Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation Part 36

ORIGIN OF NAMES.

_Barland_, from Barland, in the parish of Bosbury, Herefordshire.

_Holmore_, from the parish of Holmore, between Hereford and Leominster.

_Huffcap_.

_Longland_, from the field in which the tree grew.

_Oldfield_, from Oldfield, near Ledbury.

_Teinton Squash_, from Teinton, in Gloucestershire.

Besides these are Blakeney Red Trump Pear, Honey Pear, Moorcroft, Malvern Hill, &c. Pears, like apples, being named from places and people, &c., each district having its own favourite sorts; but perhaps those in the previous list are the favourite.

This subject of variety in both apple and pear is interesting, as it has given rise to innumerable names upon this head. My old pupil, Mr.

Clement Cadle, says:-

It is almost impossible to give satisfactory information on the sorts of fruit, because the same sort is not only known by different names in different localities, but it also a.s.sumes a widely different character under the influence of broad distinctions of soil and climate, and this is more frequently the case with pears than apples. In a tour I made last autumn in the south of Devonshire, I visited several farms in the neighbourhood of Totnes and Paignton, and amongst a great number of sorts that I there saw, I could in no instance recognize either an apple or tree as being like those I had seen before in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, or Worcestershire.

In selecting for producing cider or perry it is very important, not only to get those kinds which suit the district, but to get a variety in their character, especially for making good cider. Thus, some of the apples should be sour, others sweet, bitter-sweet, tart, and harsh, as much of the keeping character of the cider depends upon this mixture, which also makes it fine down well. It may be remarked that sweet or eating sorts of pears seldom make perry that will keep any length of time, or that fines well.

There is another peculiar feature in regard to sorts of fruit, namely, that each variety has its day, then gradually dies out. The trees become non-bearers, and their places are filled with new sorts. This is especially the case with the Hagloe crab, Fox whelp, and Skryme's kernel, which seldom bear or grow well now, and are nearly gone.

_R. A. S. Journal S.S._, vol. I. pp. 18, 19.

As regards pears, it should be stated that, while in Worcester, Gloucester, and Hereford much perry is made, and it is highly esteemed, especially for bottling, in Dorset this drink is almost unknown, and we were last year greatly surprised that a farmer who had an immense crop of pears of a sort that were not fit for dessert or culinary purposes, could not divine what to do with them, though he made excellent cider.

We conclude this portion of our subject with a quotation from the Botanical Looker-out, by our old friend and fellow worker, E. Lees, Esq.:-

A pear orchard in exuberant flower is a vegetable spectacle not easily matched, for the bending branches of the pear tree give a gracefulness to its outline far exceeding the stiff formality of the apple tree, and oppressed with a mult.i.tudinous crowd of blossoms its branches almost trail the ground, a bending load of beauty that seems by moonlight a ma.s.s of silvery ingots. The Barland Orchard, between Worcester and Malvern, containing more than seventy trees, lofty as oaks, cannot be seen by a traveller without admiration, and is the finest in the kingdom, though the trees are now getting old.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

ON THE PRODUCTION AND CHOICE OF FRUIT TREES.

Although new sorts of fruits are easily obtainable from seeds, yet this method of production is much too slow for general purposes, and when kernel trees-that is those raised from seed-are in the slow progress of such events brought to produce fruit, it is ten to one if it be of any value; so that even seedling trees, when they have attained sufficient size, are best used for stocks upon which to graft any desired sort.

In reproducing a constant supply of well-known sorts of fruit, three plans are usually practised, namely, _Budding_, _Grafting_, and _Cutting_.

_Budding_ is usually employed in the case of smaller fruit or flower trees, and but seldom with apples and pears; this well-known process, however, is frequently had recourse to in the nursery; it is performed for fruit trees in the same way as for roses, and therefore needs no description in this place, as we can scarcely conceive the farmer doing much in this direction, except as a matter of amus.e.m.e.nt and experiment.

_Grafting_ is a common process on most farms with orcharding; a sort of fruit may be wished to be changed or a promising tree may be broken, and in either case the farmer should know enough of the process of grafting to be able to do it himself or else to properly direct others.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

1. The Graft.

2. The Stock.]

In grafting, the first thing to be done is to secure good shoots from a healthy tree of the sort you wish to grow-these are called the "grafts."

The stem to receive the graft is called the stock. Now a stock may be single, in which case one graft will be sufficient, as in the accompanying diagram, or if an old tree has to be grafted, a graft may be inserted on as many branches as may seem desirable. Our diagram represents the common practice of side grafting, but different plans are adopted according to the difference in size of the stock on the one hand, and the graft on the other, the principle to be aimed at in the process being to get _as complete an apposition of as much of the wood and bark of the graft, with that of the stock, as is possible by careful cutting and fitting_, and the tact and delicacy in manipulating this matter make that successful result which marks the good grafter. In this as in other matters, practice and experience ensure success; and hence it is usually found expedient to employ a person who makes it his profession, and such are always to be obtained in cider countries.

When the grafts have been fitted, they must be kept in place by some plastic material, and that most commonly used is a compost of cow-dung and clay, well kneaded together, or merely chopped hay and clay; this is pressed round the united parts in the form of a ball, and in cases where every care is taken the graft may be further protected by a wicker basket, as in the diagram.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Graft protected by a Wicker basket.]

_Cutting._-The ease with which apple trees can be multiplied by cuttings was forcibly impressed upon our attention at a very early age. When a boy, having seen a most promising branch cut from a favourite apple tree in the process of pruning, the thought struck us that we might get a tree of our own, and so, seizing the branch in question, we planted it in another part of the garden, only-sad to relate-to have it pulled up the first time the gardener pa.s.sed that way. With a boy's perseverance or obstinacy-which the reader pleases-again and again did we replant this same branch with a like result, until finding a quiet corner, we once more planted our cutting, and this time, no evil chance overtaking it, it took root; and in two years from that time we enjoyed the taste of apples from what, we hope not undeservedly, was allowed to be considered our own tree. This was a matter for frequent reflection in after-life, for, besides viewing the result as a reward for perseverance, it is just possible that our first disappointment may have tended after all to our success, for doubtless the unexposed sheltered corner was just the place for ensuring this in rooting cuttings. Here, however, the cutting was a large branch, but for general purposes we should recommend cuttings to be made of small unbranched shoots; these may be planted in rows in a somewhat shaded situation, and when they have become rooted and fit for independent trees, they may be removed to their permanent places, and so be either pruned for tall orchard trees, or, as they are well adapted to the purpose, be trained for dwarf orchards.

_Pruning_, in the cultivation and due keeping of an orchard, is one of the most important operations connected with the subject. Its objects are:-

1st. To circ.u.mscribe the growth in any given direction, to train the tree on the one hand, and to let in light and air by thinning on the other.

2nd. By pruning fruit trees we operate so as to check undue growth of wood and leaf, and thus, by what the botanist calls the "arrestation of development," cause flower and fruit to be formed instead of leaves. In the western counties, if a tree or plant of any kind grows leaves too freely, it is said to be too "frum," probably derived from the Saxon _from_, strong, stout.

Pruning, then, hastens the fruiting season in fruit trees, but at the same time it brings on premature age, and hence the operation should be performed with judgment, or else premature decay will be the consequence. In pruning of large trees care should be taken to cut out, as smoothly as possible, all awkward or crossing branches, so as to expose the whole of the fruiting limbs to light, warmth, and air. This again is an operation requiring an experienced hand, and when such an one is known, it is far better to employ him than to trust the matter to those who know little or nothing of the subject.

Much has been said and written upon the subject of rearing fruit trees, and when matter of this kind is addressed to the nurseryman, it is to be welcomed if based upon sound botanical principles, but we cannot recommend the farmer to grow his own fruit trees, as he rarely pays sufficient attention to their youthful training, and we therefore recommend the purchase of fruit trees from the best growers, to get the best sorts, and to get well-grown and healthy examples. These should be carefully lifted and planted as soon as possible after leaving the nursery, always avoiding trees that have hawked the market week after week, even if procurable for nothing.

Some people insist upon the propriety of planting poor trees grown in poor soil, but our experience has shown that nothing could be a greater mistake. It is true that these often fruit soon; but getting crops of fruit from trees only a quarter grown, though sometimes welcome to a tenant with no sure holding, is a matter which should always be looked to by the landlord, who, indeed, should pay greater attention to his orchards than is usually the case, if his desire be to hand them down to his successors in anything like a good bearing condition. That fruit trees must in time get old is quite true; at the same time it may be stated as an important fact, that poor stunted trees on the one hand, or those too prodigal of their youth on the other, will too surely result in decrepitude ere half the span of a healthy tree be attained.

Feeling so strongly as we do the importance of healthy young trees from a good soil and climate to plant even in an unfavourable district, instead of, as is generally sought after, trees from a poor soil, we are glad to have our opinion fortified by a successful practical grower of fruit trees, whose samples of young stock in apple trees, as we have seen them exhibited in Yeovil market, are patterns of healthiness in bark and models of form. The cultivator to whom we refer is Mr. J.

Scott, whose name and place we have before mentioned. He says, in his Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit Trees:-

There remains _one thing_ the writer would especially guard intending planters against; that is, be careful _never to purchase_ trees off a poor soil. I know this is heterodox; but many years'

experience has taught me the fallacy of the popular dogma, _i.e._, "Get your trees off poor soils, as they will be hardier, and endure the storms better." I could show examples, in numbers, in my nursery, where the trees came from one of the so-called poor soils, that never will be anything like healthy trees. They were hide-bound and checked in their natures when I received them, and I believe will ever remain so, less or more. A genial, moderately rich, and naturally good soil is the soil I would choose my trees from.

Experience and observation, both in the garden and the orchard, fully confirm us in this view of the case, and we would therefore only add to the direction, "Get your trees from moderately rich soil," that of, "Plant them in a soil of the like kind;" for if trees be brought from a poor soil, not fit for them, to a poorer, they will certainly not succeed, and indeed the choice of poor land for orchard growth will be seen to end in disappointment.

In planting apples we should choose a mixture of several of the best sorts, and it is recommended that some should be sour; but we prefer to have those that produce a juice of high specific gravity, though with all cider and perry fruit there will be great diversities in this respect, depending upon soil, climate, and season.

The following list of apples contains such as are met with princ.i.p.ally in the counties of Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester; all may be used for cider, but some are more especially adapted for house purposes:-

I.-LIST OF APPLES.

Those marked with (A) are good for h.o.a.rding, and those with are good for boiling.

Skyrme's Kernel-Tart; good for cider.

Royal Wilding-Bitter sweet; good for cider.

Black Foxwhelp-Moderately tart; good for cider.

Red Foxwhelp (A)-Moderately tart; good for cider.

Cowan Red-Sweet; good for cider.

Dymock Red (A)-Very sweet; good for cider.

White Norman-Bitter sweet; good for cider.

Red Norman-Bitter sweet; good for cider.