May  30,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
449 
Watering  and  Jfnlclpg  Frail  Trees. 
The  regularity  with  which  good  crops  of  fruit  are  produoed  under 
glass  annually  may  be  accounted  for  in  two  ways  ;  one  is  that  the 
trees  are  protested  from  the  vicissitudes  of  weather,  the  other  that 
strict  attention  is  paid  to  watering  when  necessary.  In  the  majority 
of  gardens  wall  trees  are  usually  amply  protected  during  blossoming 
time,  and  yet  such  trees  often  fail  to  set  a  good  crop  of  fruit  for 
reasons  which  I  shall  presently  treat  of,  after  I  have  advanced  a  few 
Temarks  about  protecting  them  generally.  Ilardv  fruit  culture  is  now 
a  matter  of  such  vital  importance  that  I  think  the  time  has  arrived 
for  us  to  experiment  more  generally,  and  take  more  vigorous  measures 
to  evolve  a  system  of  culture  by  which  crops  inthe  open  air  may  be 
obtained  with  a  greater  amount  of  certainty,  and  I  am  fully  convinced 
that  some  improvements  may  be  made  in  that  direction.  Nearly  all 
planters  now  recognise  the  importance  of  providing  shelter  for  the 
north  and  east,  and  in  cases  where  such  shelter  has  been  secured  by 
planting  quick-growing  trees,  the  cold  cutting  winds  of  spring  do  not 
have  so  disastrous  an  effect  upon  the  trees  when  in  flower.  It  is  also 
•quite  possible  to  secure  great 
advantages  by  selecting  suit¬ 
able  sites  lor  planting,  and  I 
am  inclined  to  consider  the 
question  of  site  as  being  of 
more  importance  thaa  that 
of  soil,  for  when  the  soil  is 
comparatively  poor  it  is  not 
a  difficult  matter  to  increase 
its  fertility  by  manuring; 
but  no  matter  how  suitable  a 
soil  may  be  for  fruit  growing, 
if  the  situation  is  an  exposed 
or  low  lying  one,  sharp  frosts 
too  often  ruin  the  prospect 
of  a  crop.  In  counties  where 
the  land  is  undulating 
splendid  sites  for  planting 
may  often  be  secured.  The 
American  plan  of  enveloping 
fruit  orchards  and  planta¬ 
tions  in  smoke  at  blossoming 
time  is  also  worthy  of  more 
attention  in  this  country,  as 
it  is  easy  to  have  heaps  of 
rubbish  in  readiness,  as 
frosts  severe  enough  to  injure 
fruit  blossoms  may  usually 
be  anticipated  in  time  to 
start  the  fires.  I  have  met 
with  one  English  fruit 
grower  who  adopts  this  plan 
with  satisfactory  results. 
The  other  great  draw¬ 
back  to  the  production  of 
good  crops  of  fruit  in  the 
open  air  is,  in  my  opinion, 
lack  of  moisture  in  the 
soil  just  before  and  after 
'the  trees  flower.  Many  cul¬ 
tivators  have  noticed  that 
during  some  seasons,  although  their  trees  have  flowered  at  a  time 
when  they  cannot  have  been  injured  by  trost,  yet  for  some  mysterious 
reason  either  the  flowers  or  young  fruits  have  dropped,  and  the  more 
I  experiment  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  the  reason  in  such  cases  is 
lack  of  moisture  at  the  roots.  I  do  not  for  a  moment  think  that  I  am 
alone  in  this  opinion,  as  the  value  of  watering  wall  trees  just  before 
they  come  into  flower  has  often  been  advocated  in  the  pages  of  the 
Journal  of  Horticulture,  but  how  few  cultivators  ever  think  of 
watering  Apple,  Pear,  and  Plum  trees  grown  in  open  positions  ?  I  am 
well  aware  that  in  too  many  gardens  scarcity  of  water  and  labour 
makes  such  a  course  impossible,  but  there  are  others  in  which  watering 
could  be  practised  if  it  was  found  to  bs  beneficial,  and  I  am  firmly 
convinced  that  nearly  every  season  it  would  be  so. 
I  have  lately  been  experimenting  with  Plum  trees  of  the  same 
variety  growing  side  by  side;  some  were  thoroughly  watered  just 
before  the  blossoms  expanded,  others  received  no  water.  The  unwatered 
trees  have  set  a  fair  crop  of  fruit,  and  on  those  which  received  water 
the  crop  is  very  much  heavier,  and  the  young  fruits  are  swelling  freely. 
In  some  very  heavy  soils  watering  might  be  an  evil,  but  nearly  all 
soils  which  are  noted  for  fruit  growing  are  naturally  well  drained,  and 
frequently  have  an  underlying  strata  of  rock.  At  other  seasons,  too, 
water  might  be  made  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  production  of 
^superior  fruit.  Frequently  when  the  fruit  is  swelling,  or  approaching 
maturity,  the  soil  gets  abnormally  dry,  with  the  result  that  it  does  not 
attain  full  size,  and  lacks  colour  and  flavour.  All  cultivators  know  the 
wonderful  results  which  may  be  obtained  by  watering  and  feeding 
throughout  the  season  fruit  trees  grown  under  glass,  and  equally  good 
results  follow  by  pursuing  the  same  practice  with  trees  in  the  open  air. 
I  know  of  one  grower  for  market  who  has  a  fruit  plantation  near  his 
house.  Two  or  three  times  during  the  season  he  manages  to  water  the 
whole  of  the  trees  with  liquid  manure,  and  by  so  doing  manages  to 
secure  such  fine  crops  that  he  is  continually  pondering  upon  a  scheme 
by  which  he  hopes  to  water  plantations  further  from  home.  Some¬ 
thing  may  of  course  be  done  to  conserve  moisture  by  mulching,  but  if 
this  is  practised  too  early  in  the  season  it  prevents  the  sun  from 
warming  the  soil,  and  is  therefore  not  to  be  commended.  When  June 
comes  round,  however,  nearly  all  fruit  trees  are  benefited  by  having  a 
few  inches  ot  rough  manure  placed  on  the  soil  as  far  as  the  branches 
extend,  and  with  trees  worked  on  dwarfing  stocks  this  is  especially 
necessary.  It  seems  to  me  that  trees  on  such  stocks  will  be  largely 
planted  in  the  future,  and  where  this  is  done  on  a  large  scale  a  proper 
system  of  irrigation  will  be  necessary.  By  such  means  exceptionally 
fine  fruit  will  be  grown,  and  the  British  grower  may  perhaps  in  time 
lessen  the  enormous  importations  of  Apples  which  each  year  reach  our 
shores.  That  we  could,  and 
should,  grow  them  more 
largely,  and  at  a  fair  profit, 
I  have  not  yet  met  with 
anyone  bold  enough  to 
dispute. — Onward. 
Narcissus  Robert  Berkeley. 
fee  note  on  page  468. 
The  Cedars. 
( Continued  from  'page  392.) 
When  Brought  to  England. 
In  this  country  the  Cedar 
of  Lebanon  has  been  grown 
for  over  200  years;  the 
oldest  tree  is  probably  that 
at  Enfield,  in  Middlesex, 
supposed  to  have  been 
planted  about  235  ye^rs 
ago.  Several  thousands  are 
scattered  up  and  down  the 
country,  chiefly  in  the  mid¬ 
lands  aud  southern  counties ; 
unfortunately  it  is  liable  to 
be  uprooted  by  violent  gales, 
as  its  hold  upon  the  soil  is 
slight.  The  Deodar,  although 
introduced  into  this  country 
only  about  seventy  years 
ago,  is  much  more  plentiful 
than  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon  ; 
this  was  due  to  a  scare  at 
the  Admiralty,  more  than 
fifty  years  ago,  as  to  the 
insufficiency  of  a  continuous 
supply  of  oak  timber  for  naval 
construction;  Deodar  seeds 
were  therefore  introduced  in 
considerable  quantity,  and 
and  private  estates.  But 
unsuitable  for  the  purpose 
gratuitously  distributed  to  nurseries 
in  later  years  it  was  found  to  be 
intended,  and  at  the  present  day  it  is  grown  only  for  ornament.  The 
African  Cedar  reached  this  country  much  later  ;  the  botanist  Manetti 
found  it  in  cultivation  in  the  Imperial  Gardens  at  Monza,  near  Milan, 
in  the  year  1844,  but  there  are  trees  growing  in  this  country  which 
point  to  an  earlier  date  than  that,  having  been  probably  introduced 
by  seeds  from  Algeria;  and  there  is  a  much  earlier  reference  to  it  in  a 
letter  from  Evelyn  to  Pepys  when  the  latter  was  at  Tangier,  in  which, 
with  Pliny’s  statement  before  him,  he  asks,  “  What  sort  ot  Cedar  (if 
any)  grows  about  that  mountaine  ?  ” — Mount  Atlas. 
Curious  Qualities. 
The  timber  of  the  Indian  and  African  Cedars  is  largely  used  for 
railway  and  constructive  purposes  in  their  native  countries,  as  it  is 
found  to  be  very  durable.  The  Deodar  pillars  of  the  great  Shah 
Hamaden  mosque  in  Cashmere  are  probably  500  years  old,  and  to  all 
appearance  are  still  sound,  whilst  some  of  the  bridges  of  Srinagar 
have  timber  of  even  greater  antiquity,  their  piers  having  never  been 
renewed,  and  this  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  they  are  alternitely  wet 
and  dry.  The  imperishability  of  the  timber  is  doubtless  due  to  the 
resin  which  it  holds,  this  oleo-resin  being  very  volatile.  In  this 
connection  Mr.  Bailey  remarked  that  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Sidebotham 
