Hemi ie cna raison eet sas eee ge Cornell University Library SB 356.R6 The miniature fruit iii > or, The cult WATE 3 1924 000 302 012 — sum AAB C21 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN; OR, THE CULTURE OF PYRAMIDAL AND BUSH FRUIT TREES. “There is no kind of fruit, however delicious, that may not be deteriorated, or however worthless, that may not be ameliorated, by particular modes of management.”—Dr. LINDLEY. By THOMAS RIVERS. FROM THE THIRTEENTH ENGLISH EDITION. NEW YORK: ORANGE JUDD & COMPANY, 41 PARK ROW. EY. a0SaG RG canes PUBLISHER’S PREFACE. A work by the veteran pomologist, Tuomas Rivers, needs no commendation. That it has passed through thirteen editions in England, shows the high estima- tion in which it is held there. We republish it without any alteration, and without any attempt to Americanize it. No foreign work can be taken by the American gardener as an absolute guide, and there are many things in this which can have little or no application in this country. Yet the work is full of practical suggestions, and no one who has a fruit-garden can fail to find in it many hints of great value. We have no work that treats in such detail of the garden culture of dwarf pear trees. In this country we plant, dwarfs, and are dissatisfied at the results they give in ordinary orchard culture. Mr. Rrvers truly says: “It must always be recollected that pears on quince stocks are strictly garden trees, vi PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. and not adapted to orchards.” Those who have only a limited space, and wish to grow pears, apple-, and other fruits, can, by the system of pinching and root- pruning combined, keep their trees as small as pot specimens. The selection of varieties given here is that suited to Mr. Rivers’s climate and locality, and includes some that are not considered valuable with us. The American gardener will, of course, consult home authorities in making out his list of varieties. New York, April, 1866. : INTRODUCTION. My attention was drawn to the benefits fruit trees derive from root-pruning and frequent removal about the year 1810. I was then a youth, with a most active fruit appetite, and, if a tree bearing superior fruit could be discovered in my father’s orchard-like nursery, I was very constant in my visits to it. In those days there was in the old nursery, first cropped with trees by my grandfather, about the middle of the last century, a “quarter,”—i. ¢., a piece of ground devoted to the reception of refuse trees—of such trees as were too small or weak for customers, so that in taking up trees for orders during the win- ter they were left, and in spring all taken up and transplanted to the “hospital quarter,” as the laborers called it. The trees in this quarter were often removed—they were, in nur- sery parlance, “driven together’? when they stood too thinly in the ground; or, in other words, taken up, often annually, and planted nearer together on the same piece of ground. This old nursery contained about eight acres, the soil a deep reddish loam, inclining to clay, in which fruit trees flourished and grew vigorously. I soon found that it was but of little use to look among the yottng free-growing trees for fruit, but among the refuse trees, and to the “hospital quarter” I was indebted for many a fruit-feast—such Ribston Pippins! such Golden Pippins! vill INTRODUCTION. When I came to a thinking age, I became anxious to know why those refuse trees never made strong, vigorous shoots like those growing in their immediate neighborhood, and yet nearly always bore good crops of fruit. Many years elapsed before I saw “the reason why,” and long afterwards I was advised by a friend, a F. TI. S., to write a crude, short paper on the subject, and send it to be read at a meeting of the Horti- cultural Society: this paper is published in their ‘“Transac- tions.” I had then pragtised it several years; so that I may now claim a little more attention, if the old adage that ‘ prac- tice makes perfect” be worthy of notice. This little work is not designed for the gardens and gardeners of the wealthy and great, but for those who take a personal interest in fruit tree cultarc, and who look on their gardens as a never-failing source of amusement. In some few favored districts, fruit trees, without any extra care in planting and after-management, will bear good crops, and remain healthy for many years. It is not so in gardens with unfavorable soils ; and they are greatly in the majority. It is to those possessing such, and more particularly to the possessors of small gardens, that the directions here given may prove of value. The object constantly had in view is, to make fruit trees healthy and fruit- ful by keeping their roots near the surface. The root-pruning and biennial removal so earnestly recommended are the proper means to bring about these results, as they place the roots within the influence of the sun and air, The ground over the roots of garden trees, as generally cultivated, is duz once or twice a year, so that every surface-fibre is destroyed and the larger roots driven downwards: they, consequently, imbibe crude watery sip, which leads to much apparent luxuriance in tho trees. This in the end is fatal to their well-doing, for the vigorous shoots made annually are seldom or, never ripened suf- ficiently to form blossom-buds. Canker then comes on, and although the trees do not die they rarely give fruit, and in a INTRODUCTION, ix few years become victims of bad culture, existing in a sort of living death. There is, perhaps, no fruit tree that claims or deserves our attention equal to a pear. How delicious is a fine melting pear all the winter months! and to what a lengthened period in the spring may they be brought to table! Till lately, Beurré Rance has been our best spring pear; but this is a most uncertain variety, rarely keeping till the end of May, ‘and often ripening in J anuary and February. . The new Belgian pears, raised many years since - the late Major Esperen, and more recently by Monsieur Grégoire, are likely for the present to be the most valuable for prolonging the season of rich melting pears; and of these Joséphine de Malines and Bergamotte d’Esperen are especially deserving of notice; they have the excellent quality of ripening slowly. But improvement will, I have no doubt, yet take place; for pears are so easily raised from seed, and so soon brought into bearing by grafting or budding them on the quince stock, that new and valuable late pears will soon be as plentiful as new roses. In the following pages it will be seen that I strongly advo- cate the culture of pyramidal fruit trees. This is no new idea with me. I have paid many visits to the Continental gardens during the greater portion of my active life of business, and have always admired their pyramidal trees when well managed, and I have for many years cultivated them for my amusement; but, owing to a seeming prejudice against them among some English gardeners, I was for some time deterred from recom- mending them, for I thought that men older than myself must know better; and when I heard some of our market-gardeners and large fruit-growers in the neighborhood of London scoff at pears grafted on the quince stock, as giving fruit of very inferior flavor, I concluded, like an Englishman, that the 1* x INTRODUCTION. furcigners were very ignorant, and very far behind us in the culture of fruit trees. It was only by repeated visits tu foreign gardens that this prejudice was dispelled; and when J saw the beautiful pear trees in the Jardin des Plantes at ’uris under the management of Monsieur Cappe, alluded to in Gurdeners’ (hronicle, No. 2, 1847, I felt convinced that our neighbors excelled us in the management of fruit trees adapted tu the open borders of our gardens. I have, therefore, endeavored to make the culture of pyramidal trees casy to the uninitiated; and, having profited largely by experience in attending to it with my own hands, I trust that my readers will benefit by the result. A humid mild climate seems extremely favorable to the well-doing of the pear on the quince stock. Jersey, with its moist warm climate, as is well known, produces the finest pears in Europe: these are for the most part from trees on quince - stocks. The western coast of Scotland, I have reason to know, is favorable for the culture of pear trees on the quince; and within these very few years Ireland has proved remarkably so, more particularly in the south, where some of our finest varictics of pears on quince stocks are cultivated with per- fect success. THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN, ETC., ETC. PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES ON THE QUINCE STOCK. Tuxre is no description of fruit tree more interest- ing to cultivate in our gardens than the pyramid—a name adopted from the French, the originators of this species of culture. The word conical would, perhaps, convey a better idea of the shape of such trees, but as pyramidal trees are now becoming familiar things in English gardens, it is scarcely worth while to attempt to give a new name to these very pretty garden trees. For gardens with a moderately deep and fertile soil, pears budded on the quince stock will be found to make by far the most fruitful and quick-bearing trees ; indeed, if prepared by one or two removals, their roots become a perfect mass of fibers, and their stems and branches full of blossom-buds. Trees of this descrip- tion may be planted in the autumn, with the certainty of having a crop of fruit the first season after plant- ing,—always recollecting that a spring frost may de- stroy the blossoms unless the trees are protected. It must always be recollected that pears on quince 1 2 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. stocks are strictly garden trees, and not adapted for orchards. The most eligible season for planting pyramidal pear trees is during the months of November and De- cember, but they may be planted even until the end of March; in planting so late, no fruit must be ex- pected the first season. Still, I ought tosay here that I have frequently removed pear trees on the quince stock in March and April just as the blossom-buds were bursting, and have had fine fruit the same sea- son, particularly if sharp frosts occurred in May. The buds being retarded, the blossoms opened after the usual period, and thus escaped. The experiment is quite worth trying in seasons when the buds swell very early. If root-pruned pyramidal trees be planted, it will much assist them if about half the blossom-buds are thinned out with a penknife just before they open ; otherwise these root-pruned trees on the quince stock are so full of them that the tree receives a check in supporting such an abundance of bloom. About ten or fifteen fruit may be permitted to ripen the first season ; the following season two or three dozen will be as many as the tree ought to be allowed to bring to perfection ; increasing the number as the tree increases in vigor, always remembering that a few full-sized and well-ripened pears are to be preterred to a greater number inferior in size and quality. In the engraving at the commencement of this little volume I have given a faithtul portrait of a pyramidal tree of the Beurré de Capianmont pear, budded on the quince: this was taken in 1846; the tree was then PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES. 3 about ten years old, and had been root-pruned three times. Nothing could be more interesting than this tree, only six feet high, laden with fruit of extraordi- nary beauty; for in my soil, pears on quince stocks produce frnit of much greater beauty and of finer fla- vor than those on pear stocks. I have, however, introduced the figure as much to show its imperfec- tion as its beauty: it will be observed that its lower tiers of branches are not sufficiently developed; this was owing to neglect when the tree was young—the upper branches were suffered to grow too luxuriantly. Summer pinching in the youth of the tree is the only remedy for this defect, if it be not well furnished be- low; and asevere remedy it is, for ad? the young shoots on the upper tiers, including the leader, must be pinched closely in May and June, till the lower ones have made young shoots of a sufficient length to give uniformity tothe tree. This requires much attention. The quenouille, or tying-down system, is not prac- ticed in France at the present day; and, in truth, it does look very barbarous and unnatural. The trees trained in this manner in the Potagerie at Versailles are mostly on quince stocks ; they are from twenty to forty years old, and are very productive, but very ugly ; all the shoots from ‘the horizontal and depressed. branches arg cropped off apparently in July, as M. Puteau, the director, is, I believe, adverse to the pinching system of M. Cappe. I have not for many years observed a single quenouille in Belgium: all are pyramids, even in the gardens of the cottagers, and in general they are very beautiful and productive trees. In many cases, when on the pear-stock, they are too 4 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. luxuriant, and require root-pruning; but this is not understood by continental fruit-tree cultivators. Pyramids and bushes are the trees best adapted for small gardens, and not standards such as are planted in orchards. To those conversant with such matters, I need only point to the very numerous instances of rich garden ground entirely ruined by being shaded by large spreading standard, or half-standard unpruned fruit trees. Now, by cultivating pyramidal pears on the quince—apples in the same form on the paradise stock—the cherry as pyramids and dwarf bushes on the Cerasus Mahaleb—and the plum as a pyramidal tree—scarcely any ground will be shaded, and more abundant crops and finer fruit will be obtained. THE YOUNG PYRAMID. If a young gardener intends to plant, and wishes to train up his trees so that they will become gwite perfect. in shape, he should select plants, one year old from the bud or graft, with single upright stems ; these will, of course, have good buds down to the junction of the graft with the stock. The first spring, a tree of this description should be headed down, so as to leave the stem about eighteen inches long. If the soil be rich, from five to six and seven shoots will be produced ; one of these must be madg the leader, and if not inclined to be quite perpendicular, it must be fastened to a stake. As soon, in summer, as the leading shoot is ten inches long, its end must be pinched off; and if it pushes forth two or more shoots, pinch off all but one to three leaves, leaving the top- most for a loader. The side shoots will, in most cases THE YOUNG PYRAMID, 5 assume a regular shape; if not, they may be this first season tied to slight stakes to make them grow in the proper direction. ‘ This is best done by bringing down and fastening the end of each shoot to a slight stake, so that an open pyramid may be formed—for if it is too close and cypress-like, enough air is not admitted to the fruit. They may remain unpruned till the end of August, when each shoot must be shortened to with- in eight buds of the stem. This will leave the tree like the preceding figure (Fig. 1), and no pruning in winter will be required. The second season the tree will make vigorous growth: the side shoots which were topped last Fie. 1. 6 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. August will each put forth three, four, or more shoots. In June, as soon as tlicse have made four leaves, they must be pinched off to three leaves, and if these spurs put forth shoots, which they often do, every shoot must be pinched down to one leaf, all but the leading shoot of each side branch ; this must be left on to exhaust the tree of its super- abundant sap, till the end of August. The perpen- dicular leader must be topped once or twice ; in short, as soon as it has grown ten inches, pinch off its top, and if it break into two or three shoots, pinch them all but the leader, as directed for the first season ; in a few years most symmetrical trees may be formed. When they have attained the height of six or eight feet, and are still in a vigorous state, it will be neces- sary to commence root-pruning, to bring them into a fruitful state. If some of the buds in the stem of a young tree prove dormant, so that part of it is bare and without a shoot where there should be one, a notch, half an inch wide, and nearly the same in depth, should be cut in the stem just above the dormant bud. If this be done in February, a young shoot will break out in the summer.’ I have thus far given directions for these who are inclined to rear their own pyramids. Time and at- tention are required, but the interest attached to well- trained pyramids will amply repay the young cultiva- tor. * Bare places In tho stems of pyramids, and in the branches of cspalters or wall {reos, may be budded toward the end of August with blossom-buds taken from shoots two years old. This {sa very foteresting mode of furnishing a tree with frult-Learlag buds. THE MATURE PYRAMID. 4" THE MATURE PYRAMID. The annexed figure (Fig. 2) is a pyramidal tree in its second and third year, and such as it ought to be in July before its leading side shoots and leading upright shoot are shortened. This, as I have said, is best done toward the end of August. The shorten- ing must be made at the marks — ; all the side shoots must be shortened in this manner, and the leading 8 THE MINIATORE FRUIT GARDEN. shoots; no further pruning will be required till the following summer. The spurs a, a, a, are the bases of the shoots that have been pinched in June; these will the following season form fruit-bearing spurs. The best instrument for summer and autumnal pru- ning is a pair of hooked pruning scissors, called also “rose nippers.” SUMMER PINCHING. As the summer pinching of pyramidal pears is the most interesting feature in their culture, and perhaps the most agreeable of all horticultural occupations, I must endeavor to give plain instructions to carry it out. The first season after the planting, about the mid- dle or end of June, the side buds and branclies will put forth young shoots; each will give from one to three or four. Select that which is most horizontal in its growth (it should be on the lower part of the branch, as the tree will then be more inclined to spread) for a leader to that branch, and pinch off all the others to three leaves (see Fig. 2. @,a,a@). If these pinched shoots again push, suffer them to make three leaves, and then pinch them to two leaves; but if the horizontal branch has a good leader, it will take off all the superfluous sap, and prevent the pinched spurs from breaking ; the buds will only swell, and the fol- lowing scason they will be fruit spurs. The upper shoots of the tree, say to about two feet from its top, should be pinched a week before the lower shoots : this gives strength to those on the lower part of the tree. SUMMER PINCHING. 9 Fig. 3 is a side branch in June, with its shoots not yet pinched; Fig. 4 is a side branch with its shoots a, a, pinched in June; 6 is the leader of the side branch, which should be pinched or cut off at the end of August to ¢. Fic, 4. In spring the perpendicular leader of the preceding year’s growth will put forth numerous shoots, which must be pinched in June in the following manner: those nearest the base, leave six inches in length, gradually decreasing upward, leaving those next the young leading shoot only two inches long. The 10 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. leader of these ready-formed pyramids need not be shortened in summer, as directed for younger trees ; it may be suffered to grow till the horizontal leaders are shortened in August, and then left six or eight inches in length; but if the trees are to be kept to six or seven feet in height under root-pruning, this leading shoot may be shortened to two inches, or even cut close down to its base. For tall pyramids of ten, twelve, or fifteen feet, it may be left from eight to ten inches in length till the required height be attained ; it may then be cut to within two inches of its base every season. I ought here to remark that pear trees differ in their habits to an extraordinary degree: some make shoots most robust and vigorous; others, under pre- cisely the same treatment, are very delicate and slen- der. In the final shortening in August*this must be attended to; those that are very vigorous must not have their shoots pruned so closely as those that are less so ; indeed, almost every variety will require some little modification in pruning, of which experience is by far the best teacher. It will, I think, suffice, if I give the following directions for shortening the lead- ers of the side shoots, and the perpendicular lead- ers :— AI those that are very robust, such as Beurré d’Amanlis, Viear of Winktield, Beurré Diel, «e., shorten to cight or ten inches, according to the vigor of the individual tree; those of medium vigor, such as Louise Bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise, and Beurré dAremburg, to six inches: those that are delicate and slender in their growth, like Winter Nelis, to four inches; but I must repeat that regard must be COMPACT PYRAMIDS. 11 had to the vigor of the tree. If the soil be rich, the trees vigorous, and not root-pruned, the shoots may be left the maximum length; if, on the contrary, they be root-pruned, and not inclined to vigorous growth, they must be pruned more closely. COMPACT PYRAMIDS. If pyramidal fruit trees, either of pears, apples, plums, or cherries, are biennially removed, or even thoroughly root-pruned, without actually removing them, summer pinching becomes the most simple of all operations. The cultivator has only to look over his trees twice a week during June, July, and August (penknife in hand), and cut or pinch in every shoot on the lateral or side branches that has made four leaves or more, down to three full-sized leaves. It is just possible that. the three buds belonging to these three leaves will put forth three young shoots: as soon as they have made their four or five leaves, they must be shortened to two, and so on with every young shoot made during the summer, shortening the lead- ing shoot also to three leaves. This method of close pinching represses the vigor of the tree to a great extent, and, in soils that are not very rich, trees under it will not require root-pruning. It is a most agree- able method of treating pyramidal trees, for no strag- gling shoots are seen, and in small neatly-kept gar- dens this is a great relief. The pinched shoots in these compact pyramids become too much crowded with blossom-spurs, they should therefore be thinned in winter with a sharp pruning-knife. 12 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. ROOT-PRUNING OF PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES ON QUINCE e STOCKS. Before entering on the subject of root-pruning of pear trees on quince stocks, I must premise that handsome and fertile pyramids, more particularly of some free-bearing varictics, may be reared without this annual or biennial operation. If the annual shoots of the tree are not more than eight or ten inches long, no root-pruning need be done. I have a large plantation of pear trees on the quince stock, which have been made very handsome and fertile pyramids, yet they have not been root-pruned, neither do I intend to root-prune them. But I wish to im- press upon my readers that my principal object is to make trees fit for small gardens, and to instruct those who are not blessed with a large carden, how to keep the trees perfectly under control: and this can best be done by annual, or at least biennial attention tu their roots; for if a tree be suffered to grow three or more years, and then be root-pruned, it will re- ceive a check if the spring be dry, and the crop of fruit for one season will be jeopardized. Therefore, those who are disinclined to the annual operation, and yet wish to confine the growth of their trees within limited bounds by reot-pruniny—say once in two years—should only operate upon half of their trees one season;’ they will thus have the remain- 1In The Aurnat of Horticulture for 1862, page $81, Mr Lea, of Clevedon, gives an account of his root-pruning practice, which he carrles out extensively on some hundreds of trees, It appears to be an alternate sy stem of root-pruning, and may be done as follows :—Open a semlctronlar trench on one side af the trea, and prune all the roots that can be gotat; the followlng svason opea a trench of the ROOT PRUNING. 13 ing half in an unchecked bearing state; and those who have ample room and space may pinch their pyramids in summer, and suffer them to grow to a height of fifteen or twenty feet without pruning their roots. I have seen avenues of such trees in Belgium, really quite imposing. In rich soils, where the trees grow 80 freely as to make shoots eighteen inches in length in one season, they may be root-pruned an- nually with great advantage. The following summary will perhaps convey my ideas respecting the management of pyramids and bushes when cultivated as garden trees. In small gardens with rich soils, either root-prune or remove all the trees annually early in November. In larger gardens perform the same operation biennially at the same season. For very large gardens with a dry, good. sub-soil, in which all kinds of fruit trees grow without any tendency to canker, and when large trees are desired, neither remove nor root-prune, but pinch the shoots in summer, thin them in winter when they become crowded, and thus make Pour trees symmet- rical and fruitful. Pyramidal pear trees on the quince stock, where the fruit garden is small, the soil rich, and when the real gardening artist feels pleasure in keeping them in a healthy and fruitful state by perfect control over the roots, should be annually operated upon as fol- lows :—A trench should be dug round the tree, about eighteen inches from its stem, every autumn, just same shape on the opposite side of the tree (so as to complete the circle), and prune. all that can be found there. By this simple method the treo is never checked seriously in its growth, yet enough to make it form abundance of blos- som-buds, 14 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. after the fruit is gathered, if the soil be sufficiently moist,—if not, it will be better to wait till the usual autumnal rains have fallen; the roots should then be carefully examined, and those inclined to be of per- pendicular growth cut with the spade, which must be introduced quite under the tree to meet on all sides, so that no root can possibly escape amputation. All the horizontal roots should be shortened with a knife to within a circle of eighteen inches from the stem,’ and all brought as near to the surface as possible, filling in the trench with compost for the roots to rest on. The trench may then be filled with the compost (well-rotted dung and the mould from an old hotbed, equal parts, will answer exceedingly well); the sur- face should then be covered with some half-rotted dung and the roots left till the following autumn brings its annual care. It may be found that after a few years of root-pruning, the circumferential mass of fibers will have become too much crowded with small roots; in such cases, thin out some of the roots, shortening them @ nine inches or one foot from the stem. This will cause them to give out fibers, so that the entire-circle of three feet or more round the tree will be full of fibrous roots near the surface, waiting with open mouths for the nourishment annually given to them by surface dressings and liquid manure. Thus far for the gardener who docs not mind extra trouble,—who, in short, feels real pleasure in every operation that tends to make his trees pertect in fruit- fulness and symmetry. But it is not every amateur 1 If they have not apread to thie extent the first season, or even the secand, they need not be pruned, but morely brought vear to the surface and spread out. ROOT PRUNING. 15 gardener that can do this, nor is it always required in the south of England, except for small gardens and in rich moist soils, in which pear trees are inclined to grow too vigorously. But with our too often cool moist summers in the northern counties, annual root- pruning is quite necessary to make the trees produce well-ripened wood. In other cases, as I have before observed, shortening the shoots in summer, taking care to produce a handsome pyramidal form, and if they are inclined to grow vigorously, biennial root- pruning will be quite sufficient. The following will be found a good selection of varieties for pyramidal trees on quince stocks. They may be planted in rows, five to six feet apart, or a square may be allotted to them, giving each plant five or six feet, which will be found amply sufticient for root-pruned trees. Some few esteemed sorts of pears do not grow well on quince stocks, unless “ double- grafted ”—z. ¢., some free-growing sort is budded on the quince, and after having been suffered to grow for one or two seasons, the sort not so free-growing is budded or grafted on it. For ten varieties, placed in the order of their ripening, the undermentioned may with satety be recommended.’ (In the following lists, varieties marked thus * may be chosen by those who require only a few trees’ 1, Summer Doy enn es oc sje se ccecuninniecicimderaceisiswraistes 2. Beurré Giffard........-.. ee ts 8. Bon Chrétien (Williams’)*..............22..0.0085 1 All the varieties recommended for pyramids may also be planted as espaliers to train to rails in the usual mode. 2 A very good light permanent label for pyramidal and other fruit trees, is a asmall piece of zinc, painted with white-lead paint, and written on while moist with a strong black-lead pencil. It should be suspended from a side branch of the tree (not ." stem) by a piece of stuut copper wire. 16 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 4, Bonrre BuperAnvissc sassscscivice wosios wear aus October 6, Fondante d’Automne,......... =e seve October 6. Louise Bonne of Jersey*...... 0.6666 ce seee eens m & ¢. October 7 Alexandre Lambré..,........ dea@ ial hi .... Novy. and Dee, 8 Beurré d'Arcmberg*......... December 9. Joséphine de Maltnes*........ ..+. March 10, Bergamotte d'Esperen* (1) April and May For twenty add— Vly P60 Ns secewiicnes eae skes Set dads oes ceeeecnetes August 12. Colmar d’Eté.... September 18, Baron de Mello*. Beesatencisib October 14, Beurré Hardy*....... ... a October 15. DoyennO Grissiicceass xsi acs 6.0 tober 16. Conseiller de la Cuur 5 b. November 17. Winter Nelis*........ nage « Desetitlse 18, Beurré WANIO sis27cescnsee ss sidetee dks wees Ads é December 19. Beurré Sterckmans. io RGR DER January 20. Bezi Mai..... paaieat sg val otats ora nielrerenscnamielen a mletnecen March to May The above succeed on the quince, and form excel- lent pyramids. ORNAMENTAL PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES ON QUINCE STOCKS. There are some few varieties of pears, the trees of which may be made highly ornamental even on a well-dressed lawn, as they grow freely and form natu- rally beautiful cypress-like trees, at the same time their fruit is of first-rate quality. Such are Summer ‘Beurré d’Aremberg, Baronne de Mello, Duchesse d’Angouléme, Urbaniste, Alexandre Lambre, Beurre Hardy, White Dovenneé, Gray Doyenneé, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Passe Colmar, Zéphirin Gregoire, Beurré Léon Je Clere, Delices d’Hardenpont, Prince Albert, Delices de Jodoigne, Doyenne de Comice, Berzamotte d'Esperen, and some others. + This isa most abundant bearer, A pyramid tn the garden of Thomas White, Kag., which was root-pruned ip the autuma of 1555, bere two bushels fa 1959. PEAR TREES AS BUSHES. 17 PEAR TREES AS BUSHES ON THE QUINCE 8TOOK, It is only very recently that this mode of cultivat- ing pear trees has struck me as being eligible, from having observed the fruit of some of the large heavy varieties, such as Beurré Diel and Beurré d’Amanlis, 80 liable to be blown off pyramids by even moderate autumnal gales. The trees also of these and several other fine sorts of pears are difficult to train in the Fra. 5. pyramidal form; they are diffuse in their growth, and, with summer pinching, soon form nice prolific bushes, of which the preceding figure (Fig. 5), from nature, will give some idea. This summer pinching is quite necessary in bush culture, and is performed by pinch- ing off the end of every shoot as soon as it has made four or five leaves, to three full-sized ones; when the branches become trowded they should be thinned by 18 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. cutting out cleauly with a sharp knife, in winter pruning those that are crowding each other. The biennial removal described below is also uecessary, unless in very large gardens where large spreading trees are wished for. Although the taking up and replanting a tree may seem formidable work, it is not so, for the roots, from being frequently removed, become so fibrous near the surface, that an active man can lift and replant one hundred trecs in aday. I need scarcely add that if root-pruning, as described in page 14, be preferred to removal, it may be prac- ticed. These bushes are admirably adap tel for gardens exposed to winds, and if removed biennially they may be grown in the smallest of gardens with great ad- vantage. This biennial removal, or lifting, should be performed as follows:—A trench should be opened round the tree the width of a spade, and from twelve to fifteen inches deep ; the tree should then be raised with its ball of earth attached to its root intact. If the soil be light and rich, and the tree inclined to grow vigorously, making annual shoots of more than one foot in length, it may he replanted without any fresh compost 3 but if, on the eontrary, the soil be poor, and the tree stunted in its wrowth, the following materials may be used:—In low situations near brooks and rivers, a black moor earth is generally found: this unprepared is unfit for horticultural pur- poses, but if dug out and laid in a ridge, and one- eighth part of unslacked lime be spread over it, turn- ing it immediately and mixing the lime with it, it will become in the course of five or six weeks an excellent PEARS ADAPTED FOR BUSH CULTURE. 19 compost for pear trees. It is good practice to add half a bushel of burnt earth, or the same quantity of sand, toa barrowful of this moor earth. Leaf mold (or rotten manure), loam, and sand, equal parts, form also an excellent compost : in planting, one wheelbar- rowful to a tree will be enough. In London suburban gardens, for which these trees are peculiarly adapted, no compost need be given to the trees in replanting, for the soil in them is generally rich. These bush trees offer two very great advantages—they are easily protected from spring frosts when in blossom by covering them with tiffany, and they may be planted from three to five feet apart, so as to be eligible for very small gardens with great facility. In large gardens in situations exposed to the wind, large bushes may be desirable. In such cases the leading shoots on each branch may be pinched, as recommended for pyramids (page 8); but instead of pinching them to three leaves, they may be suffered to make ten leaves and then be pinched, leaving seven. Thetrees will, if treated in this manner, soon become large, compact, and fruitful. The following varieties are well adapted for bush culture, as they are spreading in their growth and difficult to form into compact pyramids, although they may be made into spreading and prolific conical trees. It ought, however, to be mentioned that those sorts, such as Louise Bonne of Jersey, which form handsome pyramids, make very pretty compact bushes by cutting out the central branch to within three feet of the ground; so that pyramids may be easily formed into bushes. I may add that these bush 20 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. pears produce the very finest fruit, from their being so near the heat and moisture-giving surface of the earth. In situations near the sea-coast, exposed to sea breezes, small fruit-gardens may be formed by inelos- ing a square picce of ground with a beech hedge or wooden fence, and planting it with bush trees.