76 THE FLORIST. 
borders in which fruit trees grow should be appropriated exclusively to 
them. Experiments have long since proved the soundness of this 
theory. The occasional cropping of borders may appear a trifling 
matter, as to the effect it will produce on fruit trees growing therein ; 
and the economy of the practice looks well prima facie; but considering 
how important warmth and light are to the healthy development of 
fibrous roots, and these again to the fruit-producing habit of trees, and 
we see at once that not only should fruit tree borders—for all the tender 
kinds cultivated—be shallow, and drained beyond the possibility of their 
ever becoming wet, but the border should be composed of soil favourable 
to the formation of fibrous roots, and also adapted, as regards con- 
sistency, &c., to the kind of tree to be grown on it. 
Transplanting, Lifting, and Root-pruning, are all operations in fruit 
tree culture having for their object the checking a too luxuriant growth. 
The frequent removal of the roots acts as a kind of pruning, and 
encourages the formation of those small fibrous roots, which (as we 
have before stated) are so intimately connected with a fruitful habit. 
Then, again, our climate is frequently too wet in September and 
October for the roots of the Peach and Apricot to bear without forcing 
them into an autumnal growth, and is also deficient in the solar light 
necessary to mature such and convert it into bearing wood. The fact 
presents us with another reason for keeping the roots as free from 
stimulating influences as possible, and nothing will so effectually cause 
this as having the mass of roots confined to a small space, and where 
the ill effects of too much rain will not be materially felt, owing to their 
shallowness and. the quick drainage powers of the border. The prin- 
ciple to aim at with the roots is keeping them in a medium state, or at 
a point beyond which any extra growth induced more than can in 
ordinary seasons be matured by our climate would entail an evil uncom- 
pensated for by any other advantage to be gained. 
With shallow, and we may add narrow borders, fruit trees may be 
kept in a fruitful state for many years, if lifted annually, and fresh 
compost put about their roots. We are not prepared to say how long 
trees thus managed will last, but we have seen Pears lifted each 
autumn for the last twelve years which are now models of fruitfulness 
and vigour. We have also the evidence of Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridge- 
worth, one of our best authorities on fruit culture, that many Pear trees 
in his nursery have been so treated biennially for several years with the 
best results; and we have also ourselves seen, at Sawbridgeworth, 
Peaches (fine vigorous trees) grown we know not how long in pots by 
Mr. Rivers, by merely shaking the worn-out soil from their roots every 
two or three years, and repotting them in new compost. The practice 
of annually or biennially lifting fruit trees is not altogether new. We 
remember (now upwards of twenty years ago), Mr. Neimann, who 
at that time was gardener at the Hylands, in Essex, used to take up 
the Peach trees in his forcing houses each autumn, and replant’ them 
in fresh soil. We never saw trees in better health or finer fruit than 
the good Dutch gardener in question produced by the above means. 
We shall not bé far wrong in stating that fully one-half of the energies 
of wall trees is wasted in the annual production of useless wood. It 
