October 6, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
85 
Marie Louise, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Winter Crassanne, 
Beurre de Capiaumont, Beurre Bose, Comte de Lamy, 
Hessle, and Spring Beurre, none of which ever paid the 
rent of the ground they occupied. I have, however, 
raised three sorts of Pears, which will reverse this 
position. These are the Beacon, ripening at the end of 
August and beginning of September, which is so fertile 
that grafted on the Pear stock it may he planted at the 
same distance as the Plum and Apple ; the Fertility, 
which is equally fertile either on the Pear or Quince ; 
and the Conference, which is not yet introduced to the 
public. The two former are already well known. Of 
recent foreign Pears which are hardy, Madame Treyve, 
Souvenir du Congres, Marie Louise d’Uccle, and Emile 
d’Heyst are marketable sorts ; of baking Pears the 
Catillac is probably the best. The Pear differs in 
analysis from the Plum and Apple. It contains :— 
Potash 
... 54’69 Iron 
... 1-04 
Soda 
... 8'52 Phosphorus 
... 15-20 
Lime 
... 7*98 Sulphur ... 
... 5-69 
Magnesia ... 
... 5'22 Silicon 
1-49 
The best class of trees for planting is 
the two and 
three years old on the Quince stock, excepting the 
Souvenir du Congr&s and the Beacon, which should 
either be double grafted or 
on the Pear stock. 
The Morello Cherry on 
the Mahaleb stock makes a 
very prolific bush. Grown 
in this way or trained to 
iron wires it may be easily 
protected with netting. 
Between the rows of pyra¬ 
mid or half-standard trees 
Currants and Gooseberries 
can be planted without in 
any degree injuring their 
produce, care being taken to 
return to the soil by chem 
ical manure the constituents 
of which it is deprived by 
the growth and fruitfulness 
of the trees. By attention 
and occasional analysis there 
will be no more difficulty 
in doing this than in pro¬ 
viding for the ordinary farm 
crops. 
Pruning Orchard Trees. 
In a farm orchard it is 
not necessary to prune trees 
severely. Pears and Apples 
in unfruitful seasons should 
have the shoots stopped 
in June, and should be 
occasionally examined and 
the inner growth lightened 
to let in the sun and air. 
About the end of September 
the shoot made after 
the first pruning should be 
shortened to four or five 
buds. As soon as the trees 
are fruitful very little prun¬ 
ing is required. Plum trees 
require as little pruning as 
possible, but all gross shoots 
should be removed when 
observed. The sorts of 
Plums I have named fruit so early that they do not 
grow into very large trees. In these garden orchards 
it is not well to allow the trees to grow to more than 
10 ft. to 12 ft. Avoid the use of long ladders as much 
as possible, and the consequent expense and delay in 
picking, which ought to he done by"women and boys. 
Drying Fruits. 
It is lamentable to hear of the shameful waste under¬ 
gone when we have what is called a glut of fruit, and 
we shall hear, no doubt, in another paper of the proper 
means to be taken to prevent this loss. I have heard 
of tons of Plums in “Worcestershire rotting because of 
the excess. There is no doubt that all this material 
could be saved and turned into food. The Persian 
shepherd goes out to his work provided with a bag of 
dried Peaches, which are so hard that he chastises his 
dogs with them. The dried Misch Misch Apricot is a 
staple caravan food, made into cakes and carried in a 
small compass. We pay a large sum to the French for 
dried Plums, and the ladies in Portuguese convents 
are properly employed in preserving the delicious 
Guimaraens Plums. The absence of sun is no excuse 
for our being so backward in these matters. We can 
and do ripen Grapes as well as the hot sun of Spain, 
and artificial help will serve us as well for drying fruit 
as for ripening Grapes. 
The disastrous malady termed canker may be much 
alleviated by attention to the soil constituents, and in 
a paper read at Birmingham Mr. Tonks stated that he 
had removed the disease by the application of chemical 
manures, potash being the principal ingredient. The 
trees in my soil are almost entirely free from the 
disease, and this immunity is probably owing to the 
abundance of potash, which should be returned to the 
soil at every opportunity. The dressing applied by 
Mr. Tonks consists of nearly equal quantities of super¬ 
phosphate of lime, nitrate of potash, nitrate of soda, 
sulphate of lime. Although pruning may be carried 
to excess it must not be neglected, as it is desirable to 
grow fruit and not wood. It can be seen by measure¬ 
ment that much room is wasted by profitless and barren 
shoots. With judicious pruning this need not occur. 
The Royal Agricultural Society has, for the first 
time, offered prizes for preparations of fruit next year. 
It has been a long time recognising the fact that land 
produces other necessaries than corn and cattle. We 
fruit growers have done very well without this recogni¬ 
tion, which has come a little late in the day. It is, 
however, a step in the right direction. The advance 
of pomology during the last thirty years has been quite 
as rapid as the advance of agriculture, and we may be 
certain that there is no finality. Fruit-growing, I beg 
leave to state, is not the handmaid, but the helpmeet 
of agriculture, and I believe the best interests of the 
land would be served if landlords and tenants would 
meet to discuss the conditions under which they can 
advance the cultivation of fruit to their mutual 
advantage, and if these meetings were made public 
every village in England would be benefited. In time 
competent advisers would be provided, and as the 
interests are national, it is hoped that means would be 
found of advancing money at a low rate of interest. 
There can, I think, be no fear of the supply overtaking 
the demand, and it is certain that foreign competition 
would not prevail against home-grown fruit if produced 
in sufficient quantity and of good quality. 
Fruit Culture under Glass. 
The production of fruit under glass requires capital and 
skill, and although not national, is and will become 
an industry of great importance. Nearly forty years 
since my father proved that the cultivation of Peaches 
and Nectarines could be carried on in unheated glass 
houses with a certainty of success unknown to wall 
culture. The orchard house has now become an estab¬ 
lished fact. For some time before this system had been 
in full work, the only early Peaches—that is, those 
ripening in July—were the Early Nutmeg, the Early 
Ann, the Double de Troyes, all of them almost worth¬ 
less except for precocity; now, however, we have 
ripening on the 1st July the Alexander, an American 
Peach, closely followed by the Early Beatrice, Early 
Louise, Hales’ Early, Rivers’ Early York, ripening 
during a month in which thirty years ago there was not 
a Peach worth having. During the months of August, 
September, and part of October there can be grown a 
continuous series of Peaches. The advance in Nec¬ 
tarines is equally conspicuous, the Lord Napier 
beginning a supply of Nectarines of high quality in 
August, which other sorts continue until the end of 
September, and ceasing with the Victoria. With these 
varieties—which were certainly not available thirty 
years since an orchard house will give a continuous 
supply of Peaches and Nectarines for four months ; a 
house 100 ft. by 24 ft., properly managed, will produce 
over 3,000 fruits of high 
quality. Such a house was 
built in 1855 at a cost of 
£147, and has produced for 
the last twenty-five years 
between 3,000 and 4,000 
fruits annually. The culti¬ 
vation of Grapes is advancing 
in our own islands with 
extraordinary rapidity, and 
although we hear complaints 
of the lowness of price, 
we do not hear that build¬ 
ing Grape houses is declining 
—a good proof that no 
fear is entertained of the 
future prospects of Grape¬ 
growing. 
Cold Storage of Fruit. 
The principle of cold storage 
is likely to be of very 
great importance in the 
future, and experiments are 
now being made with regard 
to the preservation of 
fruit under the influence 
of cold. Now, I am con¬ 
vinced that if a low tem¬ 
perature cannot be usefully 
applied to keeping fruit it 
may be very useful for the 
storage of trees, particularly 
Pear trees on the Quince 
stock. What I have to 
suggest is that Pear trees on 
the Quince stock may be 
placed in pots in a cold 
storage in a temperature not 
lower than 36° Fahr., and 
retarded until the middle of 
April. By this means the 
blooming season may be 
kept back until all danger 
from spring frosts is past. 
The fibrous roots of the 
Quince and the slow growth of the Pear render this 
class of fruit tree particularly suitable for this method ; 
and as . large Pears are worth in November and the 
succeeding months from 6s. to 8s. per dozen, cold 
storage, if possible, and if room for trees can be provided, 
will give a handsome profit. I tried some few years 
since to find a system which I could employ, but I was 
then offered small receptacles like a miniature chest of 
drawers, when I wanted room for hundreds of trees. I 
was not then acquainted with the premises for cold 
storage in Leadenhall Market. 
In Belgium it is customary to form clubs of fruit 
growers to compete at the various horticultural shows ; 
the combination of growers enables each man to choose 
his own particular fruit to show with his club. These 
contests are very interesting, and would, I think, if 
carried out in England, cause much friendly rivalry, 
and advance the interests of pomology. I have, I am 
afraid, set a bad example of exceeding the time allotted 
to the speakers, and if so I must ask to be forgiven, and 
conclude by saying I cannot, I am afraid, hold out any 
hopes of creating a large fortune by fruit-growing, but 
it is an investment and occupation with a more or less 
certain income, which will become more certain with 
improved means of preservation.— T. Francis Rivers. 
Gynerium argenteum. 
