May  4,  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
359 
Thinning  of  the  weak  and  crowded  lateral  spray,  s(?  as  to  let  the 
sun  play  on  the  stronger  shoots  to  ripen  them,  will  m  t  only  prove  to 
be  a  less  laborious  nndertaking,  but  re-'iilt  in  fruitful  branches.  By 
t'.iis  method  the  character  of  trees  is  changed.  The  only  objection 
that  can  be  taken  to  it  is  the  branches,  when  roped  with  fruit,  require 
to  be  supported,  or  they  are  dragged  out  of  their  natural  position  and 
form  what  are  known  as  “  sprawling”  trees. 
Mr.  Picker  is  quite  light  in  saying  that  many  varieties  will  produce 
fruit  buds  on  the  current  year’s  growth,  when  their  roots  are  in  good 
condition,  without  any  stopping,  but  this  happens  with  free  bearing 
sorts,  or  those  of  greater  age,  that  have  been  subjected  to  r  dlcal 
changes  in  the  method  of  praninsr.  One  has  only  to  plant  an  equal 
number  of  Blenheim  Pippin  and  Lane’s  Prince  Albert  Apples  to  prove 
the  vastly  divergent  characters  of  thr  two.  The  last  named  will 
commence  to  fruit  within  two  years  of  being  planted,  and  continue  to 
do  so,  provided  the  weather  is  right  at  the  flowering  tin  e,  while  at 
the  same  time  pinching  of  the  summer  growth  will  never  make  a 
Blenheim  produce  similar  results  from  a  young  tree,  no  matter  how 
expert  a  man  might  be  in  its  maiiipulnticn,  simply  because  its  nature 
is  opposed  to  early  bearing. — W.  S.,  Wilts. 
What  is  the  advantage  of  pinching  fruit  trees  during  tV  eir  growing 
season  if  a  greater  weight  of  fruit  can  be  obtained  without?  I  have 
been  deeply  interested  in  fruit  culture  for  many  years.  Our  soil  is 
very  heavy,  and  if  the  Apple  trees  are  left  to  take  their  chance, 
although  carefully  planted  on  land  that  is  well  drained,  the  foliage 
soon  has  a  yellow  unhealthy  appearance,  and  the  trees  canker  and  die. 
These,  I  may  say,  were  chiefly  on  the  Crab  stock. 
A  few  years  ago  we  determined  to  try  experiments  with  other 
stocks.  Messrs.  Veitch  recommended  the  broad-leaved  Paradise  stock  ; 
Mr.  Eivers  thought  his  Nonesuch  stock  would  suit  our  land.  We 
therefore  tried  both,  and  they  have  been  an  unqualified  6ucces.s. 
Two-year-old  bushes  were  obtained  ;  these  were  cut  hard  back  when 
planted,  and  grew  at  a  rapid  rate  the  first  season.  The  following 
autumn  they  were  root-pruned  ;  the  shoots  were  thinned,  and  those 
remaining  were  slightly  shortened  back.  The  following  summer  all 
the  varieties  carried  a  heavy  crop  of  fruit.  These  were  thinned  so  as 
not  to  exhaust  the  trees.  As  a  proof  ot  the  fine  fruit  they  bore  I  may 
mention  the  fact  that  one  fiuit  of  Bramley's  Seedling  turned  the  scale 
at  23  ozs.  Summer  pinching  has  not  been  practised,  neither  has  it 
been  necessary  to  root-prune  the  trees  since  the  second  year. 
The  trees  have  cropped  heavily  each  year  since  ;  last  season,  owing 
to  the  fine  autumn,  we  had  the  heaviest  crop  of  well  coloured  fruit  we 
have  ever  grown.  The  trees  have  stakes  placed  round  them  to  support 
the  bracches,  otherwise  they  would  break  off  owing  to  the  weight  of 
fruit.  If  such  heavy  crops  of  fruit  can,be  grown  without  summer 
pinching,  why  carry  out  the  operation  ? 
The  varieties  comprise  the  following; — Lord  Grosvenor,  Bismarck, 
Lane’s  Prince  Albert,  Potts’  Seedling,  Stirling  Castle,  Bramley’s 
Seedling,  and  Cox’s  Orange  Pippin. — S,,  Yorks. 
The  pinching  of  fruit  tree  shoots  in  my  opinion  is  productive  of 
fruit  only  in  a  secondary  way.  As  a  rule  spurs,  and  therefore  sheets, 
are  so  thickly  placed  on  espalier,  cordon  and  other  trees,  that,  with¬ 
out  pinching  light  and  air  cannot  reach  the  basal  leaves.  If  these 
individual  shoots  were  thinly  ydaced,  as  they  are  upon  open  free- 
trained  trees  and  the  leads  of  espaliers,  all  would  form  fruit  buds,  and 
eventually  fiuit  spurs,  without  any  pinching.  It  is  the  artificial 
method  of  training  and  pruning  that  makes  pinching  necessary,  and  I 
consider  it  is  really  necessary  with  vast  numbers  of  fruit  trees  and 
bushes. 
When  growers  wake  up  to  the  importance  of  disbudding  their 
Apples  and  Pears,  thereby  keepit  g  the  shoots  far  thinner  than  they 
are  kept  at  present,  there  will  be  le.«s  need  of  pinching ;  and  in  this 
connection  it  may  be  well  to  add,  that  in  numberless  cases  that  have 
come  under  my  observation  pinching  has  been  productive  of  evil.  In 
the  first  place  the  shoots  are  pinched  too  early,  before  the  leaves  are 
properly  developed,  and  afterwmrds  the  lateral  shoots  that  result  from 
the  pinching  are  allowed  to  grow  into  a  thick  mass,  thereby  excluding 
the  light  and  air,  and  defeating  the  very  end  in  view. 
To  be  effective  the  pinching  should  go  on  as  long  as  there  is  any 
fear  of  growth  starting,  taking  each  lateral  at  the  second  or  third  leaf, 
and  as  these  have  no  direct  beaiing  upon  the  spurs  and  wood  that  is  to 
be  retained,  they  may  be  pinched  when  quite  soft,  or  when  the  leaves 
are  half  grown.  Then,  as  Mr.  Molyneux  has  pointed  out,  the  trees 
may  be  pruned  early,  and  the  morning  sun  in  autumn  will  reach  every 
one  of  the  principal  leaves. 
On  this,  in  mj'  opinion,  the  whole  question  turns.  Anything 
that  hinders  the  full  development  of  the  principal  leaves — as  early 
pinching  undoubtedly  does — or  keeps  the  light  from  them,  as  under 
present  system  the  let  alone  principle  would  do,  is  productive  cf 
harm.  A  well  thought  out  system  on  the  other  hand  of  pinching  at 
the  right  time  when  necessary,  thinning,  and  allowing  a  little  freedom 
where  circumstances  allow,  will  insure  fruitful  trees. — H.  B.  Eichakds. 
POTATO  AND  OTHER  TRIALS  IN  SURREY. 
I  HAVE  just  com[ilete  l  the  planting  of  the  usual  Potato  trials  on 
the  four  plots  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Surrey  County  Council  by 
various  local  bodies  for  the  testing  of  the  merits  of  same  of  the  best 
varieties  of  vegetables.  All  these  plots  are  in  conjunction  with  larg" 
groups  of  allotments,  and  it  is  found  that  the  growing  of  divers  kinds 
and  varieties  of  vegetables  under  such  conditions,  all  being  duly  labelled 
very  legibly,  furnishis  much  more  of  interest  in  the  county  than  can 
result  when  the  trials  take  place  in  a  central  ground  that  may  be 
difficult  of  access  to  those  persors  most  immediately  concerned. 
Besides  Potatoes,  grown  on  all  four  plots,  a  fine  selection  of  the 
best  dwarf  and  3  feet  Pens  have  been  sown  oil  two,  and  on  the  other 
two  there  will  be  trials  of  about  twelve  of  the  very  best  Dwarf  Kidney 
Beans  obtainable,  including  some  not  yet  in  commerce,  and  also  of 
Beets,  including  the  best  stocks  procurable.  These  are  all  products 
which  create  great  interest  in  allotment  holders’  minds,  and  to  be  able 
to  see  them  growing  and  cropping  under  the  best  methods  of  culture 
that  can  be  furnished  renders  the  trials  of  exceeding  value. 
The  earliest  planting  of  Potatoes  was  at  Eichmond  on  April  14th. 
Here  were  planted  on  one-half  the  ph  t  two  rows  each  of  coraparativelv 
early  varieties.  Duke  of  York,  White  Beauty  of  Hebron,  Webber  s 
White  Beauty,  Early  Puritan,  Pride  of  Tonbridge,  The  Eover,  Beauty 
of  Hebron,  Sutton’s  Supreme,  Lye’s  Victory,  International,  Devonian, 
Early  Eegent,  Challenge,  and  Sutton’s  Eeliance.  All  these  should  bo 
ready  to  lift  early  in  August.  The  Eichmond  soil  is  very  erady,  and 
also  light  and  porous.  The  allotment  holders  plant  their  Potatoes 
much  sooner  than  April  14th,  as  very  late  ones  suffer  in  hot  dry 
weather. 
A  plot  (  f  20  rols  on  the  Surbiton  group,  whilst  the  soil  is  rather 
more  retentive,  it  is  yet  somewhat  sandy;  but  the  position  is  coldci, 
and  generally  crops  are  a  fortnight  later  than  at  Eichmond.  Here  were 
planted  on  April  15th  single  rows  of  generally  stronger  growers  iu 
Potatoes,  including  Syon  House  Prolific,  Challenge,  International, 
Teneriffe  Kidney  from  imported  tubers  purchased  to  test  against  the 
Canary  Islands,  Ivo  which  obtained  an  award  of  merit  at  Chiswick, 
Devonian,  also  another  A.M.  variety  ;  Pride  of  Tonbridge,  early  and  a. 
fine  cropper;  Sutton’s  Eeliance,  also  a  great  cropper;  Prime  ^Minister, 
Chancellor,  Conference,  The  Dean,  these  latter  four  of  my  own  raising 
at  Bedfont  ;  the  famous  Up-to-Date,  Loveland’s  K'dne-v,  a  variety 
of  great  table  excellence;  Windsor  Castle,  Satisfaction,  Eenown, 
Quantity  and  Quality,  Carter’s  Snowball,  and  Ellen  Terry.  1  his  list, 
comprises  a  very  fine  maincrop  selection,  and  some  of  the  rest 
varieties  in  commerce.  Besides  these,  are  now  growing  fourteen  rows 
of  3  feet  Peas,  a  first-class  selection  that  it  would  bo  hard  to  excel 
amongst  midseason  and  late  varieties.  Kidney  Beans  and  Beets  will 
follow. 
At  Englefield  Green,  on  what  may  be  described  as  pure  dark  sand, 
all  the  ground  has  been  by  special  request  planted  with  Potatoes, 
including  many  varieties  not  known  in  the  locality.  In  this  case 
broad  furrows  were  opened  with  a  spade  in  the  sand  30  inches  apart, 
and  native  guano  tried  for  the  first  time  here.  For  this  purpose  two 
rows  of  fifteen  varieties  of  Potatoes  were  planted,  the  first  row  m  each 
case  having  a  dressing  of  the  guano,  at  the  rate  of  about  12  lbs.  pei 
rod,  the  other  row  being  undressed.  The  ground  had  no  other  fmm  of 
dressing  given  it.  It  will  be  interesting  to  see  later  wh.at  may  be  the 
effect.  Judging  by  the  perfume  emitted,  the  manure  is  rich  m 
ammonia. 
The  other  plot  is  in  a  very  open,  exposed,  wind-swept  field  at 
Great  Bookham ;  the  base  being  chalk,  and  the  soil  rather  poor.  Here 
one  half  of  a  plot  of  25  rods  has  been  sown  with  Peas,  and  the 
other  half  plai.ted  with  Potatoes.  In  this  case  varieties  have  been 
chosen  as  suitable  for  the  production  of  seed  tubers  for  the  hundreds 
of  continuation  school  gardens  in  the  country.  This  plot  also  adjoins 
a  large  group  of  allotments. 
Dwarf  Beans  and  Beets  will  be  sown  about  the  seconel  week  in 
l\Iay,  as  that  is  quite  soon  enough  for  exposed  aspects.  TTie  Beets 
include  the  Sutton  Globe,  Sutton’s  stocks  of  Delis  Crimson, 
Blood  Eed,  Cheltenham  Greentop,  and  Nutting’s  Dwarf  Bed,  a  so 
Dropmore  Selected,  Pragnell’s  Exhibition,  Webbs  Satisfaction, 
Carter’s  St.  Osyth,  and  Perfection,  and  one  or  two  others  sufficient  to 
secure  a  very  useful  trial,  as  all  are  of  the  best  stocks.  In  t  lu 
manner  above  indicated  a  goodly  number  of  selected  varieties  of  usetiU 
vecretables  are  brought  under  the  notice  of  hundreds  of  workers  who 
walch  their  growth  from  beginning  to  end.  Thus  the  very  class  of 
men  who  most  need  i^  obtain  information  in  the  quickest  and  most 
practical  manner  possible,  also  of  the  exact  kind  that  is  of  the  greatest 
service  to  them,  and  are  not  slow  in  turning  it  to  useful  account. 
They  learn  far  more  in  a  season  or  two  from  these  simple  ob]ect 
lessons  than  they  could  learn  in  ten  years  from  the  reading  of  elabora.e 
reports. — A.  D. 
