June  19,  1902. 
541 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
On  Fruit. 
Doubtless  Mr.  Willis’  detailed  hints  on  fruit  gi'owing  and 
keeping  will  be  found  valuable  by  many  of  your  readers,  and 
I  quite  agree  with  him  that  thinning  fruit  pays  well.  This  is 
one  of  the  reasons,  of  course,  why  bush  or  pyramid-trained  trees 
are  preferable  to^  standard  form,  as  the  fruit  grown  on  the  latter 
is  beyond  convenient  reach  in  most  gardens.  Thinning,  how¬ 
ever,  is  in  general  one  of  those  neglected  practices  that  account 
for  the  heavy  foreign  .supplies  of  good  fruit,  on  which  more 
attention  is  bestowed  than  at  home.  As  Mr.  Willis  not 
infrequently  gives  advice  on  the  subject  of  fertilisers  through 
horticultural  publications,  it  has  occurred  to  me  to  draw  atten¬ 
tion  to  another  point  of  view  to,  as  far  as  I  know,  his  own"  in 
relation  to  colouring  of  Apples,  to  which  he  makes  reference  on 
page  466.  He  says  no  colouring  or  other  organic  matter  enters 
the  fruit  after  it  is  full  grown.  It  is  the  colouring  which  I  wish 
to  refer  to. 
We  have  had  the  usual  shows  of  Apples  at  the  Cr5^stal  Palace 
in  the  autumn  for  years,  and  I  have  noticed  in  this  connection 
that  every  now  and  then  a  season  produces  a  “green”  show, 
that  is,  want  of  colouring  is  conspicuous,  and  the  reports  on  the 
subject  appearing  in  hoi'ticultural  papers  give  expression  to  the 
apart  from  the  fact  that  legiiminous  vegetation  should  not  be 
in  want  of  artificials  like  nitrate  of  .soda.  I  read,  however,  of 
satisfaction  expre.ssed  with  the  results  of  the  application  of 
nitrate  of  soda  for  early  picking.s,  but  that  it  is  a  waste  for  late 
pickings.  Of'  course  it  is,  as  then  the  sun’s  heat  produces 
nitrates  in  sufficiency,  and  no  benefit  is  experienced  from 
artificials. 
Mr.  Willis  might  be  able  to  draw  on  his  memory  and  his 
notes  with  a  view  of  elucidating  an  interesting  problem.  There 
is  one  other  point  in  Mr.  Willis’  reference  to  the  keeping 
qualities  of  fruit,  and  that  rather  early  than  late  pieking  is 
advisable.  Although  my  owui  experience  is  very  small  on  this 
problem,  I  remember  a  leading  fruit  tree  grower  telling  me,  on 
conjointly  looking  at  large  exhibits  of  Apples  in  spring  months, 
that  allowing  Apples  to  hang  very  late  indeed  is  the  true  secret 
of  their  superior  keeping  qualities. 
Your  correspoirdent  Mr.  D.  Thomson,  on  page  494,  is,  of 
course,  quite  right  in  his  estimate  of  British  top-fruit  growing, 
and  that  foreign  supplies  play  a  great  part  in  Scotland.  Of 
course,  Mr.  Thom.son  would  refer  to  the  north-western  counties 
and  not  the  north-eastern,  as  stated,  in  view'  of  the  supposed 
effects  of  the  Gulf  Stream  in  ameliorating  climate.  It  is  curious 
to  find  that  the  myth  of  the  Gulf  Stream’s  effect  alluded  to  by 
Mr.  Thomson  survives  so  generally,  when  we  have  learnt  years 
From  “  Gardeninrj  for  B  ijiuiwrs.  ’ 
Viburnum  tomentosum  plicatum. 
Perhaps  the  most  excellent  of  the  Vil)urnums.  It  is  now  in  fiow'er,  and  is  suitable  for  massed  licds  in  sheltered  places. 
matter.  In  other  sea.sons  Apples  are  richly  coloured  all  round. 
The  explanation  of  the  difference  I  have  found  to  be  probably 
in  the  occurrence  of  either  dry  w'eather  for  more  than  a  month 
before  the  show,  or,  I  will  assume,  that  plenty  of  rain  falls  a 
month  or  six  weeks  before,  cooling  the  ground  and  thus  lessen¬ 
ing  nitrification.  Although  popularly — and  may  be  rightly  in 
reality,  although  indirectly — w'e  attribute  colouring  to  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  sun,  as  fruit  hidden  under  foliage  has  less  colour 
than  when  freely  exposed;  yet  that  does  not  account  for  the 
Avhole  difference,  for  I  have  observed  that  want  of  colour 
generally  is  the  consequence  of  exce.ssive  sunshine  and  drought, 
and  rich  colouring  takes  place  when  rain  is  fairly  plentiful  for 
a  time,  a  month  or  six  weeks  before  the  show.  Nor  is  the 
explanation  very  difficult. 
We  know  that  nitrates  are  formed  in  the  soil  by  the  sun’s 
rays  when  an  area  is  greatly  heated,  about  July,  August,  or 
September.  Its  increased  supply  in  the  .soil  .stimulates  growth, 
and  thus  Apples  continue  to  groAv  at  the  expen.se  of  colouring  or 
maturing.  The  influence  of  nitrate  of  soda  as  a  fertiliser  to 
promote  growth  is  well  knowm,  and  this  applies  to  fruit  under 
the  conditions  named.  The  matter  finds  confirmaticn  in  another 
way.  I  find  reports  on  the  cultivation  of  Peas  emphasising  the 
fact  that  the  early  picking.s  in  Juno  and  July  respond  well  to 
the  application  of  nitrates  as  fertilisers;  which  is,  again,  as  it 
should  be,  for  in  March,  April,  and  even  May,  the  soil  is  cold, 
or  so  little  heated  that  nitrates  fail  to  be  naturally  formed. 
ago  that  its  advent  on  European  coasts  is  imperceptible.  Its 
movement  dies  down  at  least  five  hundred  miles  west  of  Ireland, 
and  recedes  more  usiially  to  the  vicinity  of  Newfoundland. 
British  charts  is.sued  some  six  years  ago  show'  the  absence  of 
that  “  current  ”  from  our  thresholds.  Of  course,  there  are  the 
prevailing  S.W.  Avinds  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  urging  on  our 
shores  the  waters  from  the  sub-tropical  part,  of  the  Atlantic, 
w'hich  the  tides  help  to  carry  up  Channel  as  far  as  Dover  and 
along  our  we.stern  coasts.  But  those  S.W.  Avinds  are  the  result 
of  the  permanent  condition  of  the  existence  of  a  great  cyclone 
in  the  higher  latitudes  of  the  Atlantic,  and  a  still  larger  presence 
of  an  anti-cyclonic  .system  in  the  mid-latitudes,  such  systems 
being  due  to  cosmical  causes,  and  all  the  favour  Avhich  the  Gulf 
Stream  theory  has  obtained  is  rightfully  attributable  to  the  anti- 
cyclonic  .system. 
Mr.  H.  N.  Dickson,  of  the  Oxford  University,  gave  a  lecture 
tAvo  years  ago  before  the  Royal  Society  of  London  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  the  anti-cyclone,  and  intere.sting  charts  haA'e  been 
published  by  him  shoAving  the  average  monthly  temperatures  of 
sea  AA'ater  round  our  coasts,  among  other  items,  stating  that 
the  AA'aters  from  the  SeA'ern  floAA'ing  into  the  Bristol  Channel  are 
in  Avinter  about  6deg  Fahr.  colder  than  the  Atlantic  AA'aters  of 
the ‘Bristol  ('haunel.  It  may  be  safely  assumed  that  if  the  Gulf 
Stream  Avere  diverted  our  senses  Avould  not  become  aAvare  of  its 
loss  having  happened.- -H.  H.  Raschen. 
Sidcup,  Kent,  June  16,  1902. 
