556 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ De em' er 11, 1331. 
—namely, the flowers had long white petals, the upper spotted 
with yellow. It ds probably variable, and seedlings might yield 
several distinct forms. 
BARREN WALL TREES 
It is certainly convenient to blame the weather when our wall 
trees fail to produce good crops of fruit ; but if this takes place 
several years in succession we must look for other causes, and 
often take extreme measures to restore the trees to a healthy 
fruitful condition. 
Barrenness is usually due in old trees to a crowded condition 
of their spurs, and even when the trees do not wholly fail to fruit 
they yield produce that is worthless, being small, hard, and 
flavourless. Trees are brought into this state through a rough and 
careless system of pruning, which adds annually to the evil until 
failure is the result. This occasionally arises from thoughtlessness 
on the part of those to whom the work is entrusted, and not 
unfrequently is due to a total ignorance of the requirements 
necessary to the formation of healthy fruit spurs. Light and air 
are essential for building up and perfecting the buds that are to 
produce the following year’s crop of fruit. They are robbed of 
these conditions when the trees are crowded ; in fact, the whole 
mass of weak spurs which the trees possess are hidden from light, 
being entirely shaded by leaves. This is not the only evil that 
results from a crowded condition of the spurs. The energy of the 
tree is devoted to the development of perhaps a hundred more 
spurs than are needed, while the leaves by shading one another are 
prevented carrying out their proper functions. If trees then are 
to be fruitful year after year the spurs must be so disposed 
that light and air can reach them, and the leaves have room to 
develop without crowding. 
Trees that are crowded may in a season or two be rendered 
fertile by freely and judiciously thinning their spurs at once. 
Small spurs near the main branches may be too weak to fruit next 
year, but they will develop into bold spurs for the following season. 
One precaution is necessary, and that is preventing young wood 
that is certain to form freely from the sawed off spurs, from 
crowding the tree, and then smothering the small fruit spurs that 
have been left. The shoots that start away from the remains of 
the old spurs should not be left until they become woody and 
then be pinched ; but directly they are observed to be growths, 
and not fruiting spurs, they can be thinned, and only sufficient left 
to furnish the tree for forming new spurs, and sustaining it in 
health and vigour. 
But barrenness is due to other causes which skilful management 
in pruning during summer and winter will not remedy. Old trees 
that have occupied positions against walls, and for years have been 
left to their own resources, have long since deprived the soil 
of its fertility, and have not only become barren, but gradually 
declined in health and vigour. Generally, the borders near walls 
are cropped with vegetables, and any roots the trees might form 
in them are annually cut away, and thus the roots are driven into 
the subsoil. If we suppose a border 5 feet wide near the wall is 
devoted to the trees, and the soil is of a stiff or clayey nature, 
the trees, if left to themselves, are certain to fail, as can be seen 
in too many gardens. Trees on a north wall, as a rule, are more 
likely to suffer than those in any other position ; and if we glance 
at a wall of these trees, and consider the treatment they receive, 
we need not wonder that they have both failed to fruit and grow. 
They have probably been summer and winter pruned, and occa¬ 
sionally had an application of manure to the surface of the border. 
This may be considered ample, and by no means bad fare for fruit 
trees. It certainly sounds very well, but fails to bear close 
examination. The treading during the operation of pruning con¬ 
solidates soil that is adhesive until water will not pass freely 
through it, and the manure is like adding fuel to the fire. Where 
water will not pass away freely the’air cannot penetrate—a condition 
that is alone sufficient to account for barrenness and debility. Soils 
in this condition soon become sour, and are too cold for the well¬ 
being of trees. The heat of summer fails to dry and warm 
borders of this nature. The heat which should penetrate the 
soil is spent in evaporating the water from the surface, most of 
which should have passed away in the opposite direction. When 
covered with manure evaporation is arrested, and the soil thus 
remains in a similar condition throughout the year. 
To restore trees in this deplorable state to health and fruitful¬ 
ness requires thoughtful consideration before commencing. There 
is nothing to lose, and the results of renovation in two or three 
years may be a decided gain. The age and health of the trees 
must be considered, for in some cases it might be wise to pull out 
the old trees, clean the wall, and work the soil thoroughly for a 
season to restore it to a state of sweetness and fertility. When 
these measures are taken, if the soil is not properly drained that 
should be done. This, however, is necessary in any case. The 
border must be trenched and the subsoil well broken up. The 
quantity brought to the surface in trenching must depend upon its 
nature, but several inches may be brought up, and if well worked 
and left a whole season to the disintegrating influences of the 
atmosphere, and then thoroughly mixed with what was the surface 
soil, a considerable quantity of dormant plant-food will be rendered 
active, ready for the young plants the following season. Fresh 
loam, if obtainable, manure in small quantities, or other fertilising 
ingredients, may also be added for the benefit of the trees to give 
them a good start. When the soil is in the unsatisfactc ry state 
that has been described it is unwise to dig holes in wl ich to plant 
young trees. Trees seldom do well in such holes however good 
the soil may be, for they prove to be mere pits into which the water 
from the surrounding ground drains, the new or newly worked soil 
acting like a sponge. 
If the old trees are not too far gone their renovation may prove 
the most profitable. In the first place the whole of their spurs 
should be sawn close back and their branches well scrubbed, for 
frequently trees in a saturated soil are covered with minute forms 
of vegetation. The surface soil of the border may be picked up as 
deeply as possible without cubing off the few fibrous roo's the trees 
may possess. Yery few will be found near the surface. Leave the 
soil in a rough state, so that the weather will act upon it and water 
evaporate freely. It is surprising what an improvement will be 
effected even in one season by this simple means. Trees that are 
cut fiard back will start a good per-centage of strong growths. 
Disbudding will be necessary and only sufficient left to furnish the 
tree ; these should be secured to the main branches so that they are 
clothed from the main stem to the end of the branches with 
young growing shoots. After disbudding or tying any treading on 
the border must be remedied by forking it again to encourage 
evaporation throughout the season. 
This refers principally, as far as training the young wood is 
concerned, to Apples and Pears. Plums require slightly different 
treatment. Young shoots should be laid in where necessary, and 
others pinched about 4 inches in length. Plums, as a rule, break 
freely from the old wood, and we have, after cutting back the 
spurs, furnished trees in a season, with good bearing wood close at 
home. 
Whether Plums, Apples, or Pears are under treatment while 
the leaves are fresh upon the trees in early autumn, a trench should 
be cut B or 4 feet or more from the stem, according to the size of 
the trees, and all roots beyond cut off. The cut must be clean, and 
performed with a sharp knife, about half the remaining soil 
between the trench and the stem being worked carefully from 
amongst the roots, preserving every fibre that can be found. The 
remaining surface soil must be removed down to the roots. The 
roots that have been bared must be laid into a compost of fertile 
soil. Refuse from the potting shed and fibry loam in equal 
proportions will give them a good start. Wood ashes may be added, 
and a few half-inch bones with the fine portions amongst them. 
In the case of Plums lime rubbish or a little lime will prove 
beneficial. 
All the pruning that will be necessary after the leaves fall will 
be the shortening back of shoots and the removal of unripe ends. 
The following season fruit spurs will be formed almost the entire 
length of the young wood, tied to the old branches if the shoots 
made attained anything like strength, and the roots start fairly 
well in the new compost. 
The spaces between the trench cut round the trees should be 
treated in the way advised if young trees are planted. This will 
prevent the trees from receiving more than their share of the 
autumn and winter rains.—W m. Bardney. 
TABLE PLANTS. 
As a general rule p’ants for the decoration of iables may be 
selected from a collection of all kinds, but the most suitable are 
those which are neat and graceful in growth, light and effective in 
general appearance, not too large in size, nor growing in too large 
pots, and which will endure without injury the atmosphere of the 
rooms in which they are placed for a brief and reasonable time at 
least. The range of plants which a gardener with plenty of con¬ 
venience at his command can draw upon for furnishing tables is 
considerable, and when the duty of decorating tables with plants is 
confined to making temporary and occasional displays for the brief 
period of a dinner party, many comparatively tender plants, in¬ 
cluding numerous flowering plants, may be employed. Such plants 
need a little preparation before taking them into a waim room, 
such as ascertaining that they are moderately moist at the roots, 
