14 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  7,  1897. 
WINTER  PRUNING. 
( Continued  from  page  603  last  vol.) 
Wall  Trees. — Apple  trees  are  not  often  grown  against  walls.  In 
the  northern  parts  of  the  kingdom  trees  are  frequently,  as  compared 
with  the  southern  districts,  found  against  walls  in  old-fashioned  gardens, 
and  such  trees,  for  beauty  of  training,  as  are  only  equalled  by  the 
similar  examples  in  Pear  trees.  The  finest  Apples  I  have  ever  seen  were 
grown  on  a  tree  against  a  stone  wall  590  feet  above  sea  level,  and  within 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  coast  on  a  south  aspect.  It  was  the  little 
known  Scotch  variety  named  Melrose  from  having  been  introduced  from 
the  Continent  by  the  monks  of  Melrose  Abbey.  On  grafting  it  on 
Paradise  stocks  I  found  the  trees  bear  grand  fruit  in  the  third  year, 
inches  to  4  inches  wide  and  3  inches  to  3£  inches  high,  highly  coloured 
on  the  sun  side.  The  fruit  was  of  excellent  quality,  sweet  and  pleasantly 
subacid,  suitable  for  culinary  or  dessert  purposes,  and  in  use  from 
October  to  January.  Unfortunately,  the  trees  were  very  much  attacked 
by  canker  fungus  (Nectria  ditissima),  the  spores,  or  rather  their 
germinal  tubes,  not  entering  by  a  wound,  but  by  piercing  right  through 
the  bark  on  a  smooth  part. 
The  American  Apples,  as  a  rule,  do  well  against  walls,  quite  rivalling 
the  finest  imported  examples,  there  being  many  walls  that  might  be 
profitably  occupied  with  Apple  trees,  fine  specimen  fruit  fetching  2s.  to 
3s.  per  dozen.  Fan-training  is  the  best,  as  when  a  limb  goes  off  or  gets 
too  long  in  the  spurs  it  is  easy  to  train  a  growth  in  from  the  base,  which 
will  commence  bearing  in  the  third  year.  Nothing  is  simpler  than 
training-in  shoots  so  that  when  they  have  grown  a  yard  they  will  be 
1  foot  apart,  the  leading  growths  being  taken  forward  and  side  growths 
stopped  at  the  third  good  leaf,  not  counting  the  small  basal  ones.  This 
can  be  done  about  the  middle  of  July,  and  spurs  will  form  at  the  base. 
While  the  tree  is  extending  all  goes  well,  as  there  is  a  reciprocal  action 
between  the  roots  and  branches  ;  but  when  the  limit  of  the  space  is 
reached  spray  is  made  in  response  to  the  summer  pinching  and  the 
removal  of  growths  in  the  winter,  and  then  it  is  a  question  of  leaves 
instead  of  fruit. 
If  the  spurs  are  kept  thin  from  the  first,  so  that  light  and  air  has 
access  to  the  foliage,  the  cropping  may  be  such  as  to  counteract  the 
tendency  to  growth  beyond  that  necessary  for  continued  fertility ;  but  if 
the  tree  ever  become  crowded  with  spray  that  cannot  be  restrained  by 
summer  pruning,  either  root-pruning  must  be  resorted  to  and  the  spurs 
well  thinned,  or  the  limbs  cut  boldly  back  and  the  training  recom¬ 
menced.  The  sudden  check  appears  as  salutary  as  in  regrafting,  the 
growth  not  being  excessive,  though  the  roots  are  not  interfered  with. 
Thinning  the  spurs  has  some  effect,  but  whether  from  the  trees  having 
more  leaves  than  a  cut-back,  the  resu’ts  are  not  as  satisfactory.  Never¬ 
theless,  no  tree  can  bear  with  the  spurs  overspread  by  a  thicket  of  spray ; 
therefore  thin  the  spurs,  cut  away  the  strong  wood  growths,  and  keep 
as  near  the  wall  as  possible  the  stubby  shoots,  so  as  to  get  short  stout 
spurs. 
Apple  trees  against  walls  sometimes  become  infested  with  mussel 
scale.  There  is  nothing  better  than  a  caustic  soda  and  pearlash  wash, 
1  oz.  each  to  a  gallon  of  water,  dissolving  each  separately  in  a  small 
quantity  of  hot  water,  then  adding  the  two  together,  and  the  remainder 
of  the  water  hot,  using  with  a  brush  at  a  temperature  of  120°  to  130°, 
taking  care  to  reach  all  round  the  branches  and  stem.  It  suffices  if  the 
whole  be  well  moistened  without  running  down  the  bark  to  the  roots, 
which  must  be  avoided.  Boiled  linseed  oil  is  an  old-fashioned  and  good 
remedy,  but  must  be  put  on  as  soon  as  the  leaves  fall,  aB  the  eggs  are 
not  sufficiently  developed  to  escape  death  with  the  parent.  Similar 
remarks  apply  to  petroleum,  neither  oil  being  of  any  use  after  the 
parent  scale  has  ceased  existence,  and  left  her  eggs  safely  in  a  sort  of 
down  resisting  the  oils.  Of  the  two,  boiled  linseed  oil  is  more  efficacious, 
but  the  caustic  soda  (hardening)  and  pearlash  (softening)  wash  is  better 
than  either. 
Apricots. — This  fruit  is  going  out  of  fashion,  even  with  cottagers 
who  formerly  had  trees  on  their  cottages  which  sometimes  paid  the  rents . 
Plums  and  Pears  that  bring  next  to  nothing  have  supplanted  the 
delicious  Apricot  trees.  This  is  a  pity,  for  the  imported  Apricots  are  not 
nearly  as  fine  as  British  wall  fruit.  The  trees  are  very  accommodating  ; 
all  that  is  necessary  is  to  cover  the  wall  space  with  growths  so  that  the 
leaves  have  light  and  air  playing  between  them,  the  side  growths  being 
shortened  to  about  three  leaves  of  their  base,  and  the  spurs  at  the 
winter  pruning  being  shortened  so  as  to  keep  plenty  of  stubby  and 
promising  ones  near  the  wall.  Old  and  bare  shoots  or  branches  are 
also  cut  out,  along  with  dead  spurs,  young  growths  taking  their  place. 
Nothing  could  be  easier  than  training  Apricot  trees,  as  when  young 
growths  are  laid  in  they  are  sure  to  form  spurs  and  bear  fruit  abundantly. 
That  is  the  whole  art — an  even  spread  of  bearing  wood  all  over  the 
space,  and  not  cramping  the  trees  for  space.  Cottage  and  farmhouse 
fronts,  facing  south,  are  far  better  than  garden  walls  for  Apricots,  as  the 
projecting  roofs  secure  a  drier  atmosphere  and  some  protection  at 
blossoming  time,  hut  the  space  is  the  thing — plenty  of  height  and 
breadth. 
On  a  house  wall  24  by  24  feet  1500  Apricots  a  year  have  been 
gathered  for  a  generation,  and  a  man  about  four  days  a  year  does  all  the 
work  that  has  to  be  paid  for.  The  trees  are  Moorpark,  or  rather  the 
variety  Hemskirk,  and  neither  gum  nor  the  branches  die  off.  The  soil  is 
a  light  loam  of  the  new  red  sandstone  formation,  is  practically  an 
alluvial  silt  left  dry  by  the  receding  water.  The  only  insects  bothering 
the  grower  are  the  caterpillars  of  the  Apricot  moth  (Tortrix  angustiorana), 
and  these  are  got  rid  of  by  pinching  the  rolled  leaves  between  the 
finger  and  thumb.  When  the  red  appears  on  the  buds  and  the  white 
just  peeping  on  the  forwardest  is  the  usual  time  for  pruning  Apricot 
trees,  but  it  is  better  done  in  the  early  autumn  by  a  practised  hand,  as 
the  wounds  heal  better,  and  the  buds  can  be  told  with  precision. 
Cherries. — Everybody  likes  Cherries.  They,  like  Apricots,  do 
better  on  high  than  low  walls,  and  are  more  obliging  in  the  matter  of 
aspect.  There  is  the  large  glossy  black  Early  Rivers  and  the  equally 
large  shiny  waxen  yellow  with  a  glowing  cheek,  Governor  Wood,  for 
south  aspects  ;  May  Duke  and  many  others  for  east,  and  Morello  for 
northern  outlooks.  They  bear  grandly,  and  do  well  on  all  but  wet 
clayey  soils.  Fan  training  is  the  best  for  them,  as  the  space  can  be 
covered  evenly  with  branches  at  about  1  foot  apart,  and  beyond  stopping 
the  summer  growths  to  about  three  leaves,  not  counting  the  baBal 
leaves,  cutting  these  back  to  an  inch  of  their  base  early  in  autumn,  and 
training  the  leading  shoots  in  their  full  length,  are  very  little  trouble. 
Morello  bears  on  both  the  young  wood  of  last  year  and  on  spurs,  there¬ 
fore  it  is  a  question  of  cutting  out  old  worn  out  wood  and  laying  in 
young.  This  has  to  be  provided  for  at  summer  trimming,  but  it  is  a  great 
mistake  not  to  make  provision  for  fruit  on  spurs  by  pinching  any  shoots 
that  there  is  not  room  for  laying  in,  and  will  not  cause  overcrowding, 
to  about  three  leaves,  counting  the  basal  ones  in  this  case,  for  though 
every  bud  formed  may  give  a  cluster  of  Cherries,  these  will  not  drop  like 
Peaches  or  Nectarines  for  want  of  growths  above  them- 
The  great  pest  of  Cherry  trees  on  walls  is  black  aphis  (Aphis  cerasi). 
How  this  creature  hibernates  over  the  winter  I  could  never  make 
out  satisfactorily.  Sometimes  eggs  are  laid  on  the  spurs  at  the  base 
of  the  buds,  and  hatch  out  after  the  trees  have  got  fairly  into  leaf, 
and  at  once  fasten  on  the  tender  points  of  the  shoots  and  young 
leaves,  causing  the  latter  to  form  shelters  for  them  against  the  weather. 
In  other  cases  there  are  no  eggs  on  the  buds  or  just  below  them,  yet 
the  points  of  the  shoots  become  infested  all  the  same,  and  never  a  winged 
one  have  I  come  across  at  this  early  Btage.  That  there  has  been  one 
is  unquestionable,  but  whence  it  came  I  could  not  make  out  very 
clearly,  though  finding  the  species  on  various  herbaceous  plants.  Can 
any  of  your  correspondents  throw  any  light  on  this  point  ?  The  flies 
always  migrated  even  from  wild  Cherries  to  herbaceous  plants  when 
the  growths  become  too  hard  for  sucking. 
On  Morello  and  trees  under  glass  the  parthenogenitic  generations  go 
on  indefinitely,  but  in  the  case  of  the  Morello  a  hard  winter  causes  a 
lull,  and  the  infection  recurs  late.  It  is  this  late  brood  that  I  should 
like  to  get  at,  but  could  never  make  out  clearly  that  they  came  in 
winged  form  from  other  infested  trees,  wild  or  cultivated,  nor  fix  upon 
the  exact  herbaceous  plant  for  the  earlier  winged  form. 
Besides  the  aphis  caterpillars  of  the  cloak  moths  (Spilo'nota  species) 
attack  the  young  growths,  and  even  the  young  Cherries.  No  winter 
dressing  appears  much  use  against  either  aphides  or  the  caterpillars, 
still  there  is  no  harm  in  using  a  composition  that  will  kill  what  there 
then  be  on  the  trees,  and  make  them  distasteful  to  any  coming  after. 
The  caustic  soda  and  pearlash  wash  is  cleanly  and  effective,  but  muBt  be 
used  somewhat  weaker  on  stone  fruit  trees. 
Figs. — This  fruit  has  gained  favour.  It  does  well  on  buildings 
with  projecting  roofs,  and  must  have  a  south  aspect.  Brunswick, 
Brown  Turkey,  and  White  Marseilles  are  the  best  varieties,  as  without 
size  and  good  quality  it  is  useless  striving  to  catch  the  public  eye.  Firm 
calcareous  gravels  suit  Figs.  The  question,  then,  is  to  secure  stout 
short-jointed  wood  by  having  the  branches  sufficiently  far  apart,  and  to 
keep  up  a  succession  of  bearing  wood  from  base  to  extremity.  Winter 
pruning  is  best  done  as  soon  as  the  leaves  fall,  cutting  away  the  bare 
and  reserving  the  young  growths  evenly  all  over  the  space.  Protection 
may  be  adopted  where  circumstances  admit,  and  is  a  good  old  plan. 
It,  however,  is  only  needed  in  very  severe  winters,  and  probably  does 
more  good  by  preventing  sudden  thawing  after  severe  frost  than  anything 
else. — G.  Abbey. 
(To  ba  continued.) 
GARDENERS’  ROYAL  BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTION. 
The  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Worcester  and  District  Auxiliary  of 
the  Gardeners’  Royal  Benevolent  Institution  was  held  some  days  ago  at 
the  Guildhall.  Mr.  R.  C.  Smith  Carrington  was  in  the  chair,  and  there 
were  also  present  Messrs.  Crump,  J.  W.  Sedgley,  G.  Griffin,  W.  Child, 
D.  Cowan,  A.  Young,  W.  S.  Hurlstone.  E.  Blackwell,  J.  W.  Horsman, 
H.  Russell,  J.  Williams,  J.  Justice,  G.  Mason,  H.  Whittington,  F.  Styles, 
C.  Crookes,  and  J.  H.  White  (Hon.  Sec.  and  Treasurer).  Apologies  for 
absence  were  received  from  Mr.  Alfred  Baldwin,  M.P.,  and  several 
gardeners. 
The  balance  sheet  for  the  year  showed  that  the  receipts  were 
£175  9s.  6d.,  and  the  expenditure  £172  5s.  (£164  15s.  of  which  has 
been  sent  to  headquarters  in  London),  leaving  a  balance  in  hand  of 
£3  4s.  6d.  The  Committee  in  its  report  expressed  its  sincere  thanks 
ts  those  who  had  given  such  handsome  donations  to  the  branch,  and 
especially  to  Earl  Beauchamp  for  so  kindly  allowing  his  gardens  to 
be  thrown  open  for  the  benefit  of  its  funds.  It  reported  that  there 
were  already  nine  new  subscribers  to  the  auxiliary,  and  that  Mr.  John 
Corbett  had  promised  to  treble  his  subscription,  and  Messrs.  Smith 
and  Co.  had  also  increased  their  subscription  to  £2  2s.  The  Committee, 
on  behalf  of  Mr.  David  Davis,  desired  to  express  his  thanks  to  all  those 
who  supported  him  at  the  last  election,  and  trusted  by  their  votes  at 
the  forthcoming  election  to  carry  his  case.  The  Committee  urged  upon 
all  the  necessity  of  joining  the  Institution.  The  report  and  balance 
sheet  were  adopted,  on  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Hurlstone,  seconded  by 
Mr.  Russell. 
