236 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September IS, 1868. 
the Beacon, ripening the end of August and beginning of September, 
which is so fertile that grafted on the Pear stock it may he planted 
at the same distance as the Plum and the Apple ; the Fertility, which 
is equally fertile either on the Pear or Quince ; and the Conference, 
which is not yet introduced to the public. The two former are already 
well known. Of recent foreign Pears which are hardy, Madame Treyve, 
Souvenir du Congres, Marie Louise d’Uccle, and Emile d’Heyst are 
marketable sorts ; of baking Pears the Catillac is probably the best. 
The Pear differs in analysis from the Plum and Apple. It contains :— 
Potash .. 
.. 54-69 
Iron .. 
.. 104 
Soda .. .. 
.. 8‘52 
Phosphorus .. 
.. 15-20 
Lime .. A .. 
7-98 
Sulphur 
5-69 
Magnesia 
.. 5-22 
Silicon 
1-49 
The best class of tree for planting is the two and three years old 
on the Quince stock, excepting the Souvenir du Congres and the Beacon, 
which should either be double grafted or on the Pear stock. 
The Morello Cherry on the Malialeb stock makes a very prolific bush. 
Grown in this way or trained to iron wires it may be easily protected 
with netting. Between the rows of pyramid or half-standard trees 
Currants and Gooseberries can be planted without in any degree injuring 
their produce, care being taken to return to the soil by chemical manure 
the constituents of which it is deprived by the growth and fruitfulness 
of the trees. By attention and occasional analysis there will be no 
more difficulty in doing this than in providing for the ordinary farm 
crops. 
Pruning.— In a farm orchard it is not necessary to prune trees 
severely. Pears and Apples in unfruitful seasons should have the shoots 
stopped in June, and should be occasionally examined and the inner 
growth lightened to let in the sun and air. About the end of September 
the shoot made after the first pruning should be shortened to four or 
five buds. As soon as the trees are fruitful very little pruning is 
required. Plum trees require as little pruning as possible, but all gross 
shoots should be removed when observed. The sorts of Plums I have 
named fruit so early that they do not grow into very large trees. In 
these garden orchards it is not well to allow the trees to grow to more 
than 10 to 12 feet. Avoid the use of long ladders as much as 
possible, and the consequent expense and delay in picking, which ought 
to be done by women and boys. 
Drying.— It is lamentable to hear of the shameful waste undergone 
when we have what is called a glut of fruit, and we shall hear no doubt 
in another paper of the proper means to be taken to prevent this loss. 
I have heard of tons of Plums in Worcestershire rotting because of the 
excess. There is no doubt that all this material could be saved and 
turned into food. The Persian shepherd goes out to his work provided 
with a bag of dried Peaches, which are so hard that he chastises his dogs, 
with them. The dried Misch Misch Apricot is a staple caravan food 
made into cakes and carried in a small compass. We pay a large sum to 
the French for dried Plums, and the ladies in Portuguese convents are 
properly employed in preserving the delicious Guimaraens Plums. The 
absence of sun is no excuse for our being so backward in these matters. 
We can and do ripen Grapes as well as the hot sun of Spain, and artifi¬ 
cial help will serve us as well for drying fruit as for ripening Grapes. 
The disastrous malady termed canker may be much alleviated by 
attention to the soil constituents, and in a paper read at Birmingham 
Mr. Tonks stated that he had removed the disease by the application of 
chemical manures, potash being the principal ingredient. The trees in 
my soil are almost entirely free from the disease, and this immunity is 
probably owing to the abundance of potash, which should be returned 
to the soil at every opportunity. The dressing applied by Mr. Tonks 
consists of nearly equal quantities of superphosphate of lime, nitrate of 
potash, nitrate of soda, and sulphate of lime. Although pruning may be 
carried to excess it must not be neglected, as it is desirable to grow fruit 
and not wood. It can be seen by measurement that much room is 
wasted by profitless and barren shoots. With judicious pruning this 
need not occur. 
The Boyal Agricultural Society has, for the first time, offered prizes 
for preparations of fruit next year. It has been a long time recognising 
the fact that land produces other necessaries than corn and cattle. We 
fruit growers have done very well without this recognition, which has 
come a little late in the day. It is, however, a step in the right direction. 
The advance of pomology during the last thirty years has been quite as 
rapid as the advance of agriculture, and we may be certain that there is 
no finality. Fruit-growing, I beg leave to state, is not the handmaid, 
but the helpmeet of agriculture, and I believe the best interests of the 
land would be served if landlords and tenants would meet to discuss the 
conditions under which they can advance the cultivation of fruit to their 
mutual advantage, and if these meetings were made public every village 
in England would be benefited ; in time competent advisers would be 
provided, and as the interests are national, it is hoped that means would 
be found of advancing money at a low rate of interest. There can, I 
think, be no fear of the supply overtaking the demand, and it is certain 
that foreign competition would not prevail against home-grown fruit if 
produced in sufficient quantity and of good quality. 
The production of fruit under glass requires capital and skill, and 
although not national is, and will become, an industry of great import¬ 
ance. Nearly forty years since my father proved that the cultivation of 
Peaches and Nectarines could be carried on in unheated glass houses 
with a certainty of success unknown to wall culture. The orchard house 
has now become an established fact. For some time before this system 
had been in full work the only early Peaches—that is, those ripening in 
July—were the Early Nutmeg, the Early Ann, the Double de Troyes, all 
of them almost worthless except for precocity ; now, however, we have 
ripening the 1st July, the Alexander, an American Peach, closely fol¬ 
lowed by the Early Beatrice, Early Louise, Hales’ Early, Rivers’ Early 
York, ripening during a month in which thirty years ago there was not 
a Peach worth having. During the months of August, September, and 
part of October there can be grown a continuous series of Peaches. The 
advance in Nectarines is equally conspicuous, the Lord Napier begin¬ 
ning a supply of Nectarines of high quality in August, which other sorts 
continue until the end of September, and ceasing with the Victoria. 
With these varieties, which were certainly not available thirty yc-ara 
since, an orchard house will give a continuous supply of Peaches and 
Nectarines for four months ; a house 100 by 21 feet properly managed 
will produce over 3000 fruits of high quality. Such a house was built in 
1855 at a cost of £117, and has produced for the last twenty-five years 
between 3000 and 1000 fruits annually. The cultivation of Grapes is 
advancing in our own islands with extraordinary rapidity, and although 
we hear complaints of the lowness of price, we do not hear that building 
Grape houses is declining, a good proof that no fear is entertained of the 
future prospects of Grape-growing. 
Cold Storage.— The principle of cold storage is likely to be of 
very great importance in the future, and experiments are now being 
made with regard to the preservation of fruit under the influence of 
cold. Now I am convinced that if a low temperature cannot be usefully 
applied to keeping fruit, it may be made very useful for the storage of 
trees, particularly of Pear trees on the Quince stock. What I have io 
suggest is that Pear trees on the Quince stock may be placed in pots in 
a cold storage in a temperature not lower than 36° Fahr., and retarded 
until the middle of April. By this means the blooming season may be 
kept back'until all danger from spring frosts is past. The fibrous .roots 
of the Quince and the slow growth of the Pear render this class of fruit 
tree particularly suitable for this method ; and as large Pears are worth 
in November and the succeeding months from 6s. to 8s. per dozen, cold 
storage, if possible, and if room for trees can be provided, will give a 
handsome profit. I tried some few years since to find a system which I 
could employ, but I was then offered small receptacles like a miniature 
chest of drawers, when I wanted room for hundreds of trees. I was 
not then acquainted with the premises of cold storage in Leadenhall 
Market. 
In Belgium it is customary to form clubs of fruit growers to compete 
at the various horticultural shows ; the combination of growers enables 
each man to choose his own particular fruit to show with his club. 
These contests are very interesting, and would, I think, if carried out in 
England, cause much friendly rivalry, and advance the interests of 
pomology. I have, I am afraid, set a bad example of exceeding tbe 
time allotted to the speakers, and, if so, I must ask to be forgiven, and 
conclude by saying I cannot, I am afraid, hold out any hopes of creating 
a large fortune by fruit-growing, but it is an investment and an occu¬ 
pation with a more or less certain income, which will become more 
certain with improved means of preservation. 
PACKING FRUIT. 
By Mr. J. Webber. 
Ignorance displayed in packing and want of knowledge of the 
condition in which fruit should be sent to market are the principal causes 
of loss to the fruit grower in this country. In packing we are far behind 
our continental brethren, for while they study not only the condition most 
suitable for travelling, but even the package in which the fruit is to be 
sent, we frequently send it too ripe, and make use of any package that 
may come to hand, with little regard as to whether it is too deep or too 
shallow, or will hold such quantities as are ordinarily marketable. 
Packing is such an important factor in the attainment of good prices 
for market produce that it ought to be one of the essential points in the 
