THE GARDENING WORLD. 
i }2 
drive it home firmly, before ..you. put, fresh 
goil upon the roots of the tree. By doing 
so you can get the stake inserted without 
damaging the roots. Very likely your trees 
will have some size of a head, and a stout 
stake for a year or two until the soil gets 
settled will be of great importance. If we 
get wet weather, making the soil soft, and 
then gales of wind, the tree may be put more 
out of position than ever without' a stake to 
support it. Select a time when the soil is 
fairly dry for the operation, and after driv¬ 
ing the stake straight tread the soil quite 
firmly after it has been wel 1 worked about 
the roots. The tree should be tied to the 
stake, and that will keep it steady until the 
soil settles. 
3508. Manuring Apple Trees on Grass. 
I have some Apple trees growing upon the 
part of the garden laid down in grass. I 
have not sufficient time to take up the grass, 
manure and relay the turf, and cannot af¬ 
ford to pay a man to do the same. There 
was plenty of fruit on the trees this year, but 
the Apples were very small. The trees ap¬ 
pear to want manure. Please advise me the 
best means to treat them. I have a few 
bushels of old decayed manure by me, and 
also some just brought in. (E. H. G., 
Middlesex.) 
You may have some special reason for 
planting your Apple trees on grass, but we 
are not much in favour of treating Apple 
trees in that way. You state that the fruits 
of your trees,, although plentiful enough, 
were small. We have never heard of anyone 
lifting grass in order to manure the soil be¬ 
neath it. On the contrary, the grass is very 
frequently manured in a variety of ways, 
so as to assist both the grass and the trees, 
and we think that would be 3'our best course 
to pursue under the circumstances. In all 
probability v'our soil is not so poor as it 
would appear to be. If it is of a heavy na¬ 
ture it is a question rather of tillage- than 
manuring. Young fruit trees always succeed 
best when planted on bare ground, so that 
the soil can be frequently hoed and aerated 
during the. summer months. Some growers 
call this cultivating. They use a kind of hoe 
upon wheels named a planet junior. The 
smaller sizes of this implement are pushed 
by hand, but larger ones are hauled by a 
pony, while a man behind guides the ma¬ 
chine. This machine is run through the 
ground at frequent intervals, and this keeps 
down the weeds while it retains the soil 
moisture owing to the loose surface. While 
this treatment is continued the trees keep 
growing, and when cultivators on a large 
scale wish their trees to ripen off their wood 
they leave off hoeing at a certain period of 
the year. Ground that is covered with grass 
is always drier than ground that is culti¬ 
vated. If you could possibly give the time 
to cultivating the surface in this way, not 
only would the young trees grow better, but 
the fruits would be larger because there 
would be more moisture at their command 
during a time when they are swelling. If 
this surface cultivation is impracticable, 
then your next best plan would be to give 
the grass a good dressing, not merely with 
the old decayed manure, but also material 
that is fresher. When farmyard manure is 
kept too long, it may be serviceable to some 
plants, especially those in pots, but their 
nourishing value is largely wasted by the 
time it is thoroughly decayed. If you have 
a lot of trees or hedges, you should fre¬ 
quently have fires of wood and rubbish, 
and that would supply you with wood ashes, 
which are of great value for fruit and other 
trees. Those ashes could be spread equally 
oyer the ground during February or March. 
Liquid manure consisting of drainings of 
stables and cow-houses would be very valu¬ 
able if spread over the ground planted with 
fruit trees. This would, of course, require 
some sort of. hand-cart or barrow carrying 
a barrel of the liquid with some sort of, 
spreader attached to it, so as to distribute 
the liquid over the ground. For a few 
trees, of course, the matter would be simpli¬ 
fied as, the garden water barrel could be em¬ 
ployed and water cans could be used to 
spread the manure over the ground about the 
Apple trees. There are also various other 
artificial manures that would prove valu¬ 
able, such as superphosphate of lime or 
basic slag, both containing phosphorous in 
some available form. If you have no wood 
ashes then kainit would supply potash. 
With these manures, in the absence of liquid 
manure, it will be worth while giving the 
ground a dressing with nitrate of soda or 
sulphate of ammonia just at the time when 
the trees are coming into leaf. If you could 
manage to give the ground a good soaking 
with water at intervals of ten days during 
the drier parts of the summer when the 
young fruits are swelling, we think it would 
help the size of the fruits immensely. If 
they are produced in large clusters you must 
not forget to thin them while they are about 
the size of marbles. 
' SOULS AND MANURES . 
3509. To Improve a Clayey Soil. 
My garden is very heavy clay. Could I 
improve it by the addition of sifted ashes 
from the grate? (B. D. S., Essex.) 
Coal ashes would improve the mechanical 
condition of a clayey soil, but it would not 
improve it by supplying any more nourish¬ 
ment for plants. Besides ashes you should 
take care to dig the ground as early in au¬ 
tumn as possible and lay it up in ridges to 
be acted upon by the frost. You should also 
take some little trouble to get suitable 
manure, leaves, the cleanings or sweepings 
of the roads, the parings of road sides, or 
anything that contains grit, as well as 
nourishment for the plants. Wood ashes 
would be of more real value to the soil than 
coal ashes. This could be obtained by burn¬ 
ing prunings or any other material capable 
of being burned in a smother heap in the 
garden. Besides the finer material there are 
usually small pieces in the form of charcoal 
that would serve to give the soil porosity. 
In the course of a few years treatment like 
this should make the soil rich and valuable 
for vegetable crops. 
3510. Sifting Soil. 
My next door neighbour has removed the 
soil from his borders,- passed it through a 
sieve, and after placing all the stones, brick¬ 
bats, and other rubbish at the bottom, has 
returned the soil. Is this, do you think, a 
good plan? It would, I suppose, ensure 
good drainage, but I am doubtful as to the 
advisableness of sifting the soil. (Amateur, 
Surrey.) 
If the soil of the borders you mention is 
of a gravelly or stony nature, no doubt the 
removal of the stones would give greater 
solidity to the soil and make it more useful 
for the rearing of good vegetables. In such 
a case we should not have returned the 
stones to the bottom of the trenches, except 
for the purpose of getting rid of them. On 
the other hand, if the soil is very heavy, the 
stones in the bottom of the borders would act 
as drainage, buWall the same we think they 
must be in the way each time the soil is 
again dug or trenched to any depth. At the 
same time the removal of small stones from 
heavy soil would not be of much advantage, 
except in some particular cases. For in¬ 
stance, soil for the cultivation of Carrots, 
Potatos and othei root crops is sometimes 
sifted to get rid of the stones, so that the 
roots can penetrate and grow straight. It 
all depends upon the nature of the soil, as 
to there being any real advantage by the 
proceeding, because if you wish to grow 
January 2g 
shapely Carrots of Beet you can always mak 
holes by means of a dibber to be filled Wit 
a specially prepared compost for the sak 
of the roots,' . , 
3511. Leaves fat- Heavy Soil. 
I have some difficulty in getting a„ muc 
stable manure as I should like for mv heav 
soil, but I-can .get any quantity ot leave; 
such as Oak and Beech. Mould these a ns we 
as well, or. is there any nourishment i 
them ? Can they be used fresh as they ar 
gathered, or must they be rotted, and, if sc 
how long will it take to do this? (Yegi 
table Garden, Sussex.) 
Leaves make- a very good manure fc 
heavy soils,- although you cannot expec 
them to be so nourishing as either stable o 
cow manure. They will answer admirabh 
however, for lightening a heavy soil an 
may be used in large quantities. When dig 
ging or trenching you can employ fres; 
leaves quite freely, especially in the lowe 
portion of the trench. If they were parti- 
mixed with the soil while the trenching i 
going on it would answer much better tha; 
if they are put in in thick layers between 
the layers of soil. The more decayed leave 
cculd be employed to enrich the surface soil 
The reason why they should not be employe! 
in layers of great depth in a fresh state i 
because they would keep dry and not deca- 
sufficiently by the time that the vegetable 
require their assistance. Leaves prove mos 
useful after they have lain for a twelve ' 
month. They can then be applied to i 
variety of purposes. If you get a quantitx 
of manure in spring and mix it with ar 
equal or-a larger quantity of leaves it would 
prove useful for making hotbeds in spring.: 
The mixture would then prove very useful I 
for manuring the ground for a variety of 
subjects in the following autumn and winter. 
3512. Night-soil as a Fertiliser. 
What is the best' purpose that night-soil 
can be put to in the garden and how should 
I use it ? Can it be used amongst fruil 
trees, Roses; or flowers of any sort? I have' 
read that the Chinese use it largely as a 
fertiliser. (T. M. C., Lines.) 
The best plan of using this as a fertiliser 
for the garden is to put it in a large heap 
of soil where it may' lie for a year. The 
soil used for covering it will, of course, 
have absorbed the fertilising properties to' a 
large extent and should also be used on the 
land. Indeed, after a year the whole heap 
may be turned so as to mix the soil with the 
night-soil and thus make it suitable for plac¬ 
ing on land about to be dug for growing 
vegetables. Fruit trees, Roses and various 
flowers 'would also benefit* by such an appli-i 
Cation. At the same time what you must 
bear in blind is that it' should riot be put 
anywhere Close to the roots of those subjects 
in any quantity until thoroughly decayed 
and well mixed with the soil. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
3 513. Burying the Roots of Trees. 
I am thinking of digging a pit in the: 
garden for manure, and propose to put the 
soil on to the plantation. The soil taken 
out and put on there will bury the roots of 
the trees about io in. deeper than they are' 
now, and of course the soil will cover the- 
tree stems to that depth. Will you kindly 
tell me if it will do any real harm to the 
trees- to be buried so much-?’ (A Novice, 
Yorks.) 
-It cannot do the trees any good by burying 
the roots .-.to the depth of ro in. Whether 
they- are fruit or: ornamental trees it is much 
about the same. They are planted when 
young and gradually penetrate to the'depth 
which is most) suitable for them," and if 
afterwards buried still deeoer the roots suf¬ 
fer in proportion to the depth of materia! . 
and its nature or mechanical condition. We 
