154 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
Nov. 8th, 1884. 
Canker on Fruit Trees. —A letter just received 
from a friend in the North of England says, “ We 
have a poor crop of Apples and Pears, but the quality 
is good. The trees are badly cankered, but we cannot 
do anything with them, as we are so overdone with 
work.” The Apple is by far the most useful of our 
hardy fruit-trees. It is cultivated in every garden, 
sometimes very successfully, but oftener the results 
are not such as a gardener ought to feel proud of. 
During the last season I would be afraid to say how 
many questions I have had to answer about canker in 
Apple-trees, and the' data have seldom been sufficient 
to enable me to give a satisfactory answer. For 
instance, if the trees are old and badly cankered all 
over, their ease is hopeless, and the only practical 
advice is to order their removal, and to plant young 
healthy ones. Even, however, if the trees are 
cankered, they may, in some cases, be all that there 
is to keep up a supply of fruit for the household, and 
to grub them up all at once would put a sudden stop 
to the supply. It is just twenty-one years ago this 
month since I undertook to renovate an old garden. 
It was of considerable size, and contained several 
hundreds of fruit-trees; nearly all of them were very 
old, most of them of large size, and suffering from 
many years of neglect. The Apple-trees were badly 
cankered, even where young trees had been planted to 
supply the place of old ones ; they seemed to become 
attacked by canker in a year or two. Moreover, there 
were no proper walks, or any division of the garden 
into quarters. The first thing I did was to construct 
paths 5 ft. wide, and on each side of the paths borders 
were made 9 ft. wide. These were trenched up to the 
depth of 2 ft., and any trees that were in the way 
were grubbed out, taking care to trace the roots as far 
as possible, and grubbing out every one of them as 
we went on with the work. The ground being very 
poor, a layer of manure was placed in the bottom of 
the trench ; over this was put the top spit of the nest 
trench besides the loose earth, then another layer of 
manure, and another spit with the loose earth were 
thrown out; every trench had the bottom well forked 
up before the manure was thrown into it. 
Planting. —About 7 ft. from the Bos edging a row 
of fruit-trees was planted, principally Apples on the 
Paradise stock; but we also had Pears on the Quince, 
Cherries on the Mahaleb, and also some Plum-trees. 
A good-sized hole was taken out for each tree, and 
about a barrow-load of good loam was placed round the 
roots of each. I fancy we gave them too much 
manure in the trenches, as it caused them to make 
such vigorous growth that I thought it desirable to 
lift the trees the next season. This we did, and took 
the opportunity to trench the ground over again. The 
trees were carefully planted with more loam round 
the roots, and encouraged to form roots near the 
surface by mulching with decayed manure. The 7-ft. 
space between the path and the trees was filled with 
a row of Gooseberry and Currant bushes. After a 
while, the trees occupied the entire space. The 
borders received a chess ing of decayed manure 
annually in preference to digging amongst the roots, 
and two or three times we were able to cover the 
manure with fresh soil, and by a good system of 
management and summer pruning the trees came into 
bearing at once; indeed, we had some good fruit 
the second year. It was predicted that we should 
never be able to grow trees in the garden free from 
canker, but we did. Three varieties of Apples only 
showed signs of it—viz., Ribston Pippin, Cellini, and 
Wellington—but as soon as they were lifted and 
replanted the disease was arrested, and the cankered 
places, after being cut out, healed over. When the 
young trees came into full bearing we had abundance 
of fruit and the old trees were taken out entirely. A 
few were left to experiment upon, principally for the 
purpose of seeing whether the canker could be 
arrested by root-pruning in cases where it had not 
gone too far. A Ribston Pippin and Stunner Pippin 
on the Crab stock were both rejuvenated by being 
root pruned. 
Root pruning.- —This being the right time to do 
this, I will describe the modus operandi in as few 
words as possible. A tree from ten to fifteen years 
old should have a trench cut half round it at a 
distance of 5 ft. or 6 ft. from the bole. The trench 
must be deep enough to enable the operator to cut 
through all the roots ; then take a fork and work well 
under the ball of earth, cutting off all roots that have 
struck deep into the ground. For the soil that has 
been thrown out some from another part of the 
garden should be substituted; the new soil will be 
better for the tree than the old exhausted material. 
In applying the new soil endeavour to get the roots 
nearer the surface than they were before. The object 
in doing half the roots only is to prevent the tree 
from receiving too great a shock to the system. 
During the following season new fibres will be formed 
where the roots were cut, and the other half of the 
tree can be done the following season. When the 
work is done in this way there is no danger of the 
tree being blown over, nor will the crop of fruit be lost 
the first year after the pruning. 
What is canker ?—Fruit-trees are subject to several 
different diseases, and each of them often goes by the 
name of canker. Practical cultivators, however, 
know well enough what canker is. A portion of the 
bark becomes diseased and dies; the dead portion falls 
off, leaving the wood exposed, which also decays, and 
when the trees are badly attacked whole branches die 
oh. Of course, wherever there is decay insects or 
fungoid growths appear, and it is not unreasonable to 
assume that insects may be the cause of canker, which 
some have averred, but in reality they are only the 
result of the disease. At all events, it has been 
proved over and over again that the roots getting into 
bad subsoil is the cause of canker, and that lifting 
them up nearer to the surface and giving them suitable 
soil to work into will cure it, or at least arrest the 
decay.-—/. D. E. in The Garden. 
The Tom Putt Apple. —A correspondent of 
The Gardeners’ Chronicle gives some interesting 
information respecting this famous West of England 
Apple. It appears that there are five varieties known 
in Somerset and Devon under the name of Tom Putt, 
namely, Colbrook, Old Scarlet, Spicy, White, and 
Green Tom Putt, of which the three first-named are 
the best. They are all, correctly speaking, of Devon¬ 
shire origin, although Somerset is credited by some 
with being their native county. The Colbrook variety, 
which is the oldest of the group, has been grown in 
Devonshire for upwards of one hundred years, and 
was either raised by Sir Thomas Putt, of Gittisham, 
near Honiton, or by the Rev. Thomas Putt, rector of 
the same parish, and, afterwards, from 1802 to 1835, 
rector of Ryme Intrinsica, near Yeovil, Somerset. It 
is generally the latter gentleman who is credited with 
being the raiser, but probably Sir Thomas had also 
something to do with it. Tom Putt, Colbrook; Tom 
Putt, Old Scarlet; and Tom Putt, Spicy, are all largely 
grown in Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, both as Cider 
and as Keeping Apples. 
->A<- 
The St. Ambrose Apricot. —Mr. Clayton, of 
Grimston Park, states in The Florist and Pomologist, 
that in the somewhat stiff soil resting on magnesian 
limestone at that place, he finds that this variety 
suffers less from the sudden loss of its branches than 
any other Apricot he grows; but it requires to be 
partially lifted occasionally in the autumn, to ensure 
the wood not being too strong, and consequently more 
certain to ripen, otherwise it is not such a sure 
cropper as the Moor Park. 
The Red Nectarine Peach. —Mr. Clayton also 
finds this Peach, which is described by Messrs. Veiteh 
as a new Syrian variety of great excellence, to be one 
of the best and surest croppers and healthiest trees 
in the same garden, and also a capital tree for a mid- 
season Peach-house. It is closely related to Bellegarde, 
but in Mr. Clayton’s opinion distinct from that variety, 
the colour of the flowers being of a deeper rose tint. 
The total quantity of Apples imported into this 
country in 1883, was 2,251,925 bushels, of the value 
of £553,448. 
7' v ;r=fl Yni 'fA 
ij 
Seasonable Work in the Plant-houses.—It 
is now time that all hardy plants which are required 
for spring forcing should be potted, and as a good 
selection of these will add so much to the grace and 
beauty of the conservatory and give such useful 
material for cutting, we think they deserve to be very 
largely employed where a supply of flowers is needed, 
and especially where large conservatories have to be 
furnished and table decorations provided for. Some 
of the hardy plants hold a high position for this 
purpose, and Dielytra speetabilis, Deutzia gracilis, 
Lily of the Yalley, and the Spiraeas may be named as 
amongst the foremost. A long list of hardy plants 
that are useful for forcing might be made, but we 
think none of the following should be omitted:— 
Deutzia gracilis (in selecting these preference should 
be given to plants with short, well-ripened growth, 
rather than those that have made more vigorous 
shoots), Dielytra speetabilis, Spiraea japoniea, Spiraea 
pahnata (this is very pretty for pots, but will not 
stand sojmuch forcing as S.-japoniea), Azalea amcena, 
Azalea mollis, Rhododendrons, the Persian Lilac, 
Lily of the Yalley, and Acer negundo variegata, 
which is very pretty as a foliage plant and makes a 
Xileasant change. After the plants are potted the 
pots should be covered with ashes, to protect them 
from frost, and all hardy plants are better kept where 
there is only sufficient protection to keep them from 
severe frosts until they are required for introducing 
into heat. 
Chrysanthemums Out-of-Doors.— Whata grand 
time for out-doorChrysanthemums,as,while writing(and 
for some weeks past), we are having glorious weather ; 
but at this late season it can hardly be expected to 
last, and those who have plants of the above-named, 
which they cannot house, should contrive some means 
of protecting them, as any night now we may get a 
frost that will cut the flowers all off. If the plants are 
in pots the matter is easy enough, as they can be 
plunged and supported against a sunny wall, where, 
by the aid of a few stakes and mils, a temporary roof 
may be made sufficiently strong to support a mat or 
two, or some other covering, which can then be put on 
by night and removed for the day. !Even where there 
is the convenience of glass, it is a good plan to grow a 
few plants against a wall, or to lift some as soon as 
the buds are formed and place them there for supplying 
late bloom.— Alpha. 
A Good Winter-flowering- Begonia. —Wher¬ 
ever there is much to be done in the way of furnishing 
in winter, few better plants can be grown than Begonia 
alba multiflora. The flowers closely resemble those of 
the old Begonia fragrans, but are smaller, the plant is 
a less vigorous grower, and the habit dwarfer. The 
leaves are of a deep green hue, and with an abundance 
of white flowers drooping among them, afford a pretty 
floral display in November and December. For the 
embellishment of intermediate houses at this season, 
or arranging in groups in the rooms with a scarlet 
Poinsettia in the centre, the plant is much appreciated 
by those who know its worth.— Crochs. 
Gladiolus Colvilli alba.—Most people who have 
gardens are well acquainted with the tall Gladiolus 
of the Gandavensis and Brenchleyensis strains, all 
of which are grand for borders, but few seem to know 
the more useful Colvilli kinds, which are very dwarf 
and of great value for pots, as not only are they re¬ 
markably free-flowering, but they are very early, 
and bloom during May and June without any forcing. 
Those who would have them then should at once 
get conns and pot them, placing five or six in a 
32-pot, which affords plenty of room, and when so 
grown together they make a nice show. The most 
suitable soil to pot in is light rich sandy loam, and 
the best place for the plants is a cold frame, where 
they should have but little water till they get well 
-into leaf and have made plenty of roots. The varie¬ 
ties of Gladiolus Colvilli afford many colours and 
beautiful markings, but one of the most desirable 
