M*y 21, 1885. ] 
409 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
COMING EVENTS 
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Crystal Palace Summer Show 
Whit 8unday. 
Bank Holiday. 
(two days); Manchester Whitsuntide 
[Show (seven days). 
Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Committees at 11 A.M.; 
[Show of Pot Roses and Azaleas. 
FRUIT TREES IN SPRING. 
GREAT deal can be done to benefit fruit trees 
at the present time both as regards their sym¬ 
metry, health, and future productiveness ; and 
the work of improvement can be conducted 
more expediouslv, pleasantly, and effectively now 
than several weeks or months later in the sea¬ 
son. So much attention is given to plants, 
especially Orchids, at the present juncture—I 
do not say too much—-while the preparation of 
various kinds for the flower garden, with advancing vege¬ 
table crops, receive, indeed must have, so much attention 
from cultivators, that there is some danger of the require¬ 
ments of hardy fruit trees being overlooked. Yet nothing in 
cultivation is more important. Flowers and vegetable crops 
are transient in their duration in comparison with fruit trees, 
that are the most permanent of garden occupants, while 
they are as serviceable as any, at the same time ornamental, 
for there is no small measure of beauty in a well-grown and 
agreeably balanced tree, whether it is trained to a wall or 
represented as pyramid, bush, or standard. 
The first matter to attend to is the prevention of insects. 
Observe especial stress is to be placed on the word “ pre¬ 
vention.” It is far more easy to keep insects off trees than 
to kill them when they are on—far better for the trees and 
more creditable to the cultivator. Of all the mistakes that 
are made in gardening that of allowing insects to increase 
and become curled up in the leaves of fruit trees is the 
greatest. Insects of most kinds are easy to conquer if 
attacked in time, but if permitted to marshal their hosts 
and swarm in myriads they baffle all efforts to rout them 
without at the same time seriously injuring, if not destroying, 
their fortifications, and these, it should be remembered, are 
the precious leaves of trees and plants. 
Insects may be successfully combated by systematic 
applications of pure water. This is Nature’s insecticide, and 
it is the safest and the best; it is also the gardener’s best 
friend if he will only use it at the right time and in the right 
manner. The right time to apply it to fruit trees is as soon 
as the fruit is set, if not sooner, and before any insects are 
visible, or at least very promptly when the first scout of the 
coming army is perceived. The right manner of applying 
water to trees is with the aid of a syringe or engine, directing 
it particularly to the under sides of the leaves with as much 
force as can safely be applied without injuring them. It 
would be amusing to watch the gingerly manner in which 
many young gardeners and older amateurs use the syringe 
if the results of their playful squirtings were not so serious. 
Syringing as too often conducted is a delusion; the upper 
surface of the leaves are sprinkled and the workman is 
satisfied. So also are the insects that are comfortably 
ensconsed below. The under sides of the leaves must be 
reached directly and forcibly if the operation is to be effectual, 
and for accomplishing this in the case of trees on walls the 
stream should strike the wall with great violence between 
the branches, and the rebound of water will reach the reverse 
No. 256.—Vol. X,, Third Seres, 
side of the foliage. When this is done systematically insects 
may be prevented, but if by any cause they appear, stronger 
measures must be resorted to for extirpating them. 
There are various kinds of insecticides, and so far as I 
know all are good if rightly used. Nicotine soap, Gishurst 
compound, Fir tree oil, used in accordance with the instruc¬ 
tions of the vendors, will destroy aphides on fruit trees ; but 
in the interests of safety rain water should be used for mixing 
purposes. Fir tree oil, for instance, mixed with some kinds 
of spring water, is injurious to the tender foliage of plants 
and trees ; but the same quantity mixed in rain water is 
perfectly safe. A mixture of softsoap and quassia, 2 ozs. of 
each, to a gallon of water, is safe and serviceable, and may 
be used with great advantage once a week before any insects 
are visible ; it is both a deterrent and destructor, and, as 
before observed, it is much better to deter than to destroy. 
Tobacco water is a well-proved remedy, the cheapest and 
best being the London tobacco juice, which is made from 
duty-free tobacco, in accordance with a special grant, for the 
the destruction of insects ; or infested trees may be syringed 
and well dusted with tobacco powder. It is impossible to 
attach too much importance to the cleansing of fruit trees 
in spring, and this can be effected on the lines indicated. If 
by any chance the leaves at the tips of the shoots of Plum, 
Cherry, or other trees became so seriously attacked as to 
curl up over the insects, it is usually the best plan to top 
the shoots and burn them. If this is done while the shoots 
are still soft and tender, fresh growths push as freely as from 
the shoots of a Chrysanthemum, Fuchsia, or any other soft- 
wooded plant after topping; but if the work is delayed until 
the wood gets hard it is quite another matter. In this, as in 
all other operations against insects, promptitude of action is 
the key of success. 
Snails are not infrequently ruinous to young trees by 
nibbling off the very shoots that are essential for extension 
in forming a well-balanced specimen. One or two of these 
nocturnal marauders will do more injury in a night than all 
the gardeners in an establishment can repair in a season. 
Let not this simple but serious contingency be overlooked. 
Half the one-sided wall trees in the country have been mal¬ 
formed at the outset by the attacks of snails ; and hundreds 
of the tender young fruit of Peaches and Apricots are spoiled 
if the pests are permitted to have their own way at this 
period of the year. The wise man examines his trees care¬ 
fully with the aid of a lamp at night, and has recourse to 
other measures that suggest themselves to him for protecting 
them from their voracious enemies. 
The present is the best time of all the year for regu¬ 
lating the growths of fruit trees, first by thinning to prevent 
overcrowding—a gigantic evil—and then by pinching, for 
securing uniformity of growth and the equalisation of 
strength over the several parts of the tree. In nine cases 
out of ten the growth of trees, whether trained to walls or as 
pyramids, is too strong at the top and too weak at the base. 
The remedy is to suppress the exuberant parts by taking off 
the tips of the shoots at once. The growths resulting— 
secondary growths, if we like to call them so—will quite 
equal in vigour the less strong non-pinched shoots or those 
nearer the base of the tree. Summer pinching is valuable 
when properly conducted, but in the majority of cases it is 
deferred for weeks, if not for months, too long, and then a 
general slashing is given with a knife or pruning shears. It 
is in every way better to commence earlier topping those 
shoots that need it, and those only, with the finger and 
thumb, repeating the process as may be required as the 
season advances. This is light, clean, agreeable work, and 
effective when the head guides the hand accurately. 
At this period of the year it is very common to see three 
or four shoots near the top of a pyramid tree or near the 
extremities of some of the branches of wall trees as if racing 
each other for the lead, while the growths below are lagging 
behind. As only one leader is wanted in each case the 
No. 1912. —Vol. LXXII., Old Series. 
