JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August IS, 1891; 
133 
will find that of which Yon Fallersleben, as admirers of German 
poetic literature will remember, has so sweetly sung, “ Spring 
within the heart.” —W. P. Wright. 
THE PREPARATION OF SOIL FOR FRUIT 
CULTURE. 
The nature and condition of the soil is of the greatest possible 
importance in relation to fruit culture, as the soil is the principal 
medium through which the building up of the tree and the for¬ 
mation of fruit takes place. The soil serves not only as a basis 
upon which the tree fixes itself and maintains its position, but it is 
the medium through which it draws its food supply, as well as that 
wherein many of the chemical changes take place in the preparation 
of the various elements of plant food. 
Before determining what preparation may be required it will 
be needful to ascertain the present condition of the soil. To do 
this it must be noted in the first place what is the natural condition 
or strength of the land ; that is, what are its component parts ; 
how much does it contain of the elements of the food required ; 
or what ingredients may be deficient. A chemical analysis is the 
only means of ascertaining this accurately ; but where only small 
quantities of trees are to be planted by a cottager, allotment holder, 
or small farmer, this might entail too great an expense, but a fairly 
accurate estimate of the quality of various soils may be formed by 
any practical man, and the elements that are likely to be deficient 
may be artificially supplied. 
But the object of this paper is not to deal with the composition 
of soils so much as to give a few practical hints as to the cultivation 
required to render the land fit for planting. The present state of 
the land to be planted must first be considered ; as to whether it 
is freshly broken up pasture, whether ordinary arable land, or 
whether it may have received any better treatment than that given 
in ordinary husbandry. The first consideration should be that of 
drainage. Nothing can be worse for fruit trees than to be planted 
in land the subsoil of which is close and water-logged. There are, 
of course, many soils that do not require draining. A test as to its 
nature in this respect may be made in the following way. If, on 
digging to the subsoil, you find it porous and perforated by worms, 
you may conclude that there is sufficient circulation of water and 
air through it. If, on the contrary, you find the soil close and 
retentive, with no worm holes, you may conclude that it ought to 
be drained ; and let me here emphasise the importance of proper 
draining. If the land be .water-logged, it is impossible for the 
trees to thrive and maintain a healthy condition upon it, or for it 
to perform its proper functions in preparing plant food. The 
fruit trees will consequently become moss-covered and subject to 
canker and many other diseases, and instead of producing good 
profitable crops, will become so stunted and unhealthy, that what 
fruit may be produced it will be comparatively worthless. 
The next consideration is the breaking up of the land. If it 
has been used for ordinary husbandry it should, in the first place, 
bebroken up to a greater depth than has hitherto been the case. 
Where there is no great extent to be planted this would probably 
have to be performed by hand. This should be done by what is 
ordinarily known as bastard trenching, or the breaking up of the 
land two spits deep ; but in doing this, on no account must the 
subsoil be brought to the surface, but merely broken up and turned 
over, turning the next spit of surface soil on to the Top of the sub¬ 
soil thus broken up. 
Where large breadths are to be prepared a steam cultivator may 
be used to advantage, or it may also be prepared with the subsoil 
plough. These implements should be used in dry weather only 
and if possible used in two opposite directions to ensure the whole 
of the subsoil being moved. If the land can be thus prepared a 
few months before planting so much the better, as the constant 
moving of the land in dry weather, and fully exposing it to the 
action of the sun and air is highly beneficial, and it enables the soil 
to absorb from the atmosphere many fertilising elements. In the 
case of planting standard trees upon grass land in the old style of 
farm orchards it will be needful to dig holes for each of the trees. 
In these single holes, however, there is always a great danger of 
water lodging and becoming stagnant, which will be greatly to the 
detriment of the tree. Where, therefore, it becomes necessary to 
dig these single holes always be careful to provide some proper 
means of drainage from each hole, or disappointment will probablv 
ensue to the planter. J 
9 onc ^ on the land best suited to planting probably 
that from which a root crop has been taken will be found one of 
tht best. The land will then of necessity have been well worked 
in preparation. for the roots, and well manured, much of the 
strength of which will still remain in the soil in the best condition 
for the newly forming roots to feed upon. If planting is to 
succeed a corn crop the land will be in a more exhausted condition, 
and will require more manure applying at the time of planting. 
It is most desirable to select land that is clean and free from weeds. 
Otherwise if the trees are planted where the land is at all 
encumbered with them, and they should become buried amongst 
the roots of the trees great annoyance and expense will ensue for 
many years, and some of the more tenacious weeds cannot be after¬ 
wards extracted without injury to the roots of the tree. 
If the land to be planted is naturally good and has been well 
cultivated for any considerable time it will not require much 
cultivation before planting, but if the land is not naturally so good 
and is in a poor condition it will be better to defer plant ng for a 
time in order to thoroughly clean and give good preparation. In 
some cases it will pay well to take a clear summer fallow and to 
break up the land, and thoroughly clean and pulverise it through 
the summer, applying a good coat of manure in the autumn before 
planting. This will really be no less of time but a saving in the 
end, and the endeavour in planting should always be to put the 
tree into the soil under such conditions that it will have a fair 
opportunity of growing and thriving after it is planted. —Joseph 
Cheal. 
[Read at the Beddington Park Conference of the British Fruit 
Growers’ Association, August 3rd, 1891.] 
PINKS AT HANDSWORTH, BIRMINGHAM. 
I saw Mr. A. R. Brown’s Pinks in the middle of June, and the 
plants had suffered so much from the severe winter that I was somewhat 
surprised at his success at the Midland section of the National Pink 
Society at Wolverhampton and at Manchester as the leading prize¬ 
winner. The day after the Wolverhampton Show I again saw his plants, 
and was much gratified with his blooms, and I found him at work 
polishing up his best blooms from Wolverhampton ; and they needed it, 
for the three days’ exposure there had given the flowers a coating of 
dust, and yet they stood so well, and some of them were in his 
winning stands at Manchester on the Saturday in the same week. 
Mr. Brown’s garden in the Crompton Road, Handsworth, where his 
father first started a florist’s business many years ago, was then and 
for some years after a suburban district, but now it is surrounded by 
bricks and mortar, and the district is densely populated. The late Mr. 
Brown, father of the present proprietor, was a well known, much 
respected florist, and everybody in the Midlands knew Sam Brown, a 
genial, true florist, and a good grower of Tulips, Carnations, Picotees, 
Auriculas, Pinks, and other flowers. The hybridisation of sub-shrubby 
Calceolarias also engaged his attention. The Pink was one of his special 
favourites, and it is fully ten or more years since he raised a number of 
seedlings, of which Amy, Mr. Dark, Mrs. Brown, Mary Ann, Clipper, 
a flower which Mr. Samuel Barlow esteems highly, and was originally 
called Heavy Red, and is still an excellent variety. Mr. C. F. Thurstans 
of Wolverhampton also grows this variety, and considers it one of the 
best. There is another which I think is destined to make its mark by- 
and-by, a variety named Maud, which last year only existed in one 
weakly plant, and it was nursed through the winter, and now has a few 
strong pieces of “grass” for future stock. 
The only one yet sent out is Mrs. Dark, and it seems hard to under¬ 
stand why Amy, Ethel, and Maud have not been distributed long since. 
Sam Brown, as he was familiarly called, was somewhat conservative in 
his floral leanings, and would only part with his pets to a very particular 
friend, and this but seldom, and no great effort was made to increase the 
stock to any extent. Last winter terribly crippled Mr. Brown’s stock as 
well as that of others, and both Amy and Ethel cannot be sent out until 
the autumn of 1892. Mrs. Brown and Mary Ann, two fine varieties, are 
altogether lost. Amy is making its mark as a fine flower of good size, a 
good petal, and refined in its marking and quality. Fellows’ Rector, so 
admirably shown by Mr. R. Sydenham at Wolverhampton, is another 
fine flower, which will be welcomed by all growers. Brown’s Ethel, 
light red laced, has a fine petal, regularly laced, and a good pod, and is 
an A1 flower. Mr. Dark, light red laced, is a good flower, always lacing 
well, and a good pod. Ethel is a seedling from it and finer. Cronk’s 
Mrs. J. Cronk, sent out by Mr. J. G. Paul, Bridge of Weir, bright 
reddish purple laced, has a pure white ground and fine petal, which is 
regularly laced. Paul’s Chastity, bright red laced, is fine in petal and 
lacing but small. Paul’s Bertha has a very small lacing, almost a wire 
edging of dark purple, which runs clean on the margin of a very pure 
white ground, and is a most promising flower. After making these notes 
this flower, shown by Mr. Brown, was certificated at Manchester, was 
regarded as a coming flower, and took the first prize in the class for 
purple laced Pinks. 
Hooper’s Ranger Johnson, heavy red lacing, is large and full, the 
lacing rather irregular, with a roughness about the flower ; but seeing 
this flower later, quite at the end of July, it came better, and is well 
worth growing. Hooper’s Richard Dean, heavy red lacing, bears some 
resemblance to Ranger Johnson, and Mr. Hooper considers it to be one 
of his finest. It is not so at Handsworth ; it is small in petal, somewhat 
irregular in the lacing, and is too full of small petals. Hooper’s Mrs. 
Fred Hooper, bright rosy purple lacing, is a promising flower, with a good 
petal, a well-built fine flower. Fellowes’ Eurydiee is fine in colour, but 
with a confused centre, and Mr. Brown intends discarding it. Fellowes’ 
