24 
CALENDAR FOR JANUARY. 
CALENDAR OF FRUIT AND FORCING GARDEN 
OPERATIONS—JANUARY. 
Fruit Department .—Previous to planting a new orchard, or 
quarter of fruit trees of any description, care should be taken to 
have it thoroughly drained, the drains being placed lower than it 
will ever be advisable to trench the soil: trenching is then the 
next point, and it should go as deep as the nature of the subsoil 
will allow, say three feet, if possible. The earth should be regu¬ 
larly mixed, not the top spit buried, and the bottom, good, bad, 
or indifferent, brought to the surface. Manure should be added 
if the ground is poor, but not too freely, as the young trees hardly 
require more for the first year or two than a little well-decom¬ 
posed spit dung and fine soil mixed, and placed about their roots 
when planted. In planting, be careful not to place the roots too 
deep, especially in stiff wet ground, where they should be raised 
above the general level of the surface on hillocks of prepared 
earth large enough to accommodate the first year’s growth, or 
nearly so. All trees should be strongly staked and tied imme¬ 
diately they are out of the planter’s hands; and they should also 
be mulched with long litter beyond the extent of the roots. 
Pear, apple, plum, cherry, and other hardy fruit trees should 
be pruned as soon as possible where not yet done ; the same with 
currant and other small fruits; but the peach and other tender 
sorts need not be touched unless the season he very mild, in 
which case they should be pruned, nailed, and protected as early 
as possible. The walls should also be cleaned and repaired where 
necessary. 
As it is at all times necessary for the gardener to be on the 
alert against insect enemies, he should take advantage of the pre¬ 
sent season to examine the last year’s shoots of the pear and 
apple trees, and remove such as are infested with rings of the 
eggs of the lackey-moth, more especially on small or recently 
planted trees. On large trees the only course that can be adopted 
is to carefully collect the prunings and char them for mixing in 
the compost heap. By these means, numbers of the caterpillar 
of this moth, which is so destructive in some seasons, might be 
materially reduced. Quickset hedges should also be examined, 
and if found much infested, might be clipped now and the clip¬ 
pings charred. D. M. 
