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August  27,  1905.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
f  - - - - 
RUil 
OTES 
Among  the  Fruit  Trees. 
All  too  soon  the  damp,  chilly  evenings  have  come,  and  the 
fast  shortening  daj^s  proclaim  clearly  that  autumn  will  soon 
begin.  The  summer  cannot  now  atone  for  her  past  misdeeds 
and  lack  of  brilliant  sunshine;  but  let  us  hope  that  with  the 
early  days  of  the  autumn  a  new  era  of  sunshine  and  settled 
weather  will  begin.  Given  such  conditions,  September  and 
October  are  indeed  glorious  months,  especially  for  the  fruit 
grower,  for  then  the  store  rooms  should  be  overflowing  with  a 
supply  of  good  things  for  winter  use.  and  the  sunshine  plays  a 
potent  part  in  preparing  the  wood  to  yield  another  year’s 
supply. 
Unfortunately,  the  crop  of  Apples  and  Pears  in  Britain  is 
this  year  probably  the  lightest  recorded  for  a  generation,  and 
under  such  trying  circumstances  many  may  be  tempted  to 
neglect  their  trees,  to  their  serious  detriment  in  the  future. 
To  the  cruel  frosts  of  last  spring  must  be  laid  the  principal 
reason  of  the  failure  of  our  fruit  crops ;  but  the  unripened  con¬ 
dition  of  the  wood  also  had  something  to  do  with  it.  The 
blossom  on  many  trees  was  not  nearly  so  strong  as  usual,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  fact  that  they  bore  only  light  crops  the 
previous  year,  and  undoubtedly  many  of  them  were  imperfect, 
and  under  favourable  conditions  would  not  have  set.  In  some 
low  lying  districts  I  can  point  to  trees  which  did  not  bear  a 
single  blossom  last  spring,  simply  because  the  wood  was  unripe ; 
and  although  w’6  all  hope  for  a  finer  and  brighter  autumn  this 
year,  it  rests  with  the  cultivator  to  do  everything  possible  to 
facilitate  the  ripening  of  the  wood. 
When  the  time  cannot  be  spared  to  cany  out  both  summer 
and  winter  pruning,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  Sep¬ 
tember  is  the  best  month  in  the  whole  year  during  which  to 
piune  the  majority  of  fruit  trees.  The  great  drawback  to 
doing  it  then  in  ordinary  seasons  is  that  the  trees  are  ladened 
with  fruit;  but  this  season  there  is  a  clear  course  in  far  too 
many  instances.  Advantage  should  therefore  be  taken  of  such 
conditions  to  prepare  the  trees  for  the  work  of  another  year. 
Trees  of  all  descriptions  have  made  a  great  amount  of  growth, 
and  if  pruning  is  done  during  the  next  few  weeks  the  wood  in 
every  part  will  get  full  exposure  while  the  leaves  are  carrying 
out  the  important  work  of  sap  elaboration.  Then,  in  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  favourable  weather,  many  buds  will  be  converted 
from  wood  buds  to  fruit  buds,  which  under  less  favourable  con¬ 
ditions  will  remain  in  the  initial  stage. 
The  method  of  pruning  which  is  now  generally  accepted  as 
the  correct  one  for  standards  of  both  Apples  and  Pears  consists 
of  thinning  out  the  shoots,  so  as  to  allow  the  light  and  air  to 
reach  every  part  of  the  tree,  and  shortening  the  points  of  the 
branches  but  little.  The  term  “  thinning  out  ”  is,  however, 
rather  a  vague  one,  and  the  question  arises.  At  what  distance 
apart  should  the  branches  be  left?  Some  might  think  a  tree 
well  thinned  if  the  leading  shoots  were  1ft  apart;  and  while 
a  tree  is  young  that  distance  will  often  suffice;  but  as  it  in¬ 
creases  in  size  the  extremity  of  the  branches  should  be  further 
apart,  and  the  centre  left  comparatively  open,  to  allow  the 
light  and  air  to  freely  penetrate  the  lower  parts  of  the  tree. 
The  shoots  of  weak  growers,  too,  need  less  room  than  stronger 
growing  kinds.  I  find  a  suitable  distance  for  the  main  branches 
is  from  18in  to  2ft  apart.  From  the  main  branches  young 
shoots  should  be  left  here  and  there  at  almost,  or  quite,  full 
length,  these  young  shoots  quickly  forming  fruit  buds  along 
their  whole  length. 
In  pruning  a  tree  on  this  system,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to 
reduce  the  number  of  the  main  branches  if  they  are  too 
numerous,  and  then  to  cut  away  superfluous  side  shoots.  The 
latter  can  at  this  season  be  cut  to  within  two  or  three  leaves  of 
their  base  without  fear  of  their  starting  into  gi’owth.  If  the 
young  shoots  retained  on  the  ends  or  sides  of  the  branches  are 
long  and  thin,  remove  a  few  inches ;  if  fairly  strong  and  self- 
supporting,  do  not  .shorten  them  in  the  least.  By  such  means 
good  shapely  trees  are  produced,  which  do  not  send  out  ho.sts 
of  strong  shoots  on  the  one  hand,  or  become  weak  and  drooping 
on  the  other  through  need  of  a  little  shortening. 
In  gardens  where  pyramids  and  bushes  are  usually  grown 
instead  of  standards,  the  orthodox  method  of  “spurring  ”  the 
branches  is  generally  followed,  and  pinching  the  shoots  in 
summer  is  not  often  neglected.  If  this  pinching  has  been  done, 
September  is  an  excellent  month  during  which  to  complete  the 
pruning,  instead  of  deferring  it  till  winter;  but  in  those 
imstances  in  which  summer  pruning  has  not  been  done,  no  time 
should  be  lost  in  pruning  the  trees  thoroughly.  This  spur  system 
answers  very  well  if  root-pruning  is  practised  in  conjunction  with 
It  whenever  the  trees  .show  a  tendency  to  grow  too  strongly; 
out  It  entails  infinitely  more  labour  than  the  thinning  out 
system  already  described  for  standards,  and  certainly  does  not 
I'esults.  It  is  therefore  an  open  question 
whether  a  freer  extension  of  growth  should  not  be  more  gene- 
ral^’  micouraged  with  pyramids  and  bushes  in  private  gardens. 
— H.  D. 
Melon  Plants  Going-oif  at  the  Root. 
I’ll®  following  is  an  answer  to  a  quei-y  sent  by  “  J.  T.  C.”  : 
I  he  specimen  you  submitted  for  examination  we  found,  under 
scrutiny,  to  be  affected  with  root  stem  eelworm 
(iylenchus  obtusus).  A  bit  of  root  stem  treated  with  dilute 
spirit  and  teased  yielded  the  “  fine.st  sight  ”  of  the  blunt  ended 
(the  blunt  applies  to  the  head  part,  for  the  tail  is  .sharp  pointed) 
eelworm  that  has  been  presented  to  us  in  the  many  examples 
it  has  been  our  jirivilege  to  examine  during  many  years. 
It  is  solely  a  root  stem  affection,  and  gives  rise  to  the  disease 
known  to  Cucumber  growers  for  market  as  “  clubbing,”  because 
the  stem  of  the  plant  in  the  .soil  is  often  much  enlarged,  the 
paiasitic  animal  exploiting  the  ho.st  plant  for  its  particular 
benefit,  the  irritation  set  up  by  the  eelworm  causing  the  plant 
to  concentrate  its  energies  on  the  healing  of  the  injured  part, 
and  a  great  growth  of  cellular  tissue  is  the  consequence,  albeit 
at  the  expense  of  the  top  growth,  which  suffers  in  consequence 
of  the  deprivation  of  nutriment,  and  collapses  a.s  soon  as  the 
eelwornis  have  cut  off  the  supplies  by  the  destruction  of  the 
root  stem  tissues  all  round. 
The  eelworm  is  very  common,  found  in  most,  if  not  all,  soils 
where  there  are  semi-dead  and  decaying  root  parts  of  plants,  all 
freshly  cut  turfy  loams  we  have  examined  yielding  specimens 
of  this  species,  and  also  stem-eelworm  (Tylenchus  devastatrix) 
from  the  decaying  root  stems  of  the  natural  herbage,  particu¬ 
larly  those  of  leguminous  plants,  especially  Cllover.  The  old 
gardeners  might  not  know  this,  but  they  did  know  that  turfy 
loam  gave  the  best  re'.sults  .when  it  had  been  stacked  long 
enough  to  destroy  the  natural  herbage,  and  had  become  what 
was  termed  mellow. 
This  mellow  loam,  often  treated  in  the  rot-heap  with  lime 
and  soot  for  the  destruction  of  contained  animal  pests,  does  not 
contain  eelworms,  for  they  evidently  need  living  organic  matter 
or  an  abundant  supply  of  nitrogenous  substance  for  breeding 
purposes,  and  do  not  find  it  in  vegetation  reduced  to  moxdd 
or  inoi'ganic  matter,  so  that  there  were  in  olden  times  few, 
or  no  failures  with  Cucumbers  or  Melons,  most  of  the  crops  of 
which  were  grown  in  dung-heated  pits  or  frames,  not  more 
distantly  than  half  a  century.  Raw,  crude  compost,  therefore, 
is  the  beginning  of  eelworm  disease,  the  pests  being  introducecl 
in  the  turfy  loam. 
In  this  connection  we  particularly  allude  to  stem-eelworm 
(Tylenchus  devastatrix)  and  to  root  stem  eelworm  (T.  obtusus), 
for  root  knot  eelworm  (Heterodera  radicicola)  is  not  indigenous 
to  this  country,  having  been  introduced  from  the  Continent  of 
Europe,  and  is  an  indoor  rather  than  outdoor  infection,  though 
not  uncommon  on  Tomato  roots  against  walls,  and  even  on 
Cucumbers  and  Vegetable  Marrows  on  ridges  of  fermenting 
materials,  being  probably  due  to  the  plants  being  potted  with 
old  potting  material,  they  being  raised  under  glass,  and  bud- 
strong  before  planting  outdoors. 
When  new,  raw,  or  fre.shly  cut  turfy  loam  is  used  it  should 
either  be  heated  on  iron  plates  to  a  temperature  of  ISOdeg  to 
200deg,  or  treated  with  boiling  water  or  steam,  in  no  case 
exceeding  a  temperature  of  212deg,  for  that  would  probably 
prejudice  the  nitrifying  micro-organisms,  and  a  temperature  of 
135deg  will  destroy  eelworms  and  resting  spores  of  fungi ;  but 
to  make  sure,  ISOdeg  is  as  certain  as  safe.  What  a  bother  for 
so  microscopic  an  objeert !  Well,  do  the  next  best  thing,  and 
better  the  soil  by  adding  to  each  281b  a  mixture  of  basic  cinder 
plmsphate  eight  parts,  and  kainit  three  parts,  using  lib  of  the 
mixture,  and  letting  lie  in  stacks  from  late  .summer  to  wanting 
for  use  in  early  spring;  then  cut  the  stack  straight  down, 
stopping  up  and  blending  top  and  bottom  outside  and  inside 
well  together.  Or,  spread  the  turf  out  and  sprinkle  on  it  a 
one  per  cent,  solution  of  formaldehyde  (an  aqueous  solution  of 
formicaldehyde  containing  thirty-five  per  cent.),  or,  to  be  ex¬ 
plicit,  one  fluid  ounce  formaldehyde  to  five  pints  soft  water,  and 
give  the  turf  as  good  a  wetting  with  this  as  is  effected  by  an 
ordinary  watering  with  water.  The  commercial  price  of  formal¬ 
dehyde  is  Is.  6d.  per  lb.  The  nematodes  collapse  at  once  on 
being  reached  with  the  formalin — it  is  the  same  thing  as  formal¬ 
dehyde,  and  Profe.ssor  Arthur  has  shown  that  steeping  Potato 
sets  in  a  solution  of  half  a  pint  of  formalin  in  fifteen  gallons  of 
water  for  two  hours  is  a  complete  specific  for  American  Potato 
scale  (Oospora  scabie.s) ;  and,  if  so,  why  not  for  other  fungous 
pests  that  infect  u.seful  plants  by  the  roots,  such  as  sleeping 
disease  in  Tomatoes,  Cucumbers,  Ac.  ?  It  is  only  one  part 
formalin  to  240  parts  water,  and  it  also  will  kill  nematode 
worms,  .so  that  probably  it  might  bo  used  safely  to  the  roots  of 
plants  in  growth.  But  on  this  point  we  have  no  certain  data. 
