264 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
the most productive English fruit garden known, that of 
Mr. Webb, at Calcot, near Pleading, every kind of fruit, with- 
out a single exception, prospers and produces, and apples, 
pears, stone fruits, and nuts are particularly profitable. And 
yet, at the distance of only half a mile from that spot, a gar- 
den in which the soil appears to be of the same quality, and 
which enjoys almost similar advantages in respect of shelter 
and good management, all kinds of fruit trees succeed with 
the exception of pears, and these have baffled every attempt 
to establish them as profitable occupiers. To determine in 
advance what fruits may or may not be grown in a particular 
place is impossible, but generally speaking, the texture of the 
soil, and the known conditions of climate, and other govern- 
ing circumstances, enable anyone possessed of experience in 
such matters to make a pretty safe forecast of what may be 
attempted in fruit culture with a reasonable prospect of 
success. 
It very rarely happens that a place selected for the building 
of a residence and the formation of a garden, will not produce 
fruit of any kind at all. The walls of the house and the en- 
closing fences afford positions for fruit that the climate 
may be too unkind for if planted in open quarters, and as 
regards the soil, while it is impossible to alter the natural 
staple on a large scale, the preparation of borders for a few 
useful fruits next walls and fences is not a formidable task, for 
there are few places, however bleak and barren, that will not 
furnish a top crust of old turf and a heap of muck from a 
stable or a cow byre, by the aid of which a border may be 
formed for a few pears, or plums, or peaches, or even in an 
extreme case for the hardiest of apples, such as Hawthorn- 
den and Carlisle codlin. 
The novice in fruit culture may be perplexed by the con- 
sideration that the planting and pruning and general manage- 
ment of fruit trees are matters of such difficulty that none 
but a ripe expert can reasonably expect to succeed. But the 
consideration is not worth considering. If the trees and the 
soil and the climate do not suit each other, the general man- 
agement will not do much to reconcile them, although it must 
be admitted that the masters of fruit culture do overcome 
difficulties that less experienced persons would be defeated by. 
But given suitable conditions and suitable sorts, and the trees 
being of good make and shape and properly planted to begin 
