May 28, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
411 
26 
Th 
Royal Society at 4.S0 p M. 
27 
F 
Manchester Horticultural Bhox 
28 
s 
23 
Bun 
Whit Sunday. 
80 
M 
Bank Holiday. 
81 
To 
1 
W 
HARDY FRUIT TREES. 
HE various fruit trees grown under glass | 
receive more or less daily attention from the 
time they break into growth, but those on 
walls and in the open quarters of the garden 
are left too much at this season of the year to 
themselves. The importance of timely action 
in preventing insects attacking fruit trees has 
been recently pointed out, and it is quite cer¬ 
tain that if aphides or other pests be allowed to infest 
the foliage nothing but failure can follow. Next to clean¬ 
liness come disbudding and thinning the growths. With 
trees under glass this work is done carefully and gradually, 
so that by the time the fruit approaches the stoning 
period only the requisite shoots are left to furnish the tree 
for the following year, except a few that may be necessary 
for the well-being of the present crop of fruit and which 
will be removed directly it is ripe. More generally than 
not fruit trees on walls are left until the stoning period, 
or nearly before it is thought requisite to commence the 
important work of disbudding. IIow frequently do we 
see negligence in this department until the shoots stand 
out from the walls 9 inches or 1 foot, when they are 
attended to merely for the sake of appearance. 
Such treatment might be pardoned if it was the work 
solely of the busy amateur who could only devote a few 
hours at night or in the morning to his trees, but these 
conditions are too prevalent in gardens where those in 
charge ought to follow a better method of procedure. 
The treatment that I have depicted means failure, or 
partial failure, of the crop, and the first stage of de¬ 
generacy of the trees. At first the fruit may be abundant, 
but it is certain to prove of inferior quality in comparison 
with that from trees that have every want attended to. 
If this matter is only looked into with the object of find¬ 
ing the effect of such treatment it will be clear that by 
allowing the trees to grow until they become crowded 
with young useless shoots the energy is wasted, being 
devoted to the production of wood that must be eventually 
cut away. If this were all then the matter might be 
passed without serious thought, but it is not, for in addi¬ 
tion the fertility of the border is being extracted for no 
purpose. These evils alone should be ample to convince 
anyone that a better system of treatment is necessary. 
Not only is the border exhausted but the fruit is robbed 
of those important essentials which are necessary to bring 
it through the various stages of development until it 
attains perfection. This is but one reason why the fruit 
is of inferior quality on trees that are neglected in com¬ 
parison with that on trees that are carefully and timely 
disbudded. 
Another of the evils connected with this system is that 
No. 361. —Vol. XIV., Third Series. 
the portion of wood which should be the best because the 
most thoroughly ripened is rendered useless. The foliage 
being excluded from full light and air is certain to turn 
yellow and fall after the trees have been severely thinned. 
Fruit buds cannot form on that portion of wood which 
loses its main leaves early in the season. The evils 
resulting from neglect do not end there, for rarely in the 
following season will growth buds issue from the base of 
those shoots under the ordinary method of training and 
pruning; hence the trees become bare in a few years and 
show at a glance that they have not been under the 
control of skilful cultivators. 
To leave the trees until they become a mass of growing 
shoots, and then remove large quantities at once, gives a 
severe check, and not unfrequently ends in a large quan¬ 
tity of the fruit falling during the critical period of 
stoning. The falling of stone fruit from trees on walls 
may certainly be attributable to many causes, but none is 
more prevalent than the one pointed out. If the trees 
are checked by the removal of large quantities of foliage— 
and it does not end thus fatally in all cases—the sudden 
exposure of the young fruit to light is ample to bring 
about the same disaster. Who has not observed the pre¬ 
mature ripening of fruit on a Gooseberry bush when the 
leaves have been devoured by caterpillars ? Such evils as 
I have pointed out can be avoided if the trees are examined 
at once and a good number of shoots removed that will 
not be required for furnishing the tree. This can be 
repeated again in about a fortnight, or as soon as it 
is perceived that the fruit is swelling. If disbudding is 
done as soon as the shoots are lai’ge enough to be rubbed 
off with the thumb and finger a greater number can be 
removed at one time than it will be safe to cut away if 
the trees have not been touched until the present time. 
The longer this operation is left the greater the care 
needed in the removal of the shoots for fear of checking 
the trees and crop of young fruit. Tying and nailing the 
summer shoots is a simple and easy process when all are 
removed that are not wanted for furnishing the tree with 
bearing wood. A judicious system of disbudding, stop¬ 
ping, and pinching during the spring and summer leaves 
but little pruning to be done during the cold short days 
of winter. Practically, only the wood that has carried 
the fruit remains to be cut away, and even this is best 
done directly the fruit has been gathered. Such treat¬ 
ment gives the trees every advantage, for light and air 
can penetrate freely to every portion of their branches, 
provided the main branches are thinly disposed. If the 
roots are in fertile soil, and care and forethought be 
exercised in regulating the shoots, fruit of fine quality can 
be insured if the weather prove warm and genial. 
The question may arise, What can be done early in the 
season to pyramidal and bush-trained fruit trees in the 
open quarters ? A little attention in rubbing away wood 
growths that will not be wanted for furnishing the tree 
will save considerable labour in cutting away useless wood 
a few weeks hence. It can be done now without fear of 
injury to the trees, but if left until tho trees become a 
mass of shoots, then to be cut away, they are certain to 
be seriously checked. 
The shoots of Gooseberries and Currants may also be 
pinched as soon as they have made 4 or 5 inches of growth. 
This will insure the lower leaves remaining upon the trees 
until autumn, and thus husband the resources of the tree 
for the perfection of the crop of fruit and flower buds for 
another year. Young vigorous trees if they are not 
pinched make long gross shoots that must be cut away in 
No.. 2017.—Vol. LXXVI., Old Series. 
