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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— July 1,1956. 
245 
one day. Just imagine three bushels of caterpillars, 
and it is easy to conjecture how much damage they 
must have done. 
To sum up the whole, I may say that, with a very 
few exceptions indeed, the Apple crop of this district 
is a total failure, being the worst on record; aud what 
is more, the trees have received so great a check as to 
be wholly unable to make wood and perfect buds this 
season, to produce fruit next year. It is not unlikely 
that many of them may die entirely. 
It is somewhat difficult to account for the above, as 
the weather, though dull, wet, and cold, was free from 
frost, and the early fruits, as Plums, Gooseberries, and 
Currants, are tolerably good. Blaclc Currants are cer¬ 
tainly not so plentiful as in some seasons, but these 
generally recover much. Pears are thin, but the trees 
are not in so deplorable a state as the Apples ; in fact, 
they look tolerably well in some places ; but they vary 
much. Certain kinds were very prolific of bloom, while 
others were destitute of it, or nearly so. Cherries, also, 
vary in produce. The early ones are bad, and the late 
ones, in some places, very thin; but in general they are 
better than the forward ones. Filberts, which ave as 
important a fruit here as any, are, perhaps, the best 
crop this season, Gooseberries alone excepted. They 
are, however, far from being generally a good crop, and, 
like many other things, are suffering from insects. The 
Apple Caterpillar, having no longer any of its favourite 
food, is attacking this plant ; but it is to be hoped that 
it will be stopped ere its ravages extend far. 
To those who may be unacquainted with a Kentish 
orchard, 1 may here say they differ much in general 
appearances, but the greatest number of them are 
formed of mixed fruits; six feet standard Apple-trees, 
standing some twenty-four or more feet apart; Filberts 
about ten or twelve feet, aud the intervals filled up with 
Gooseberries or Currants, making a plant on every 
square of five or six feet, so that when the whole have 
grown up, there is the appearance of a crowded thicket, 
perhaps too much so for the welfare of everything con¬ 
cerned ; and if the blight had been confined to planta¬ 
tions of this stamp, it is easy to suppose that this must 
have been the cause, which, however, it was not, for 
plantations under other circumstances have suffered 
equally, trees on grass, at wide distances, being 
equally affected as the others. Neither has situation 
been any preventive, for all have suffered, though not 
equally so, for portions of orchards have escaped with 
less injury than others, though apparently occupying a 
worse position; and some have escaped with compara¬ 
tively little injury, except the loss of the crop, which is 
nearly general. 
It is difficult to account for this state of things. A 
friend, writing from a distant couuty not remarkable 
for orchard frails, suggests the propriety of always 
thinning the fruit crop where it is too large, implying 
that trees cannot boar two good crops in succession. 
Doubtless there is much truth in this; but when are 
we to have this heavy crop ? Several acres of orchard 
fruits, within two miles of where I write, have been 
destroyed during the past winter, although in age and 
other respects they ought lo have been just in their 
prime. The proprietor, tired by eight or nine years’ 
disappointment in succession, prefers trying something 
else, and the present season’s experience justifies him in 
it, for adjoining orchards have suffered as described 
above. 
I may remark, in conclusion, that the misfortune is 
not a new one, for in most seasons certain districts are 
subject to it. In the present it has attacked most of 
those lying on the two sides of a ridge of hills running 
east and west; the extreme top, or ridge, being less 
affected than the sides, though in places that has suf¬ 
fered also. And the north side is not worse than the 
south, tho soil, in general, being the same dry, light- 
coloured, friable loam, resting on a soft, porous stone, 
with Kentish rag or lime-stone below; but in some 
instances there is a tenacious red clay near the top, 
which is far from porous of itself, but, being intermixed 
with stone, the whole is perfectly dry ; but some orchards, 
on lands differing widely from the above, have suffered 
in like manner. So the whole question is one of diffi¬ 
culty, aud the puzzle is, How are wo to guard against 
such a state of things another year? Perhaps this cannot 
be done, as the cause may be an atmospheric one ; and 
yet the present season has not presented any of those 
extraordinary peculiarities to account for this, and 
many crops are healthy enough. Grass and corn both 
are looking well; and many tender garden plants, having 
lived through the winter, do not seem to have been hurt 
in the spring. The absence of sunshine in May, and 
abundance of raiu (upwards of four inches), have, 
doubtless, had some share in the misfortune; but the 
apparent capriciousness of the attacks is a puzzle I 
must either leave for others to solve, or postpone it 
until something throws more light on the matter. 
J. Robson. 
GENERAL NOTES.— July. 
The last principal sowing of Kidney Beans should be 
made, and a few Mazagan Beans sown now will produce a 
late crop if the weather be favourable. 
Sowings of Parsley, Radishes, Spinach, Turnips, Lettuces, 
and Cabbages as Coleworts, for the first main spring crop, 
and a few Early Horn Carrot to stand the winter, are to be 
now made. 
Plant Borecole, Kales, and Savoys as other crops are 
cleared ; also Cabbages (thickly) for Coleworts, Cauliflower 
i and Celery for full crops, Endive and Leeks if wanted, and 
Lettuce for succession. Onions, Shallots, and Garlic may now 
be pulled up to dry and store away, and potherbs cut when 
, in full flower, and dried in the shade. 
Wall and other fruit-trees will require early attention, 
to remove badly-placed or crowded shoots, to thin the 
leaves over fruit, to remove suckers, and to lay in young 
wood. 
Lay the strongest runners of Strawberries, and guard the 
ripening fruit from birds and insects. 
A good breadth of Brussels Sprouts, one of the most pro- 
I ductive and hardy vegetables, should now be planted. 
Vines on w’alls will require some attention, to remove the 
young spray, to stop the shoot at the first joint above the 
fruit, and to apply liquid-manure to the roots during their 
season of active growth. 
Geraniums, and all other plants from which you are de¬ 
sirous to save seed, should be selected, and placed near the 
I light, their luxuriant and straggling shoots shortened to 
keep the plants neat and bushy, and to be attentively sup¬ 
plied with water. Any others that have done blooming 
should be placed in an open but sheltered situation for ten 
days or a fortnight (out-of-doors), to ripen the wood, then 
j cut down, and returned under glass until the young shoots 
are about an inch long, when they should be shaken out of 
' their pots, and divested of the soil and a portion of their 
i roots, repotted into smaller pots that will just hold them, 
placed in a cold frame, and shaded for a few days. The 
| cuttings may be inserted in the open ground in any warm 
corner, where they will very shortly strike root. 
Orange and Lemon plants will require particular attention 
in dry weather, to supply them with plenty of water; and 
any pots or tubs that have not lately been top dressed with 
fresh compost should now be done, by removing the old soil 
to the depth of three or four inches, and l-eplacing it with 
new. 
All plants to be kept clean from decayed leaves, and the 
surface of the pots from weeds. Cuttings of Azaleas, of the 
young wood, can now be struck in a sandy soil, under a 
hand-glass. 
All rooted cuttings, when potted off’, should be removed to a 
frame by themselves, where they can be shaded until they 
make fresh roots. The top shoots of Chrysanthemums may 
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