332 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
October  10,  1901. 
making,  concreting,  and  draining,  if  he  had  reason  to  think  that  the 
.mil  in  question  would  grow  good  Iruit. 
Vine  Borders. 
A  mixture  that  las  given  me  excellent  results  for  Vines,  both 
permanently  planted  and  in  pots,  is  composed  of  ten  cartloads  of  good 
tibry  loam,  one  cartload  sweetened  horse  droppings  prepared  bv 
frequent  turnings,  two  of  wood  ashes,  three  of  lime  rubble  or  old 
mortar  rubbish,  5  cwt.  of  bones,  3  bushels  of  soot,  and  1  cwt.  of  a 
thoroughly  well  proved  Vine  manure,  su  h  as  Thomson’s  or  le 
iruitier.  For  Peaches  and  Nectarines,  ten  loads  of  loam,  four  of  lime 
rubbish,  and  two  of  wood  ashes,  not  adding  anything  of  a  more 
stimulating  character  until  the  trees  are  carrying  their  fruit,  and  then 
giving  it  in  the  form  of  top-dressings.  Respecting  the  wood  ashes,  I 
8nould  perhaps  have  termed  it  burnt  reluse,  lor  although  most  of  it 
was  burnt  woody  fibre,  tie  material  ieally  came  from  a  garden 
smother.  This  is  one  of  the  most  useful  materials  to  the  fruit 
grower,  its  gritty  nature  serving  to  keep  the  soil  in  a  good  mechani¬ 
cally  divided  state,  while  the  amount  of  potash  it  contains  in  an 
available  form  is  very  considerable.  When  fruit  borders  are  thinly 
top-dressed  with  it,  it  prevents  the  surface  cracking  over  and  becoming 
hard  and  dry.  or  wet  and  pasty.  It  is  excellent  for  mixing  with 
fertilisers,  allowing  them  to  be  more  regularly  distributed,  and  is  an 
aid  to  the  production  of  those  short  bristly  feeding  roors  that  all  good 
fruit  growers  delight,  in. — H.  R.  R. 
(To  be  continued.) 
The  Oaks  of  'Windsor  Torest. — In  Cranb  urne  Chm-e  stands 
the  largest  Oak  known  in  Windsor  Forest.  A  meHSuument  showed  it 
to  be  about  40  feet  in  cii cumference,  but  if.  is  verv  irregular  and 
knotty.  It  is  hollow,  and  may  have  exis  ed  800  or  900  years.  The 
veteran  of  the  forest,  however,  is  William  the  Conqueror’s  Oak.  It  is 
situate  near  Cranbourne  Tower,  and  is  open  to  public  view.  It  is 
37  feet  in  circumference,  and  still  throws  out  i  a  shoots.  Its  age  is 
estimated  at  about  1000  years.  Outside  the  Forest  Gate  at  Ascot  is  a 
fine  specimen  of  a  tree  of  “  middle  age.”  It  is  about  600  years  old, 
and  is  27  or  28  feet  in  circumference.  The  finest  grown  Oaks  are  at 
Low  Pond,  just  at  the  back  of  Rhododendron  Walk.  Oue  is  70  feet 
high,  and  rises  40  feet  before  it  throws  out  a  branch  ;  and  there  is  a 
tree  100  feet  high  near  Cumberland  L  Age. 
Blackberry  Culture 
Seeing  that  these  prolific  fruits  thrive  so  luxuriantly  in 
the  woods  and  hedgerows  of  many  British  counties,  the  idea 
of  cultivating  Brambles  systematically  may  by  some  seem 
somewhat  absurd  ;  but  I  think  none  can  deny  how  delicious 
the  fruits  are  when  eaten  in  either  a  raw  or  cooked  state. 
There  are,  however,  two  good  reasons  why  Blackberries 
should  be  cultivated.  One  is,  that,  like  all  other  wild  fruits, 
they  may  be  considerably  improved  by  good  culture,  and 
garden-grown  fruits  are  decidedly  superior  in  both  size 
and  juciness  to  those  obtained  from  the  hedgerows.  In 
some  districts  but  few  are  found  growing  in  a  wild  state, 
a  supply  from  the  garden  is  then  all  the  more  esteemed. 
With  the  above  remarks,  perhaps  few,  if  any.  readers  of 
the  Journal  of  Horticulture  will  be  inclined  to  d  sagree, 
but  I  will  go  a  step  further,  and  advance  the  firm  convic¬ 
tion  that  there  is  ample  scope  for  the  establishment  in 
England  of  a  profitable  industry  in  growing  Blackberries. 
If  hybridists  will  take  the  matter  seriously  in  hand  I  see 
no  reason  why,  in  time,  we  should  not  have  a  very  superior 
race  of  varieties,  with  fruits  resembling  in  size  Sir  J. 
Paxton  Strawberries.  The  hedge-grown  fruit  would  then, 
I  think,  be  quickly  driven  out  of  the  market.  Some  time 
must,  however,  elapse  before  such  strides  can  be  made  ; 
but  in  the  meantime  I  fully  believe  that  with  the  varieties 
we  now  have  Blackberry  growing  can  be  made  profitable. 
Some  time  ago  I  was  talking  to  a  fruit-grower  about  the 
profits  of  Currant  growing.  “  Oh,”  he  exclaimed,  “  Black¬ 
berries  realise  more  per  lb.  in  the  markets  than  Currants 
do.”  “  Grow  the  former,  then,”  said  I.  The  objection  the 
majority  of  people  would  raise  to  this  suggestion  probably 
is  that,  as  so  many  can  be  obtained  from  the  hedges, 
why  cultivate  them  1  My  answer  is  that  cultivated  fruit 
would  be  finer,  and  that  it  would  cost  less  per  bushel  to 
grow  fruit  in  a  plantation  and  gather  it  than  to  wander  for 
miles  picking  wild  fruit.  Hazel  nuts  are  plentiful  enough 
in  our  woods,  but  the  culture  of  Cobs  and  Filberts  is  profit¬ 
able  notwithstanding. 
Suitable  Soil. 
Because  the  Bramble  luxuriates  in  hedgerows  it  must  not 
be  concluded  that  it  will  succeed  in  any  kind  of  soil.  Where 
hedges  grow  well  the  soil  is  usually  good,  and  as  a  ditch  is 
invariably  close  at  hand,  good  drainage  is  secured.  Fairly 
good  soil  should  be  selected,  or  it  should  be  made  good  by  the 
addition  of  abundance  of  well-decayed  manure,  and  also  be 
deeply  stirred.  Heavy  soils  ought  to  have  opening  materials 
incorporated  with  them.  A  sunny  position  should  be 
selected,  if  sheltered  from  cutting  winds.  The  fruit  attains 
a  somewhat  larger  size,  but  in  almost  any  situation  the 
British  varieties  fruit  abundantly.  For  the  American  varie¬ 
ties  sheltered  sites  are  necessary. 
Various  methods  of  planting  and  training  may  be  adopted. 
An  excellent  plan  is  to  train  them  to  fences  formed  of  stout 
posts  and  galvanised  wire,  similar  to  those  used  for  Rasp¬ 
berries,  except  that  for  such  strong  growing  American  varie¬ 
ties  as  the  Parsley-leaved  and  Mammoth  (two  of  the  best) 
the  fences  should  be  from  6  feet  to  9  feet  in  height.  The  plants 
should  then  be  set  4  feet  apart.  A  fence  of  this  kind  forms  an 
admirable  boundary  between  two  departments  of  a  garden. 
Arches  could  also  be  quickly  covered  with  Brambles,  and  a 
Bramble-covered  pergola  would  be  both  profitable  and  orna¬ 
mental.  Another  good  method  of  growing  the  strong¬ 
growing  kinds  is  to  plant  them  against  tall  larch  poles,  the 
rows  being  arranged  6  feet  apart  and  the  poles  4  feet 
asunder. 
Such  American  varieties  as  Kittatinny  and  Wilson’s  Early, 
as  well  as  the  British  kinds,  succeed  well  when  grown  in 
bush  form,  and  planted  5  feet  apart  each  way.  Autumn  or 
early  winter  are  the  best  times  for  planting.  Strong,  well- 
rooted  young  plants  should  be  obtained,  and  a  mulching  of 
short  manure  is  beneficial. 
Treatment  after  Planting. 
After  planting,  cut  the  shoots  off  level  with  the  ground, 
and  the  following  June  select  two  of  the  strongest  growers 
and  remove  the  others.  Those  retained  will  form  fruiting 
canes  for  the  following  year,  and  in  autumn  will  need  shorten¬ 
ing  to  from  3  feet  to  6  feet.  After  they  have  fruited,  cut 
them  away.  Each  year  three  or  four  young  growths  must  be 
selected  to  form  fruiting  canes,  and  the  others  be  removed. 
In  th  s  respect  the  tr  atmert  is  identical  to  that  practised 
