November 12, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
403 
and Lane’s Prince Albert. Several others might he added, but I 
have found the foregoing thoroughly reliable. 
It is very interesting to have a trial ground in some convenient 
place. A large selection of approved sorts may be grown there, 
and will prove very interesting and instructive. Presuming the 
intending planter to have decided on the number of trees of each 
form he wishes to plant, his best plan will be to pay a visit to some 
well-known reliable nurseryman in the late summer months, and 
personally select his trees, taking due care to have them marked 
ready for delivery when the lifting 'season arrives. This plan of 
personally selecting the trees I regard of the utmost importance, 
for the following reasons :—You have the choice of the very best 
trees for sale ; by selecting them early you practically insure early 
autumn delivery ; and further, you have a good opportunity of 
comparing the merits of the different varieties, and forming an 
opinion on the ground of any new sorts that may have been recently 
introduced to commerce. 
Preparation of the Ground, Planting, and Pruning.— 
In my opinion the most useful of all trees for the moderate sized 
garden is the bush, which should, with few exceptions, be planted 
on the Broad-leaved Paradise. They may be conveniently planted 
by the sides of walks in rows about 6 feet apart and the same dis¬ 
tance from the path. The ground should be trenched 10 or 12 feet 
from the walk and 18 inches deep or thereabouts, according to its 
nature, and drained if necessary. Holes should be dug at the 
required distance from each other, and from 12 to 18 inches deep, 
according to the nature of the soil. If the soil is wet they may be 
somewhat shallow, and if dry they may be somewhat deeper, but in 
no case must the tree be planted deeper than it was originally. 
The holes must be slightly higher in the centre and well covered 
with slates or brick rubbish to prevent the roots going downwards. 
At planting time a good stake should be in readiness to drive in the 
centre of the hole to secure the tree, also some good turfy loam, to 
induce the formation of fibrous roots. The roots should be care¬ 
fully pruned with a sharp knife, making the cut on the under side 
to induce the new fibrous roots to start from the top of the old 
root, and ultimately become what are termed surface roots. With¬ 
out these surface roots it will be impossible to succeed, as they are 
the first to take any nourishment that may be administered to the 
tree, also the warmth in the summer. 
The trees should in most cases be shortened back to a wood bud, 
pointing outwards, before the end of the current year, in which 
they were planted. In my opinion, from my own experience, I 
believe one of the chief causes of canker in newly planted trees is 
the result of shortening back late in the spring. Severe and 
untimely pruning, I believe, induces canker if the operation is per¬ 
formed in the spring, when the buds are swelling and the sap is at 
work. It must either overflow by the wounded surface and cause 
weakness or it must stagnate, and when it does so, being partly in 
contact with the air, it becomes vitiated and the bark cankers and 
shells off, leaving a long dead stump, which requires to be cut off, 
and even then the wound is difficult to heal over, setting aside the 
loss of wood, of time, and perhaps the loss of the whole tree. 
Espaliers. —This is a useful and economical type of tree for 
small gardens. They may be conveniently planted by the side of 
walks, about 4 feet from the walk, the ground having been pre¬ 
viously trenched as for bushes, a post placed at each end of the line 
to be planted, and others at intervals of about 18 feet along the 
lines, and a hole as described for bushes dug midway between 
each of the posts. Strong wires should be strained along the posts 
at the same distance as the branches are apart on the espalier trees 
generally. Do not shorten these horizontal branches, but tie them 
in the full length for the time being ; they will help to keep the 
tree in action, and may be shortened if necessary when the tree is 
at rest. 
Cordons require a more restricted method. A trench should 
be dug out about 18 inches deep and 3 feet wide, stout posts 
placed along the line as for espaliers, about 6 feet high ; strain 
the wire tightly along the top, another about half way down, 
and one along the line of the posts near the ground. Tie long 
bamboos to jthe wires at an angle of 45° to 50°, and 18 inches 
apart. Plant one tree to each bamboo, and secure them as the 
work proceeds. These bamboos will be found to protect the 
trees from the wires, and will be found very handy for securing 
the leaders of the trees to, more especially if maidens are bought. 
It should be mentioned that the leaders of the trees should not be 
stopped if they can be induced to form spurs as they proceed in 
growth. 
Standards. —These are too often planted in a careless and 
slovenly manner, but if success is to follow the efforts of the planter 
the work must be well and carefully done. The ground should be 
broken up to a depth of 24 inches, good large holes dug for the 
trees, the injured roots carefully pruned with a sharp knife, and 
the whole of them carefully distributed in the hole, a stout stake 
having previously been placed there in the centre, the tree 
securely tied to it before it is left, not, as is too often the case, left 
undone for the time being, and perhaps never done at all. As a 
result the trees bow to the ground with the wet and wind, and 
then our amateur cultivators wonder why their trees do not bear 
fruit. The trees should be shortened back when perfectly dormant, 
but do not defer the operation till late in the spring, or canker will 
assuredly follow. No time should be lost in giving all the newly 
planted trees a good mulching of decayed manure to prevent undue 
evaporation and protect the roots from frost. 
Fruit Room and Storing. —How often, even in large well- 
known gardens, do we find a poor makeshift structure for the preserva¬ 
tion of fruit, after all the expense and trouble of producing it. What 
credit is it to an employer, what encouragement to the grower ? 
A good room efficiently constructed may be some little outlay at 
the beginning, but if properly done it will last as long as any of the 
surrounding buildings. I recently constructed one on the following 
lines, at the back of a north wall, some 45 ft. long and 12 ft. wide 
to accommodate fruits from newly planted trees ; the ground was 
taken out sufficiently deep to allow of a doorway, 6 ft. 3 in. deep, 
at the same time giving a good pitch to the roof which is of thatch. 
The floor is of concrete throughout; there is abundance of ventila¬ 
tion at each end, and shutters to keep out frost. The windows 
open outside and the shutters inside. The shelves are of beech wood 
smoothly planed, with the edges evenly bevelled to prevent the fruit 
becoming bruised. The shelves on one side are 2 feet wide and 18inches 
apart from top to bottom of the room ; on the right I have one 
long continuous bench with bins underneath, to hold fruits in large 
quantities. From this room we, this year, had fruits until July, 
and have even now some Wellingtons in good preservation. In 
storing be careful to pick all fruits as they approach maturity ; if 
they part readily from the tree the gatherer will be all right. Do not 
become alarmed at a few stray ones dropping from the trees. The 
period of gathering is a busy and interesting time for the grower, 
he has then as it were the reward of his labours for the past 
season. The fruit should be placed gently in shallow boxes with a 
layer of wood wool at the bottom to prevent them becoming bruised. 
None that have dropped or are in any way bruised should be placed 
in the store room with the good ones. Be careful to keep the 
varieties separate, and arrange the best as near together as possible, 
it will prove interesting to visitors. 
Insect Pests. —A long paper might be written on this subject 
alone, as we do not yet appear to have any very definite authority 
as to the best means of eradicating them. The Royal Agricultural 
Society of England, in their Journal for June last, published a very 
interesting description of them, and gave some good sound advice 
which it would be well for the grower to make himself acquainted 
with. Speaking from my own experience the best and safest 
remedy which I have used is softsoap and quassia, one ounce of 
each to a gallon of water ; boil the quassia until it sinks, afterwards 
adding the softsoap when cooling. A quantity of this mixture 
should be in readiness to use at once when the pests are first 
discovered and then at intervals of ten days afterwards for winter 
moth. Do not wait until they are actively at work, but remember 
that prevention is better than cure. The same x-emarks apply 
to aphides. They must be kept down, otherwise it is impossible 
for the trees to thrive, and in my opinion it is only by a constant 
and unremitting use of insecticides that they can be successfully 
dealt with. 
SHOULD ASPARAGUS BE MULCHED. 
Undoubtedly giving Asparagus beds an autumn dressing of 
manure is a time-honoured practice, but that does not prove that 
it is right in all cases. There are plenty of instances where a 
good dressing of “ fat ” manure, duly covered over with soil from 
the sides and alleys between the beds, may be of some benefit, or 
at any rate are not injurious beyond destroying many side roots, 
the soil and subsoil be naturally light and well drained. AVhen, 
however, heavier soils or those of a clayey retentive nature have 
to be considered, I must most unhesitatingly answer the question 
as to whether autumn mulching should be practised in the nega¬ 
tive. It is my firm belief more Asparagus roots have been 
weakened or killed outright from excessive moisture during the 
winter than from any other cause. The roots, if not actually on 
the surface, defy the sharpest frost; but much moisture, and which 
is usually accompanied by low temperatures, proves too much for 
them. A heavy surface dressing of farmyard or other solid 
manures applied in the autumn have the effect of keeping the 
ground in a cold saturated state, and from which it will not recover 
for many months. If the roots do not perish outright they are 
inevitably weakened by the ungenial state of the soil, and in any 
case active growth is bound to be late. What, also, is undeniable 
is the fact that cold saturated ground is the first to suffer in a dry 
