■ September IS, 18S8. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
235 
hesitate to spend a few shillings in obtaining an analysis. I attribute 
a great part of my success in fruit growing to the nature and qualities 
of the soil. An analysis made by Dr. Voelclcer for Mr. Prout of Saw- 
bridgeworth gives the following constituents of the land on his farm, 
mine being the same formation and closely identical. The quantities 
are contained in depth of 6 inches per acre— 
Phosphoric acid .. 2 5 tons 
Potash .. .. 5 £ tons 
Lime .. ..37 tons 
Magnesia .. .. 4^ tons 
Sulphuric acid .. 2.^ tons 
Nitric acid .. 22 lbs. 
Nitrogen .. ..1 ton 
I shall show presently by an analysis of fruit that the inherent qualities 
•of this soil are vastly favourable for certain classes of fruits, and if the 
depth instead of 6 inches is extended to 20 inches, to which the roots of 
■fruit trees will reach in searching for food, the aliment afforded is of 
inexhaustible amount. With our present knowledge of artificial 
manures all deficiencies in other soils may, however, be easily supplied ; 
but I hope you will agree with me that an analysis of the soil is 
indispensable, and that it is necessary not to judge only by appearance, 
but to gain an intimate knowledge of the soil constituents. A deep 
rich loam is sometimes misleading, and trees, though apparently vigorous 
at first, being deprived of their requisite food will become cankered and 
stag headed. The cultivator must make it his business to cure this 
defect, which an elementary knowledge of chemistry and of the appli¬ 
cation of chemical manures will enable him to do. The position of the 
orchard is another important point. It is, I think, well known that 
frosts are more severe in low lying lands near rivers, and fruit trees 
should consequently be planted above the line indicated by the rising 
mists. 
The preparation of the soil is the next point, and I will assume that a 
man with 100 acres of land can afford to devote one rood for the culti- 
wation of an orchard; this must be fenced with wire netting high 
•enough to keep out hares and rabbits during snow, as one night’s 
visitation of these animals would suffice to destroy the growth of years 
and to ruin the plantation. In my own case I have sunk a barbed wire 
to prevent burrowing. Wire netting is so cheap that this expense is 
not great, and with proper care it will last for years. At all events, it 
must be incurred, for although rabbits may be utterly destroyed, hares 
will travel for miles in search of food. In Belgium in the fruit-growing 
•districts they are altogether absent, but it is not likely that this will 
ever be the case in England. The land, if at all infested with twitch, 
should have a summer's fallow to eradicate this pest, as it cannot be 
easily destroyed when the trees are planted. It will grow amongst the 
roots, and is then most difficult to deal with. As early in September or 
October as practicable the rood of land having been previously dressed 
with some 12 or 15 tons of good farmyard manure, should be trenched 
to the depth of 24 inches, the top soil being kept at the top and the 
bottom broken up and turned over. I am convinced that this costs 
about Is. 6 d. per square rod, or £3 for the rood, according to the tenacity 
■of the soil, and is absolutely necessary, as I have found from experience 
that my plantations made in a soil which has been frequently trenched 
bear more abundantly, and give finer fruit, and are more healthy than 
those which I have planted in holes only without moving the sur¬ 
rounding soil. The rood of land trenched and fenced will be ready for 
the reception of the trees in November, the soil being pulverised and 
•settled. Considerable expense having been incurred, I propose to show 
that the planter will be able to recoup himself by the number of trees 
he can plant and the consequent produce. The rood of land will 
accommodate about 400 trees—that is, 200 trees planted 9 feet apart 
row from row and 6 feet apart in the rows of Plums, Apples, and Pears, 
and 200 bushes of Currants and Gooseberries between at 6 feet apart in 
the rows. The rood, therefore, will contain as many Apples and Plums 
as two acres of the ordinary farm orchard, and enough bush fruits to 
pay all rent and expenses, and will be protected from all injury from 
stock and game, and without such protection it is useless to plant. 
Sorts of Trees. —In my own district the Plum is the most valuable 
fruit I have, and it is not difficult to explain the reason of this 
superiority. The Plum, according to an analysis drawn out by Mr. 
Edmund Tonks of Birmingham, contains :— 
59-21 potash. 
lO'OO lime. 
5-46 magnesia. 
3-20 iron. 
15-10 phosphorus. 
3'83 sulphur. 
2'36 silicon. 
All of which constituents are'largely present in my soil. It is one of 
the most valuable fruits of our domestic economy, it makes a delicious 
and nutritious preserve, and during the months of July, August, Sep¬ 
tember, October, and even in November, it may be present daily on the 
dinner table either cooked or uncooked, and I believe that certain classes 
of the Germans almost exist on the fruit, such are its nourishing qualities. 
The sort which I plant the most extensively is the Early Rivers or Early 
Prolific ; this was raised by my father some fifty years since, and in the 
most disastrous seasons I have never known it completely fail. 1 believe 
this immunity to be owing to the fact that from its precocity (as I have 
known the whole crop gathered by the 5th August) the tree has time to 
recover its strength in the period of nearly eight months which elapses 
between the gathering and the next season’s blooming. The density of 
the fruit is very great, as it weighs 70 lbs. to the bushel. This is against 
the producer, and it ought to be sold by weight. I believe that as a 
dried fruit it will fully equal the dried French Plums. Close to the 
gathering of the Early Prolific I have the Czar, a large purple blue Plum 
of abundant fertility; then the Sultan, and at the end of September 
Prince Englebert and Pond’s Seedling ; and beginning of October the 
Monarch, Archduke, and Grand Duke. 1 have discarded the Diamond, 
Reine Claude de Bavay, Reine Claude d’Oullins, Belgian Purple, as too 
uncertain for market Plums. For the farm orchard the interval be¬ 
tween the Sultan and Pond’s Seedling should be filled up by the 
Victoria, Green Gage, Gisborne’s, and the Pershore, all of which are well- 
known market Plums, and are equally suitable for cooking, preserving, 
and drying, and I hope one day to see the grocers’ shops continually 
supplied with these Plums of British manufacture. The Cluster Dam¬ 
son, well known for its enormous fertility ; the Prune and Shropshire 
Damsons are also very important fruits which should find a place. The 
sort of tree to be planted should be what are usually called two or three 
years unpruned standards, the younger the better, as the transplanting 
causes little injury to young trees. I may here mention that the Early 
Rivers does not prosper in my soil when grafted on the Mussel stock. 
The future health of a plantation depends very much on the stocks 
used, and it is therefore necessary to be particular on this head. 
The fruit which stands most in national importance is of course the 
Apple, and it seems strange that we should allow foreign nations to 
usurp our position in the supply of this very necessary want. In the 
200 trees required for the rood I should apportion 100 Apple trees, and 
for a continual supply of culinary fruit Keswick Codlin, Duchess of 
Oldenburg, Lord Suffield, Stirling Castle, Worcester Pearmain, Manks 
Codlin, Ecklinville Seedling, Lord Grosvenor, Warner’s King, Blenheim 
Orange, Baxter’s Pearmain, Lady Henniker, Tower of Glamis, Betty 
Geeson, Dumelow’s Seedling, will last from August to the end of April; 
of dessert Apples, Red Juneating, Irish Peach, Summer Golden Pippin, 
Devonshire Quarrenden, Williams’ Favourite, Ribston Pippin, Cox’s 
Orange Pippin, King of the Pippins, Blenheim Orange, Mannington’s 
Pearmain, Lord Burgnley, Sturmer Pippin, Allen’s Everlasting will give 
a supply from June to May. On the Paradise stock all these Apples will 
form fruitful and profitable bushes and are all marketable Apples, and in 
my opinion are very much better than any Baldwins or Newtown 
Pippins. Some of these kinds, such as the Manns Codlin and Stirling 
Castle, can be planted 6 feet apart. Worked on the Crab stock, they are 
so fertile that they are soon dwarfed by the production of fruit. As with 
Plums, I should recommend trees of two or three years old being 
planted. Of Apples of recent introduction I have not found Mr. Glad¬ 
stone so good as it was represented. It is not earlier than the Juneating, is 
very unequal in size, and has the unpleasant habit of being in a constant 
perspiration. Lady Henniker is a large and fine Apple. Peasgood’s 
Nonesuch is very handsome and large, but does not bear so freely in my 
soil as the Apples I have named. The stock English Apple, the Blen¬ 
heim Pippin, is a long time coming into bearing, but when fruitful 
always commands a high price; this and the Dumelows’ Seedling 
would, no doubt, be valuable for cutting into chips and rings. 
The analysis of the Apple differs from the Plum. There are 
present: — 
... 1-40 
... 13-59 
... 6-09 
... 4-32 
Potash... 
• •• 
... 35-68 
Iron ... 
Soda 
• •• 
... 26-09 
Phosphorus 
Lime ... 
... 
... 4-08 
Sulphur 
Magnesia 
... 
... 8-75 
Silica ... 
The Pear is the next in rank as an industrial fruit, but it by no 
means equals the Apple or the Plum in importance; indeed, during 
a great part of the year it is seen only on the tables of the wealthy. 
I have, however, had a considerable experience of Pears as standard 
trees. Within my recollection I have seen planted and destroyed the 
following sorts : —Summer Bergamot, Lammas, Passans du Portugal, 
Windsor, Williams’ Bon Chretien, Dunmore, B. d’Amanlis, Marie Louise, 
Louise Bonne of Jersey, Winter Crassanne, Beurr4 de Capiaumont, 
Beurre Bose, Comte de Lamy, Hessle, and Spring BeunA, none of which 
ever paid the rent of the ground they occupied. I have, however, 
raised three sorts of Pears which will reverse this position. These are 
