430 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTA  7E  GARDENER. 
November  6,  1903 
the  case  is  very  different.  We  see  that  deferring  the  cutting 
hack  of  the  trees  till  after  a  season’s  growth  adds  to  their  vigour 
of  growth. 
But  do  we  want  to  encourage  this  vigour  in  dwarf  trees  ?  Is 
it  not  a  fact  that  excessive  vigour  is  an  evil  we  generally  have  to 
tight  against  in  young  dwarf  trees  until  a  heavy  crop  of  fruit 
has  brought  about  a  well-balanced  growth?  Surely,  the  object 
is  to  get  dwarf  trees  to  bear  eai'ly,  so  that  excessive  vigour  may 
be  restrained  and  the  necessity  for  lifting  and  root-pruning 
obviated,  as  this  usually  means  the  loss  of  a  season’s  fruiting. 
By  the  system  of  cutting  back  at  the  time  of  planting,  as  sug¬ 
gested  above  for  standards,  fruit  spurs  are  formed  all  along 
the  branches — a  sine  qua  non  for  a  really  productive  dwarf  tree — - 
and  it  does  not  harm  it  at  all  to  bear  fruit  the  second  season, 
as  the  formation  of  a  strong  tree  is  not  of  prime  importance 
in  such  cases,  though  this  is  pretty  sure  to  come. 
The  pruning  of  dwarf  trees  must  to  some  extent  depend  upon 
the  object  for  which  they  are  grown.  If  they  are  planted  by 
the  acre,  where  a  small  early  return  is  not  wanted  so  much  as 
an  ultimate  large  one,  the  trees  are  allowed  to  grow  much  bigger, 
and,  consequently,  the  same  thing  may  apply  to  them  in  that 
case  as  was  mentioned  above  in  regard  to  standards,  namely, 
that  by  leaving  the  pruning  till  a  year  or  eighteen  months  after 
planting,  stronger  growing  trees  are  ultimately  obtained,  though 
pretty  nearly  as  strong  growth  may  be  obtained  by  cutting  back 
harder  at  the  time  of  planting  and  disbudding  in  the  spring,  so 
as  not  to  get  too  many  branches  formed,  but  just  as  many  as 
required";  and  those  strong  and  vigorous ;  but  when  trees  are 
planted  by  the  acre  they  can  seldom  get  this  delicacy  of  atten¬ 
tion,  and  hence  the  deferred  pruning  may  answer  best  in  such 
cases. 
As  a  rule,  in  gardens  the  bushes  are  not  wanted  very  large, 
and  the  space  is*  not  allowed  them  to  become  so,  and  a  small 
early  return  is  usually  desired,  if  only  that  of  a  dozen  fruits  on 
the  tree.  Where  Apple  growing,  or  that  of  some  other  fruit, 
is  a  sort  of  hobby,  the  desire,  of  course,  generally  is  to  get  a 
considerable  number  of  varieties,  and  to  get  them  to  fruit  as 
soon  as  possible.  In  such  cases,  and  with  the  amateur  generally, 
the  balance  seems  to  be  in  favour  of  cutting  back  the  branches 
to  a  third  of  their  length  at  the  time  of  planting.  There  is  one 
thing  which  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon,  and  that  is, 
that  any  system  of  pruning  to  be  successful  must  be  combined 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  sorts  operated  upon.  Different  varieties 
of  the  same  fruit  have  as  different  constitutions  as  human  beings, 
and  what  may  be  quite  right  for  weak  growing  Apples,  for  in¬ 
stance,  like  Scarlet  Nonpareil  or  Mannington’s  Pearmain,  may 
be  quite  wrong  for  rampant  growers  like  B'ramley’s  Seedling  or 
Blenheim  Orange.  Pruning  should  aim  at  increasing  the  vigour 
■of  the  former  two  and  decreasing  that  of  the  latter  two. 
The  above  has  been  an  attempt  to  show  the  general  principles 
upon  which  the  pruning  of  fruit  trees  at  planting,  or  a  year 
after,  is  based,  and  though  nothing  is  said  dogmatically  as  to 
the  rightness  or  wrongness  of  either  system,  it  may  be  helpful 
to  the  reader,  upon  whom  the  foregoing  dissertation  may  not 
have  left  a  very  clear  impression,  to  give  an  account  of  one’s 
own  practice  and  experience  as  applied  to  the  different  sorts  of 
fruit  trees: — to  descend  from  the  general  to  the  particular,  in 
short. 
Apples,  Pears,  Plums,  Cherries,  and  Apricot  standards  have 
all  their  branches  cut  back  at  the  time  of  planting  to  one-half 
or  a  third  of  their  length,  weak-growing  varieties  being  cut  back 
harder  than  strong-growing  ones.  Bushes,  pyramids,  and  wail 
trees— all  forms  of  dwarf  trees,  in  fact — are  cut  back  to  two-thirds 
to  three-quarters  of  their  length,  according  to  the  strength  of 
the  shoots  or  branches.  In  the  spring  the  growth  of  the  stan¬ 
dards  is  regulated  somewhat  by  any  misplaced  shoots,  or  any 
for  which  there  will  not  be  room  being  removed  completely, 
lu  the  base  of  dwarfs  such  shoots  are  usually  pinched  back  to 
four  or  five  leaves,  and  the  secondary  growths  to  one  or  two, 
though,  at  the  same  time,  any  very  badly  placed  shoots  are 
removed.  Disbudding,  as  this  is  termed,  is  very  helpful  in  form¬ 
ing  young  trees,  and  it  is  better  for  the  tree  for  tender  young 
shoots  to  be  just  rubbed  off  than  to  be  cut  off  later  on. 
Especially  is  this  the  case  with  stone  fruit  trees. 
Peaches,  Nectarines,  Gooseberries,  and  Black  Currants. 
These  being  all  berries  on  the  young  wood,  the  stronger  the 
growth  that  can  be  developed  within  certain  limits  the  better. 
Therefore,  these  are  cut  back  hard  at  the  time  of  planting, 
strong  shoots  to  two-thirds  of  their  length,  and  weak  ones  to 
one-third.  Disbudding  with  Peaches  and  Nectarines  is,  of 
course,  a  necessity. 
Raspberries  are  shortened  to  six  or  eight  inches  the  end  of 
March  or  beginning  of  April.  If  shortened  in  the  autumn  the 
canes  frequently  die  down  further,  which  is  supposed  to  be 
caused  by  the  moisture  getting  into  their  pithy  stems  and  there 
freezing. 
Trees  which  are  subjected  to  the  treatment  just  described 
are  invariably  planted  as  early  in  November  as  possible.  With 
late  or  spring-planted  trees  it  is  probably  best  to  defer  all  pruning 
till  after  a  season’s  growth.  Pruning  trees  late  in  the  winter 
or  early  in  the  spring  makes  the  trees  later  coming  into  leaf, 
with  the  result  that  less  root  power  is  developed  during  the 
summer,  and,  consequently,  the  growth  is  very  feeble.  It 
weakens  the  trees,  too,  in  another  way,  in  that,  during  February 
or  March,  the  slowly  rising  sap  is  most  of  it  going  to  the  buds 
near  the  ends  of  the  branches — whence  the  strongest  shoots 
usually  issue — with  the  result  that  the  summer  growth  is  made 
from  the  weaker  buds.  This  is  remedied,  at  least,  to  a  great 
extent,  when  the  branches  are  shortened  in  November. 
There  is  one  very  important  matter  which  has  not  been 
mentioned,  and  that  is,  never  let  the  roots  of  trees  get  dry 
before  planting,  as  the  delicate  root  fibres  are  very  easily  killed, 
much  to  the  injury  of  the  tree.  If  the  trees  have  to  be  a  long 
time  out  of  the  ground  before  planting,  from  wet,  frost,  or 
ether  causes,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  immerse  the  trees — roots  and 
branches  alike — in  a  tub  of  water  for  twenty-four  hours,  whioli 
will  ensure  all  being  plump  when  planted. — A.  Petts. 
- -«  « - 
Puzzles— Horticultural. 
Potatoes  are  puzzling  things  to  the  average  mind,  and  are 
interesting  as  well  as  useful,  because  they  are  so  erratic.  One 
never  knows  what  to  expect  from  them  at  digging  time,  because 
the  appearance  of  their  tops  indicate  but  little  how  things  have 
fared  below  the  soil.  These  matters  have  been  brought  forcibly 
to  my  mind  recently  at  a  social  gathering  “in  the  country.” 
After  supper  out  came  the  pipes,  and  for  a  time  silence  reigned 
as  each  contemplated  the  wreaths  of  rising  smoke.  At  last  the 
stillness  was  broken,  the  topic  of  the  speaker  being  a  genuine 
one — in  the  country — ’twas  about  gardening.  I  should  here 
mention  that  each  of  us  possessed  a  bit  of  a  garden,  and  after 
having  for  a  few  years  spent  what  time  we  could  spare  in  prac¬ 
tising  the  ancient  art  according  to  our  own  notions,  each 
seemed  to  look  upon  himself  as  quite  an  authority  on  the  subject. 
But  the  Potatoes  have  certainty  been  too  much  for  some  of  us 
this  year,  which  the  following  remarks  will  show. 
“Potatoes,”  said  one,  “why,  my  early  ones  were  the  worst 
crop  I  ever  had.  The  tops  turned  yellow  before  they  appeared 
to  be  fully  grown,  the  tubers  were  small,  and  what  few  I  could 
spare  for  table  after  having  saved  enough  for  seed,  were  scarcely 
worth  eating,  and  yet  they  were  my  favourite  sort,  Puritan.” 
“Ah!”  chimed  in  another,  “I  am  in  a  far  worse  plight  than 
you,  for  my  late  sorts  have  produced  nothing  to  speak  of  except 
tops.  They  looked  splendid  during  the  summer,  grew  very  strong, 
and  wrere  perfectly  healthy,  but  when  I  tried  a  root  or  two  I 
found  only  a  very  few  tubers  about  the  size  of  walnuts.  I  offered 
my  neighbour  the  whole  . six  rows  for  the  trouble  of  digging,  and 
he  thought  it  wouldn’t  be  worth  his  while.”  Very  much  I  should 
like  to  know  why  Potatoes  behave  thus  when  fairly  good  treat¬ 
ment  is  given  them. 
It  seems,  too,  that  appearances  are  sometimes  deceptive  in 
the  opposite  direction,  according  to  what  a  third  member  of  our 
little  band  told  us.  Said  he:  “I  wanted  to  grow  a  few  tubers 
for  show,  and,  among  others,  I  planted  Ideal.  When  they  came 
up  the  tops  were  almost  as  weak  as  knitting  needles,'  and  although 
they  improved  by  degrees,  the  haulms  were  always  weak,  thin, 
and  wiry.  Guess  my  surprise,  then,  when,  at  digging  time,  I 
found  beautiful  shapely  tubers  of  good  size,  and  managed  to 
beat  all  the  rest  of  you  at  the  show!”  Is  this  the  usual  be¬ 
haviour  of  Ideal?  How  much  I  should  like  to  know. 
Cankered  Apple  Trees 
have  often  set  me  ruminating,  and  even  now  I  do  not  understand 
their  ways,  because  those  who  aught  to  know  tell  me  that  canker 
is  a  fell  disease  hard  to  eradicate,  and,  if  left  alone,  disastrous  to 
the  trees.  Now,  I  know  of  several  trees  which  have  eruptions 
studding  their  trunks  and  branches  so  closely  that  it  is  difficult 
to  find  a  smooth  bit  of  bark  ;  such  trees,  I  am  told,  have  canker 
badly,  and  yet  nearly  every  year  they  seem  to  bear  well,  while 
healthy  trees  growing  near  are  fruitless.  The  fruits  on  the 
former  trees  are  certainly  not  very  large,  but  still  they  colour 
well,  and  although  the  trees  must  be  old  they  are  only  of 
moderate  size — the  canker  seems  to  have  stunted  them  and  made 
them  bare.  Is  canker,  then,  after  all,  such  a  troublesome  disease, 
seeing  that  it  brings  money  to  the  pockets  of  some  growers  ? 
Please  tell  me,  someone,  through  the  pages  of  the  Journal  of 
Horticulture.  I  should  think  that  if  those  who  have  cankered 
trees  would  feed  them  well,  and  water  with  liquid  manure,  so  as 
to  increase  the  size  of  the  fruit,  there  would  not  be  much  to  com¬ 
plain  of. 
Talking,  or,  rather,  writing,  of  liquid  manure,  reminds  me 
of  another  point  I  ha.ve  an  idea  about.  Some  time  ago  I  saw  a 
man  watering  an  Apple  tree  in  an  orchard.  The  fruits  were 
numerous,  but  small.  He  thought  a  little  liquid  manure  would 
help  to  increase  their  size.  I  also  should  think  it  ought  to,  but 
it  did  not  in  this  case.  The  tree  was  a  large  one,  with  a  hollow 
space  around  the  trunk ;  all  the  liquid  was  poured  there.  I 
thought  the  man  should  have  watered  a  good  distance  from  the 
stem  as  well,  because,  when  digging  under  my  Apple  tree,  I  find 
the  most  roots  a  long  way  from  the  stem.  Will  someone  kindly 
enlighten  me  on  some  of  the  above  points,  so  that,  in  regard  to 
them,  I  may  no  longer  remain  an — Ignoramus. 
