December fl. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1*0 
I 4th. Ramblers. 
.0th. Shy kinds. 
i (ith. Gross, or plethoric young trees. 
! Before proceeding farther, let us point to the causes of 
! these evils; let ns give them names,in order to facilitate 
i a due study of the various causes. The principal will 
j stand as follows:— 
1st. Soils of improper texture. I 
2nd. Soils too rich. | 
3rd. Too much depth of soil. j 
4th. I'ngenial subsoils. I 
.5th. Atmospheric considerations. 
In the consideration of faults in texture, we have at 
once the too light, and the too stiff, or adhesive; the 
] first leading to a kind of leanness in the tree, much 
j averse to the production of first-rate fruit, or to a per- | 
manency of habit. On the other hand, there ait; the j 
clayey loams of extreme tenacity; these, by holding . 
water too long, bring on a debility of constitution, 
equally averse to profitable results. 
Soils too rich. —ilost of our readers know by this j 
time that much manure is prejudicial to fruit-trees in j 
general, as inducing an overgross habit averse to the 
jiroductiou of blossom-buds; and in addition, in the 
case of trained or dwarfed trees, causing a most unwar- 
, rantable amount of labour to the pruiier. There are 
some exceptions: the Gooseberry and the Black Currant 
will bear high manuring on most soils; and, indeed, a 
few exceptions exist in tlie varieties of some of our fruits. 
Thus the Manks Codling, one of our very best kitchen 
apples, will succeed in a rich soil, which would drive a 
Dumelow’s seedling or Normanton Wonder wild. But, 
he it remembered, that this Manks Apple has the pe¬ 
culiar property of producing bloom-buds freely on the 
annual shoots; which, of course, creates a greater de¬ 
mand on the root. 
Too great a dejyth is the next in our brief review of the 
evils; tlie tendency of this is to place the tree beyond 
that wholesome control which has proved of so much , 
service in later years. We are quite prepared to admit, j 
that in the ordinary orchard, where the object is to pro- I 
duce huge and long-enduring trees, which may pass on j 
to our heirs, without either manuring or pruning, that 
the soil can scarcely bo too deep, if sound ; or in other j 
words, if waters can pass freely away at that low level, j 
This is altogether another affair from the dwarfed and 
early-bearing tree of the garden. And as to the merits 
of the dwarfing system, when duly carried out, what are 
the results as compared with the former position of 
affairs? Then the possessor of a little suburban garden , 
might have a huge Bergamot Pear or a .Jargonelle, per- | 
haps a Swan’s-Egg ; and then there would be the great, j 
old Russet Apple-tree, a gnarled old Codlin, &c., &c.; 
and these being in bearing, he was therewith tolerably 
content; for on being advised to plant others, it was ten 
to one some over-zealous gentleman set him at “com- j 
posts,” and give the ill-fated tree fifty per cent, more 
manure than the objects warranted. But now, in such j 
a garden, it is becoming no uncommon thing to see an , 
extensive collection, and that, too, in a small compass; j 
in fact, as many kinds as the proprietor can desire. | 
Ungenial subsoils are not the least of the evils con- j 
nected with fruit-culture; we speak of those which have 1 
received no assistance from the cultivator. Wet and 
sour bottoms bring on betimes all the effects of age on 
trees, decayed points, boughs smothered with moss, and 
I a generally lean and debilitated condition. No fine and 
high flavoured or good-keeping fruit can be expected 
under such circumstances. 
Atmospherio considerations. —Of course an artificial 
atmosphere is not to be expected out-doors; but if we 
cannot fit the atmosphere to fruits, we can adapt the 
selection to peculiar conditions. This is a portion of 
our subject which has never yet received a fair consider- ■ 
ation, even by practical men; it is, however, of much 
importance, and for tlio last tliirty years—during which 
period this question, as one of note, has constantly ac¬ 
quired strength—we have seen quite sufficient to con¬ 
firm the opinion, that it will be well for all parties to 
give it a consideration. If any reader doubts this, let 
him try to account for the singular and notorious fact, 
that a given apple, say A. B., which is a staple com¬ 
modity in one district, should be lightly esteemed in 
another. It is of no use saying the soil differs. Soils, 
after all, are not more material as affecting fruits than 
the very character of the air itself; and tiiat, it would 
a])pear, chiefly based on the degree of moisture where¬ 
with it is charged. What makes Cheshire so ’noted 
for the production of cheese—its soil ? By no means. 
It is produced in this county from all classes of soils; 
reclaimed bogs, sandy uplands, and the downhill clays. 
We do not affirm that an equality exists as to its 
virtues; but this will not weaken the force of our 
argument. And then the Damson, almost peculiar to 
Shropshire and Cheshire, where every hedge-row of the 
cottager, whether on the clays or the sands, has its 
thriving Damson-trees. 
In many gardens in Lancashire, and other maritime 
counties, it is no unusual thing to see Peach-trees, in 
the autumn, with most of their young shoots black and 
perishing with a kind of gangrene. About twenty years 
since, when Mr. Taylor was gardener to Earl Wilton, at 
Heaton Park, near Manchester, he made some new 
borders for Peach and Nectarine-trees, at a considerable 
expense, and planted them with capital trees of choice 
kinds. These trees made the most splendid growth 
imaginable; in fact, too splendid to be safe. I saw them 
in the month of October, and poor Taylor was quite 
puzzled about them; for, having lived previously gar¬ 
dener to the Marquis of Ailesbury, at Sheen, near 
Richmond, ho had not been accustomed to the damp 
and murky skies of our tail-chimney gentlemen, 'fhese 
borders were twenty per cent, too deep, and sixty per 
cent, too rich, for the circumstances they had to battle 
with; and had they been planted above the ground level 
(instead of making holes for them), and the soil a simple 
upland loam from an old pasture, without a particle of 
manure on it, the probability is they would not have 
made half the length of shoot. Here, within thirty 
miles of Manchester, we never lose a shoot this way; 
the wood ripens as perfectly as though the trees were in 
a peach-house ; but to be sure, our “stopping” practice 
has much to do with this; we do not produce wood as 
sport for the primer’s knife. Now it is not a matter of 
temperature, let people fancy or affirm what they will; 
of tins we are perfectly satisfied. In order to oppose 
our argument, some might say, How can we alter the 
conditions of our atmosphere ? We answer, you cannot; 
but you can alter the conditions under which your ti'ces 
are situated. It is tolerably evident, that in such climes 
the trees both absorb more from the atmosphere, and 
perspire much less; indeed, the latter is the most im¬ 
portant fact; for witliout a liberal perspiration how shall 
those elaborations freely proceed, which are doubly 
essential to trees from brighter and warmer climes? 
Thus we find these men insisting on the necessity for 
fined walls, by which, it need scarcely be urged, the fruit 
must become much more costly in its production. 
It being tolerably evident, then, that the absorption of 
too much sap from rich and deep soils is the cause of the 
failure of such trees, the question is, how to avoid this 
gluttony ? We at once answer, Give them less and poorer 
diet; put them, as our medical gentlemen would say, 
under a lowering course, if they become gross, by root- 
pruning or transplanting; for our readers may rest 
assured that the primer’s knife can never conquer such 
radical evils. Planting high is of the utmost import¬ 
ance in such cases ; and if folks will have what is termed 
