob 

 is a valuable tree, and deserves to be widely cultivated. It requires warmer 

 conditions than the orange, i.e., a mean yearly temperature of, say, 66deg. Fahr. 

 it is said to prefer a calcareous subsoil. It begins to tear at about eight years 

 old, and a single large tree may yield pods weighing in the aggregate about 2 cwt. 

 Larob trees are familiar objects in some parts of the Canary Islands, especially 

 above 1 uerto Cruz, in Teneriffe. There they are evidently seedlings, and produce 

 only a scanty crop of pods. There is, we learn from the Kew Bulletin, in the 

 garden ot Dr. Grabham, at Funchal, Madeira, a very handsome Carob tree. The 

 mam stem has a circumference of fifteen feet ; at about eight feet from the base it 

 aivides into numerous wide-spreading branches, and covers a considerable area, 

 c iff \ S -i • A° U Vj ee ,n the nei ghbourhood and produces a fair crop it is probably 

 c! ^ !u e ^ u . carob tree was introduced to Jamaica in 18S3, chiefly from 

 seed gathered by the present Assistant-Director of Kew, from the Madeira tree 

 above-mentioned. The plants have grown well in the plains, but those that have 

 nunerto rlowered have produced male flowers only. Steps are now being taken 



to m roauce grafted plants from Naples, where they are raised in large numbers 

 for planting m Southern Italy. 



isul at Naples has recently presented a remarkably interesting 



nn j • . -*> n Office on the propagation and cultivation of the carob tree, 



and in his opening remarks he says :— 



mad^inmfw^l'T^^^VlP' 5 ^ a well-known gentleman from South Africa 

 anff concerning the cultivation of the carob 



tous^^ ? US ^^tion into the Cape Colony. The carob or 



children, on account of its swee ^ ^. human beings, especially 



are useful only for seed as h P °^ S contain ver y hard heans * which 



they swallow them it is f i Se l leave them in their Inan g ers » and l{ bv chance 

 moreover, thick dark e verier /r lbey d ° not digeSt them# The treeS ***** 

 grows in many places in th M !r ^ which B* vcs a c ° o1 and grate^ 1 shade. It 



e Me<3lt erranean where nothing else will grow, notably 



A number of plants in pots will be grafted at Naples next spring, repotted 

 larger pots with plenty of clay, and when the grafts have taken well the trees will 

 be packed, the clay well soaked in water, and it is confidently hoped that they 

 will bear the journey satisfactorily. They will be sent from Naples* in the month of 

 February, and will probably travel via England, which seems climatically prefer- 

 able to the East Coast route, by German steamer to Durban via Zanzibar. 



After giving full directions for the management of imported plants, the raising 

 of seedlings, planting, and grafting, and ample information on the conditions 

 most conducive to the trees when established, Mr. Neville-Rolfe continues :— 



Some years ago the Italian Alpine Club agreed that it would be greatly to the 

 advantage of South Italy, and would add materially to the attractions of the moun- 

 tain scenery, if the Apennines, which are now for the most part quite bare, could 

 be made to grow trees such as there is every reason to believe that they did in 

 more ancient times. They determined to consult Signor Savastano, the professor 

 of arboriculture in the School of Agriculture at Portici, near Naples, who gave it 

 as his opinion that the mountains where the lentisk and the myrtle grow freely 

 enough could be utilised to produce the more remunerative carob. To the 

 obvious advantage of reafforesting the mountains, and thus adding to the rainfall, 



would be added the production of a valuable crop where nothing saleable had 

 grown before. 



The great carob-growing districts of South Italy are in the Bari region, on the 

 Adriatic coast, and quantities are exported annually to Russia and Central Europe 

 from Brindisi and the other ports along the coast. Though the tree may be seen 

 in almost any garden in Naples, and is not uncommonly found on the mountains, the 

 only person who has made a hobby of its cultivation is the Prince of Belmonte, 

 who has large properties in the province of Salerno, not far from the ruins of 

 Paestum. Besides planting several trees in his shrubbery, the Prince has a long 

 avenue of them leading up to his house, which is particularly interesting, and is 

 we believe, the only avenue of its kind. The trees are planted 7 metres apart, 

 and the largest of them has a trunk of 85 centimetres (about 2 ft. 9 in.) in circum- 

 ference. This tree is eighteen years old, and its top is from 6 to 7 metres in 

 diameter, and 4 or 5 in height. In common with the other trees of the avenue, 

 the fruit is of the best description, and each tree may be taken to yield annually 

 50 kilos, or, say, 120 lb. of fruit, worth in Italy about six shillings. This may be 

 spoken of as the ornamental part of the work, while the plantation? of Licosa and 

 Tresina are more on the scale of a commercial enterprise. They are both germane 

 to our present purpose, as they show in what different circumstances the carob will 

 grow and flourish. The Licosa grove is in a plain by the seaside, and the difference 

 of the trees is very remarkable, some of them growing with great vigour, others 

 not flourishing at all. The reason of this must be the existence of land-spring 

 beneath the surface with which the weaker trees come into contact, and by which 

 their growth is checked. There is no other apparent reason, and as the grove 

 consists of about 1,500 trees there is scope for observation. The site is very much 

 exposed to the wind, and in the first attempts at forming the grove as many as 

 70 per cent, of the plants were lost. There were other causes, too, which led up 

 to this heavy loss. First, the whole thing being an experiment, they did not know 

 at what period and in what way it was best to graft the trees, and also the grafters 

 had not anything like the skill which they have since acquired. 



The grove at Tresina is planted in altogether different conditions. Here we 

 have a hilly country fully 1,000 feet above the sea, and here the outside loss 0 

 plants has been 20 per cent. , which is not more than occurs in the P 1 ^ 1 ^ ° 

 ordinary forest trees. The plantation consisted originally of 7,o°° tre <*' but J"! 

 been largely increased year by year, and the Prince expresses every confidence io« 

 in a few years 5 time he will clothe the barren slopes with a mantle of ' uxU ™" 

 green. Professor Savastano asks very pertinently why, if these results can uc 

 obtained at Tresina, they should not be obtained elsewhere, and * 

 barren acres of Italian mountains be made useful and productive. And, in » j 

 since he wrote upon the matter, the spread of this cultivation has been 

 continuous. We have shown pretty plainly that Prince Belmonte has WW m 

 success only by patient experiments extending over a considerable numoe 

 years. Commercially speaking, he is abundantly satisfied with the results <>b^ n *j 

 but he does not relax his efforts. He rears some 8,000 seedlings every year, ^ 

 has a skilled staff to conduct all the necessary operations, with the result 1 < * 

 grows a valuable crop on ground which before was absolutely un P r ^ uct * V * '^iiy 

 if the landed proprietors of South Africa profit by his experience, and are \ ^ 

 persevering, and the tree, as is anticipated, proceeds to grow like a ueea, 

 troduction should, in the opinion of the Consul at Naples, form a mine 01 

 to the Cape colonists. 



. Chrysanthemums in France.-Although cbrysa nt hemums hav^n 



long grown in France, yet it is only in recent years that they have h ^ n< ? j ^ 



favour in the eyes of the general public. The cultural manual by ^ 

 hshed in 1854, was probably the only one of any importance for "^^ito* 



went acquisition 

 nos Jardins, par 

 Science in l»5*- 



u"= uuwer no aoubt received att« 

 both before and after that date. 



C. H. P. 



print 



Academy 



