Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

CHAPTER VII.

THE KITCHEN-GARDEN CONTINUED—THE
MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES.

The fruit trees in a kitchen garden are of three kinds: the wall trees, the espaliers, and the standards. To these may be added the fruit shrubs, and the vines; which last are generally grown under glass.

The Wall-Fruit Tree.—There are two things on which the welfare of wall-fruit trees materially depends, viz. the construction of the wall, and that of the border. The walls of kitchen gardens are very generally made too high: a serious fault in many respects, but particularly in impeding the free passage of the sun and air to the fruit. It has indeed been found, by experience, that walls about eight feet high, will produce better fruit than walls of ten feet or twelve feet, which is the general height; and besides they have the advantage of not throwing so deep a shadow over the garden. Of whatever height the walls may be, they should always be in straight lines; as the various expedients which have been from time to time adopted, of curved or zigzag lines, have been found not to answer in practice, but to produce eddies and currents of wind exceedingly injurious to the fruit. The garden wall should have a slight stone coping; and where the trees are likely to want protection, strong hooks, or holdfasts, projecting from the wall, should be built in at regular distances for the convenience of suspending the mats or bunting that may be employed; or supporting a deep wooden coping. Hot or flued walls are not desirable, as they are very expensive and troublesome, and of very little use.

The walls should be built on good, sound, and deep foundations, but on no account on arches; as it is of importance to the gardener to confine the roots to the border in front of the wall, which is under his control, instead of suffering them to spread through the arches to the other sides, where they are entirely removed from him.

The essential point to be attended to in the construction of a fruit border is that the soil shall not be more than eighteen inches deep on a hard bottom. If the subsoil be hard gravel or rock, covered with mould to the depth mentioned, nothing more can be desired; but if the subsoil be wet clay, or sand over gravel, or in short anything that will allow of roots penetrating into it, artificial means should be resorted to, to keep the roots near the surface of the ground. The most common method of forming a border is to excavate the ground to the depth required, and to pave the bottom of the excavation with large stones or pebbles; but bricks, cement, asphalt, or in short any other substance may be employed which appears likely to attain the end in view—taking care, however, to provide effectual drainage, as otherwise the chamber, as it is called, would become a reservoir of stagnant water, exceedingly injurious to the plants. The chamber having been formed, it should be covered with good rich garden mould to the requisite depth, varying in some instances according to the kind of tree to be grown in it; but in all cases thoroughly pulverized, so as to offer no obstruction to the passage of the roots.

When the trees are planted care should be taken to raise each on a little hillock, at the point of junction between the trunk and the root, to allow for the sinking of the ground. The collar of a ligneous plant should never be buried; as any moisture collected round this tender and indeed vital part, brings on canker, and innumerable other diseases. All fruit-trees thus treated produce cankered and deformed fruit, and die in a few years of premature old age.

It can never be repeated too often that the essential point in growing fruit-trees is to keep their roots as near to the surface as possible, and never to suffer them to descend so deep as to be out of the influence of the sun and air. Many persons unacquainted with vegetable physiology, have an idea that when a fruit-tree, which has been productive, suddenly ceases to bear, it is because its roots have reached the gravel, or in other words, the subsoil. This is, however, false reasoning on true premises. It is quite true that the tree has ceased to bear in consequence of the descent of its roots; but the reason this descent is injurious is, that the ground far below the surface is cold, and frequently impregnated with stagnant water; and either that the roots thus become swollen and unable to perform their proper functions, in which case the leaves turn yellow, and the tree appears to wither, or that they supply the tree with an abundance of poor thin watery sap quite unsuitable for the production of fruit. On the contrary, when the roots are kept near the surface, though they have no air-vessels except in the spongioles, these spongioles imbibe air and carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere with all the moisture they take up; and thus the vessels are not only kept in a healthy state by not being overcharged with water without air, but the sap is so thickened and enriched with the carbonic acid gas, that it is brought into a proper state for forming those deposits which lead to the production of fruit.

The use of walls is to afford tender plants the heat necessary to mature their fruit, by reflecting the sun’s rays back upon it; and by giving out to the fruit during the night the heat they have absorbed during the day. They are also useful in sheltering the plant from cold winds; and in preventing the branches from bruising each other in violent storms. This being the use of walls, it is evident that only those trees should be trained against them that require protection; and the south and south-east walls being warmer than the others, it is equally evident that only those trees should be trained against these walls, that require a great deal of heat to mature their fruits. There are some fruits, such as the apple, which too much heat renders mealy and insipid; and these would obviously be injured instead of improved by a south, or south-east wall; while other fruits, such as the peach, could not produce good fruit in our climate without one. Before planting trees against the walls of a garden, it will thus be necessary to select the trees proper for each wall; and as some of the finer kinds will be several years before they attain a sufficient size to fill up the places assigned to them, trees of inferior kinds may be planted between them, so that no part of the wall may be lost—the inferior trees being cut in as the others grow, and being finally removed. This is accomplished by planting alternately dwarf trees of the kind which is to remain, and trees grafted standard high, which are called riders, of the kinds which are to be removed. The distance at which the permanent trees ought to be planted depends upon the nature of the tree.

There is, however, one objection to a south or south-east wall for tender plants which should be carefully guarded against. This is the danger from spring frosts, to which the blossoms are exposed during the night, from being brought prematurely forward during the day. To guard against this, the south wall should have a deep wooden coping, supported by holdfasts, projecting about a foot from the wall; and under this coping there should be a row of hooks, on which should be hung a kind of curtain of bunting, which should be kept on day and night in frosty weather, while the blossoms are expanded. This is not only to protect the blossoms from the frost, but to save them from the withering effect of the sun, which is as injurious to them after a frosty night as the frost itself. In fact, when tender trees are covered with hoar-frost, they may sometimes be saved if shaded till they have thawed; but they are always killed if exposed, while the frost is on them, to the sun. Bunting is preferable to matting or canvass; because it is thinner and does not entirely exclude the light and air, because it is more easily put up and taken down, and takes up less room when stowed away, and because it is cheaper, four square yards costing only two shillings at Edgington’s, the marquee-maker.

Kinds of Wall-Fruit Trees, &c.—The principal fruits grown against a wall in England are those containing stones; and of these the most valuable are the peach, the nectarine, and the apricot. The other stone fruits, such as the plum and the cherry, are frequently grown against a wall, but they are grown also as standards: as are the kernel fruits, such as the apple and pear; the apple being very rarely grown against a wall in England. In the neighbourhood of London, figs and grapes are grown against walls in the open ground, and in some parts of Devonshire the orange tribe.

Stone Fruits.—All kinds of stone fruits are more or less delicate at the time of forming their stones, or “stoning” as it is called; and the fruit requires thinning at that period to prevent the greater part of it being dropped. They all blossom early, and are delicate while their flowers are expanded. For these reasons their crops are more uncertain in a variable climate like that of England, than crops of the kernel fruits, and require more care and attention to bring them to perfection.

Peaches and Nectarines.—The peach and the nectarine are only varieties of one species of almond; and instances have been known of peaches and nectarines growing on the same tree without grafting. Both peaches and nectarines are divided into two kinds; the free stones, the flesh of which parts readily from the stone—and the cling stones, the flesh of which adheres to the stone. Some of the best peaches for a small garden are the Grosse mignonne, Bellegarde, and Barrington. The earliest peach is the red nutmeg, which ripens in July; and one of the latest, the Catherine, which does not ripen till October. The best nectarines are the Elruge and the Violette hative, with the new white nectarine, for a variety in colour. Both peaches and nectarines are budded on plum stocks, or on seedling peaches, or almonds, the latter being greatly preferred by the French nurserymen. The best soil for peaches is about three parts of fresh clayey loam, taken from some field, and one part of drift sand. This soil should be moderately enriched with vegetable mould composed of decayed leaves, and it should be laid on the prepared chamber to the depth of about eighteen inches, rather less than more. Peaches require rather an adhesive soil, not too rich; as in a rich loose soil they will produce wood rather than fruit. Peach trees are seldom planted against the wall where they are to remain, till they have been two, three, or four years trained; and they are generally removed at the latter end of October, or beginning of November, just as the leaf begins to fall. They are best trained in the fan manner; and as they always bear their fruit on shoots of a year old, these shoots must always be left on in pruning, and the old wood cut out. Pruning should be performed at two seasons, viz. winter and summer: the winter pruning is performed at the fall of the leaf, or in the beginning of February, and consists of cutting out or shortening the old wood or barren branches; and summer pruning, which consists chiefly of what is called disbudding, (that is, rubbing off the buds as soon as they appear,) should be applied to the removal of all shoots growing right out from the wall, (and which, consequently, could not be well trained,) or which appear otherwise to be improperly placed. Experienced gardeners also look over the blossom buds, as soon as they show themselves, and thin them out, without allowing the tree to waste its strength in forming fruit which it can never ripen, and which is of no use in its green state. The disbudding is easily performed; and watching the trees to find when it will be necessary, affords a constant source of interest. Thinning the blossoms is rather more difficult; but with a little practice, a lady could do it much better than a gardener, as it is an operation that depends principally on delicacy of touch. When a peach tree is trained in the fan manner, the first year the little side shoots are left for producing the fruit, and none of these should be more than a year old. The next year these shoots must be cut out, (as the same shoot never bears two years in succession,) and others which have been produced while they were bearing, must be trained in their stead. The borders should never be cropped on account of not disturbing the roots, which should be encouraged to rise up to the surface of the ground by what is called mulching, that is, covering the ground with straw, dead leaves, or litter; and when this is objected to on account of its untidy appearance, the borders should be left bare, and only raked occasionally to prevent the surface from caking over, and becoming impervious to air and moisture. No stable dung should be given to peaches, and when the trees seem exhausted they should be taken up and replanted in fresh soil; or they should be removed, and trees of quite a different kind, such as pears for example, planted instead of them in the same soil. When the borders cannot be spared to be left entirely bare, a light crop, such as of spinach, lettuces, mustard and cress, or parsley, should be sown on them, and the remains of this crop, when done with, should be raked off; but fruit borders should never on any account be touched with a spade, and even a fork should be used very seldom and very sparingly; never, indeed, unless the ground has become too hard and compact to admit the rain, the sun, and the air. It must never be forgotten, that unless the spongioles of the roots are permitted to imbibe the carbonic acid gas always floating in the atmosphere, with the moisture they take up, the sap of the tree will never be rich enough to produce fruit. The fruit and seeds of every plant are in fact concentrations of carbon, precipitated by the action of light; and where any plant is deficient in carbon, or deprived of light, it cannot produce much fruit. The culture of the nectarine is exactly the same as that of the peach. In both, when the season is cold and wet, with but little sun, some cultivators remove a few of the leaves to admit more air and light to the fruit; but this should be done very sparingly, as unless a sufficient quantity of leaves are left to carry on the proper circulation of the sap, the skin of the fruit will become tough and withered, and the flesh insipid. When the fruit is ripe, it is customary, in large gardens, to suspend a net under the branches to catch any fruit that may fall, and thus to save it from being bruised. The peach is supposed to be a native of Persia, and to have been introduced into England about the middle of the sixteenth century. Peaches and nectarines on a wall ten or twelve feet high, should be planted about twenty feet apart; with riders of some kind of plum, or peach, till the permanent trees spread.

The Apricot is a native of Armenia, introduced about 1562. The culture is the same as that of the peach, excepting that it is not trained quite so much in the fan manner, but somewhat horizontally. It also bears, not only on the side-shoots of the last year, but on close spurs formed on the two-years’ old wood. The whole of the fruit is also generally suffered to form, and is thinned out while it is green, in May or the beginning of June, as green apricots are generally thought delicious in tarts. The best apricots are the Moorpark for the table, and the Breda for preserving. This last is frequently grown as a standard. Large branches, or rather arms of apricot-trees, particularly of the Moorpark, are very apt to die off without any apparent cause. The finest apricots I ever saw were grown on a tree trained against a cottage, the owner of which was an old woman, who took in washing, and who was in the habit, nearly every day, of pouring down about the roots of the tree a quantity of soap-suds. Apricot-trees should be twenty-five feet apart, as the tree spreads rapidly, and does not bear cutting in.

The Plum.—No plum-tree, except perhaps the green-gage, should be planted on a south wall; and, as a north wall is too cold for the finer kinds, they do best planted against a wall facing to the east or west. Any common garden soil will suit plum-trees; and when the soil appears exhausted, it may be renovated by a little rotten dung laid on the surface, and frequently watered to wash its juices into the soil, without disturbing the roots. Plum-trees bear on what are called spurs, which are short rugged-looking little branches, jutting out from the shoots of two or three years’ growth. The same spurs bear more than once, and often continue fruitful several years. Plum-trees are generally trained horizontally. The kinds are very numerous, but the Green-gage and Orleans are, perhaps, the most popular. Plum-trees should be twenty feet apart, if all dwarfs; but dwarfs and riders alternately may be only fifteen feet apart.

The Cherry.—Only the finer kinds of cherries are grown against walls; and the tree, in its native localities, delights in a dry sandy soil, and elevated airy situation. When cultivated, it will thrive in any common garden soil which is tolerably open; and it is not injured by manure applied moderately, and in a perfectly rotten state. The cherry is trained horizontally, and bears on spurs springing from both the old and the new wood. As the branches are continually throwing out fresh spurs from their extremities, it is a maxim with gardeners never to shorten the bearing branches of a cherry-tree. The morello is, however, an exception to this rule, as its mode of bearing resembles that of the peach; and it is always pruned and trained like that tree. The cherry-trees grown against walls are the different varieties of May Duke, Circassian, the large black Tartarian, the Morello, and the Bigarreau. Cherries need not be more than fifteen feet apart for the common kinds, and twenty feet for the morello.

Fig-trees grow and bear quite well in the neighbourhood of London, and they even thrive and bear in many street-gardens in the City. The fig requires less care in training and pruning than any other tree; it should indeed rarely be touched with the knife, and only the ill placed shoots removed by disbudding. The fruit is produced on the young wood at the extremity of the branches, but it does not ripen till the wood on which it grows is a year old. The best soil for figs is a light fresh loam not above a foot or fifteen inches deep, on a hard, well-drained bottom. This is essential; as the fig will not grow with any stagnant water about its roots, though it requires to be constantly and abundantly supplied with moisture. Many country persons throw soap-suds on the roots of their fig-trees with very great success. The tree may be trained in any shape; and the long branches should be bent backwards and forwards, not only to make them throw out side-shoots, but to cover the wall. The best figs for general bearing are the black and brown Ischias and the large blue or purple fig. A tree of the last kind, which is trained against our house at Bayswater, under the glass veranda, has never failed, during the last ten years, to produce a good crop every summer. Fig-trees should be thirty feet apart if the branches are trained horizontally; but they may be placed rather nearer, if the branches are bent backwards and forwards to cover the wall.

Espaliers.—Espaliers, though they are nearly as troublesome to train as wall-trees, have none of their advantages. They are indeed only superior to standards in taking up less room, in having a neater appearance, in their fruit being more easily gathered, and in their roots being more under the control of the gardener. The latter is an important advantage, and one of which every gardener should avail himself. It has been already observed, when speaking of the laying out of a kitchen garden, that beyond the fruit-border there is generally a walk, enclosing the compartments devoted to culinary vegetables in the centre. Now where espaliers are grown, there should be a second chambered border, exactly like the fruit border under the wall, which should be shut out from the culinary compartments by a low wall under ground, or flat stones placed edgeways, or boards, or, in fact, any thing to prevent the roots of the espaliers from spreading into the ground devoted to the culinary crops. When due precautions have been taken, the espaliers should be planted near the boundary, and their roots carefully spread out over the chambered border, those parts being cut off which cannot be brought to lie flat in the proper direction. The ground is then pressed firmly upon the roots, and espalier rails, either of iron or wood, are fixed near the trees to tie them to. Espalier trees are seldom suffered to grow higher than five feet or six feet, on account of the trouble of training them when they are of a greater height; but to make amends for this loss of space, their branches are allowed to spread as widely as possible, according to the nature of the trees. Thus apples should be planted thirty feet apart, and cherries about the same distance; pears thirty-five feet, and plums twenty-five feet. The finer kinds of fruits are seldom planted as espaliers; and apples and pears are more commonly thus treated than cherries and plums. The continual cutting necessary to keep the trees in a proper shape for training, and the unnatural position of the roots, are indeed very unsuitable to trees so apt to gum and canker as the cherry and the plum. The width of the border destined for the roots of the espaliers is generally five feet; and it should only be cropped with a few herbaceous or annual flowers, that will not require the ground to be deeper stirred than can be done with a rake. Some persons suffer the roots of their espalier trees to extend under the gravel walks, which are purposely left hollow; but this defeats the purpose for which they are to be attracted to the surface, for the spongioles will be as effectually excluded from the air under a compact coating of gravel, as if they were buried many feet deep in the soil. If an underground wall is built along the inner side of the espalier border to confine the roots of the trees, stones should be fixed in it at intervals, with holes made in them for the reception of the espalier rails, which should be run in with pitch. These rails should be about nine inches asunder, and they may be kept together at the top with a transverse rail, to which they should be nailed. The inconveniences of espaliers are the very great trouble of training them and keeping them within bounds; the rough and untidy appearance which their spurs assume when the trees begin to get old; and the numerous diseases to which the trees are liable, from their unnatural position and constant cutting in, and which always render espalier trees short-lived.

Standard fruit-trees.—Tall standard trees should never, on any account, be planted in a kitchen-garden; as from their drip and shade it is impossible to grow good culinary vegetables under them; while, on the other hand, the constant digging and trenching necessary to cultivate culinary vegetables, force the roots of the trees to descend so far that it is impossible for them to produce good fruit. Dwarf standards are, however, by many preferred to espaliers; as they are susceptible of all the advantages, without any of the disadvantages attendant on that mode of training. A chambered border may be prepared for the dwarf standards in the same manner as for the espaliers; and they may be placed in the centre of it, instead of on one side. The dwarf standards are generally grafted very near the collar of the plant, and are trained to form bushes rather than trees, but in various manners. Some are trained round a hoop placed inside, and others have their branches trained upwards for a few feet, and then bent downwards like an umbrella; some are trained en quenouille, with a single stem; others en pyramide; and others have their branches spread out horizontally, and supported by stakes placed at a regular distance in a circle round the tree. In short, there are no limits to fancy in this respect. The trees generally grown in gardens as dwarf standards are apples, pears, and morello cherries. The other kinds of cherries may also be grown in this manner; but they are generally grown as tall standards in a detached orchard near the kitchen-garden, or adjoining the pleasure-grounds. The common kinds of plums and damsons are also grown as tall trees in the same manner, as are the kitchen and keeping apples. Mulberry-trees are generally planted on the lawn, as well for the picturesque form of the tree, as for the convenience of the fruit, which drops as soon as it is ripe, and is spoiled if it falls on dry earth or gravel. Sweet chesnuts are grown in the park or pleasure-grounds among other trees; and walnuts in similar situations, or in a back-court, or stable-yard, for the convenience of their shade. Filberts and hazels are generally planted on each side of a walk in the garden or pleasure-ground, which they are trained over; and barberries and elderberries in the shrubberies; the last four being the only kinds of trees which should ever be planted as standards in the slips to the kitchen-garden.

Kernel fruits.—The principal of these are apples and pears, but the division also includes the medlar, the quince, and the true service.

The apple is universally allowed to be the most useful of all fruits; and it is certain that there is no fruit more extensively cultivated. The list of apples is as numerous as that of peas; and it is almost as difficult to make a selection from. Apples are, however, generally divided into three kinds; the dessert or eating apples, the kitchen or baking apples, and the cider apples. The last are good for nothing but to make cider, and can never be mistaken; the line of demarcation between the first two is, however, not so strongly marked, as many of the kinds will serve both purposes. Many dessert apples, for example, possess the chief merit of a good kitchen apple, viz. that of falling well, or in plainer terms, of becoming quite soft when baked or boiled; and many of the baking apples are very good to eat raw. The Ribstone pippen, one of the best of all apples, but rather a shy bearer, and the hawthorn dean, a most abundant bearer, but an apple that does not keep well, are both alike excellent for the kitchen and the dessert. The best keeping apple is the French crab, of which some specimens have been preserved quite fresh and plump for more than three years.

The most common way of propagating apple-trees is by grafting the best kinds on crab-stocks, either standard high, that is, on stocks suffered to grow to the height of about six feet; or as dwarfs, that is, about six inches or eight inches from the collar of the stock. Sometimes trees intended to be grown as dwarf standards in a kitchen-garden are grafted what is called half standard high; that is, about two or three feet from the collar. When apple-trees are planted in the kitchen-garden where they are to remain, each tree should always be placed on a little hillock; as no tree is more liable to become cankered from having its collar buried. The tree succeeds best in a deep strong loam, provided it be well drained, and rich rather than poor; and when the soil appears exhausted, it may be renovated by laying on it what the farmers call a top-dressing of manure, taking care not to bury or even to touch the collar of the tree. Apple-trees will, however, flourish in any soil except sand or gravel. They are very apt to become cankered, and to be attacked by the woolly aphis, sometimes called the American blight. Canker is generally caused by some defect in the drainage or the soil, and of course no remedy can be efficacious till the cause of the disease is removed; when, however, the soil has been renovated or drained, the effects of the disease may be obviated by heading down the tree, when it will produce new and healthy branches; or cutting out the cankered part, if they should be so low as to make it inconvenient to cut off the trunk of the tree below them. The American blight is best cured by brushing the parts affected all over with soft soap and water; and repeating the operation whenever any fresh insects appear.

The Pear.—The culture of the pear as a standard differs very little from that of the apple; and though it is naturally rather a deeper-rooted plant, it requires its fibrous roots to be kept near the surface. There is a general complaint in gardens against pear-trees as bad bearers, and very healthy-looking trees have been known to exist twenty years in a garden without ever even showing any blossoms. Various causes have a tendency to produce this effect. The pear being naturally inclined to send down its roots, will do so, unless effectually prevented by a chambered border, or a hard rocky sub-soil; and if the spongioles of the roots are allowed to descend out of the reach of the air, the stagnant moisture of the sub-soil will produce the same effect on them as on those of the apple. Planting pear-trees in a very rich stiff soil has a similar effect. Injudicious pruning, particularly in summer, is another cause; as cutting in young shoots, while the sap is in motion, has a tendency to make the tree throw out two new shoots in the room of every one removed, and thus to exhaust itself in producing branches. Summer shoots should either be checked by disbudding as soon as they appear, or suffered to remain till winter, when they may be cut in, without exciting the tree to fresh efforts to replace them. Much of the fertility of pear-trees also depends on the habit of the stock being similar to that of the graft; and much also on a judicious manner of training. As a wall-tree, the pear is always trained horizontally, and spurs are left on all the branches for producing fruit. These spurs used formerly to be left large, and standing out a foot or eighteen inches from the wall; but they are now found to bear best when kept short. According to this plan, every spur is allowed to bear only once, viz.—in its third year; and after this, it is cut out to give place to another spur, which has been trained to succeed it. By this mode of treatment, a constant succession of young spurs is kept up, and fruit is produced all over the tree; whereas, by the old method of pruning and training, in the course of a few years, the projecting spurs became barren, and fruit was produced only at the extremity of the branches. Pears are frequently grafted standard high, when intended for training against a wall, in order that they may be used as riders between dwarf plums or peaches. Pear-trees generally bear better as espaliers, or dwarf standards than against a wall, and this has been attributed to rather a curious reason. The stamens of the pear have naturally very little farina; and where the blossoms are exposed to great heat, and have little air circulating round them, as is the case with wall-trees, the pollen is very apt to dry up without fertilizing the stigma. The blossoms of espaliers and dwarf standards are exposed to less heat and more air than those of wall-trees; and thus their pollen is more likely to perform its natural functions. The truth of this observation has been proved by shading the blossoms of a wall pear-tree during the whole period of their expansion, and fanning them with an artificial current of air by means of bellows, when it was found that more than twice the usual quantity of fruit was produced. Espalier pear-trees have generally a very rough appearance, from their rugged projecting spurs; but dwarf standards both look and bear well. It has, however, been asserted by some gardeners, that riders on the walls, and tall standards in the orchard, come into bearing earlier than dwarf standards, unless the branches of the dwarfs are suffered to grow very long, and are curiously bent and twisted to produce depositions of sap. Probably, however, the true cause of the dwarf standards not bearing is, that, in some cases, they have been planted in the deep rich soil of the kitchen-garden, intended for culinary vegetables; while the trees in the orchard, compared with them, were in poor light soil, and those against the wall in a prepared border.

There is perhaps no fruit that has been so much improved by cultivation as the pear; and this extraordinary improvement has been principally effected by the exertions of Professor Van Mons of Louvain, near Brussels. This gentleman, towards the latter end of the last century, having turned his attention to the culture of fruit-trees, conceived the idea that new varieties of pears might be raised scientifically; and the result of his first experiment was that he obtained four pears very superior to the kinds previously known: these kinds were the Passe Colmar, the Beurré Spence, the Beurré de Ranz (commonly called the Beurré Rance), and the Beurré d’hiver. Encouraged by this success, the Baron Van Mons repeated his experiments every year, and thus raised above a hundred thousand new kinds of pears; and though by far the greater part of these proved in the end not worth growing, many very valuable pears have been obtained. Van Mons’s theory is to sow the most perfect seed of the best pear of any given sort that he can procure; then to force the seedling as soon as possible into fruit, and to sow the best seed it produces, and thus to proceed till the fifth or sixth, or tenth or twelfth generation. In this manner coarse but highly-flavoured fruits were softened down, and produced some of exquisite flavour; and among others, the well-known Marie Louise is said to have been the descendant, in the fifteenth generation, of a very coarse and harsh-flavoured parent. The Glout morceau, one of the very best of the Flemish pears, if kept till it is quite ripe, is another variety, said to be similarly descended; and the Duchesse d’Angoulême a third.

The goodness of all these pears, however, depends a great deal on the stocks upon which they are grafted; and thus the fruit produced does not always answer the expectations of its growers. Another point to be attended to is the thinning out of the fruit, that more may not set than the tree seems able to ripen, as, if the tree is suffered to bear too large a crop, the fruit will be small, hard, and without flavour.

The Quince is a low tree which thrives best near water. It is always grown as a standard; and the fruit, which is very ornamental when ripe, is never eaten raw. It requires no particular care, except that of planting it in a moist soft soil; and, if possible, where its roots can have access to water. There are four or five kinds grown in nurseries, but they differ very little from each other.

Miscellaneous Fruit Trees.—Under this head I shall include all those trees usually grown as standards in pleasure grounds or orchards; but which, as their fruit is eaten, appear properly to belong to the department of the kitchen-garden.

The Medlar.—There are three or four kinds of medlars, one of which is much larger than the others. The medlar will thrive in any soil or situation not too dry; but, like the quince, does best within the reach of water. The fruit, which is never eaten till it is in a state of decay, is not of much value, but the flowers are very large and rather handsome.

The Mulberry.—There are three distinct species of mulberry, besides innumerable varieties. The distinct species are the white, only used for feeding silk-worms with its leaves; the black, which is generally grown in gardens for its fruit; and the red, or American mulberry. Many persons are not aware of the difference between the black and the white mulberries, and they think that if they have a mulberry tree in their garden, they cannot do better than feed their silk-worms with its leaves; though the fact is that the white mulberry is scarcely ever grown in England, and the leaves of the black mulberry are positively injurious to the worms. Lettuce leaves are indeed better than any other food for silk-worms reared in England. The fruit of the red mulberry is eatable, but not very good; and its leaves are injurious to silkworms.

The black mulberry is said to be a native of Persia; but if so it must have been brought to Europe at a very early period, as it was common in Italy when ancient Rome was at her zenith. It appears to have been introduced into England long before 1573, as some old trees, still in existence, are said to have been of considerable size in that year. The mulberry has several peculiarities in its habits, which distinguish it from most other trees. The most striking of these is that it may be propagated by truncheons: that is, if a large limb of a tree, as thick as a man’s arm or thicker, be cut off, and stuck into the ground, it will grow without any further trouble being taken with it; and probably the next year, or the year after, it will bear abundance of fruit. This I believe is the case with no other tree except the olive. The mulberry also is later than any other tree in coming into leaf; but when it does begin to open its buds, its leaves are expanded, and its young fruit formed, in an incredibly short time. Another peculiarity is that old trees frequently split into five or six different parts, each of which in time becomes surrounded with bark, so that a very old and thick trunk appears changed into five or six slender new ones: the branches also, if they lie along the ground, take root and become trees; and if an old mulberry tree be blown down, every branch sends down roots into the ground, and in a very short time becomes a tree. When apparently dead, a mulberry may in most cases be resuscitated by cutting it down to just above the collar, when it will send up a number of young stems, which will very soon be covered with fruit. The mulberry, in other respects, needs very little care from the gardener; it requires no pruning; and even the fruit does not require gathering, as it drops as soon as it is ripe.

The Elder is rather a shrub than a tree; and from its very disagreeable smell, and straggling habit of growth, it is rarely planted except in cottage gardens. There are several kinds, one with white berries, another with green, and a third, which is very ornamental, with scarlet berries. There is also a very handsome kind with cut leaves: a ptisan made of the flowers is reckoned excellent in France for producing perspiration in cases of colds and fevers; and the fruit of the blackberried kind is used for making wine, and also a kind of jam.

The Pomegranate.—If the elder be considered a plebeian fruit, the pomegranate may be called an aristocratic one, as it is rarely seen in England except in the gardens of persons of rank and wealth. Notwithstanding this, it requires but little care from the gardener, and it is only necessary for him to spare the knife; since it is on the points of the shoots, and on short slender twigs projecting from the branches, which are exactly what a gardener, whose only care was to make his tree look neat, would think it advisable to cut off, that flowers are produced. Pomegranates require very rich and well pulverised soil, and to be trained against a wall with a south, or south-east aspect. When it is wished to throw them into fruit, their blossoms should be shaded during the whole time of their expansion.

Nut Trees.—The principal kinds of nut trees cultivated in British gardens are, the walnut, the sweet chestnut, and the filbert. The American hickories and the black walnut are sometimes grown, though but rarely; as are the Colurna and other nuts. The almond also, as it is grown only for the kernel of its stones, may be classed among the nuts, though it is, properly speaking, a kind of peach.

The Walnut can hardly be mentioned without bringing with it a host of classical recollections. The Greeks dedicated this tree to Diana, and held fêtes under its shade; and the Romans called its fruit the nut of Jove. In modern times its wood has obtained rather an unpleasant kind of celebrity, as being generally used for making the stocks of muskets. In villages and country places, however, the walnut recals more agreeable associations; as its noble leaves and spreading branches render it a delightful tree for shade; and formerly it used to be frequently found at the doors of cottages and farm houses.

There are several kinds of walnut-trees cultivated for their fruit; all varieties of one species, and differing principally in the hardness or comparative softness of their shells. Walnut-trees are generally propagated by sowing the nuts; and if the young trees are planted in a light, sandy, and well-drained soil, they will grow rapidly, and bear at an early age.

The custom which prevails among the country people in some parts of England and France, of beating a barren walnut-tree to make it bear, is efficacious, as the beating breaks off the points of the too luxuriant shoots, and makes them send out those short spurs which alone produce fruit; though the end would be attained with more certainty by pruning. A decoction of walnut-leaves and husks is said to be very efficacious in protecting plants against insects, if sprinkled on the leaves.

The nut of the black walnut (Juglans nigra) is so hard as to be of little use for the table; and only two or three of those of the hickories can be considered as fruit. The best of these is the peccane nut (Carya olivæ formis), of which Washington is said to have been so fond that he was rarely without some in his pocket, which he used to be continually eating during his campaigns. The white hiccory (Carya sulcata), the outer rind of which is very thick, is also good to eat.

The sweet chestnut is frequently called the Spanish chestnut, because the best sweet chestnuts were formerly brought to the London markets from Spain. The tree can, indeed, scarcely be considered as an English fruit-tree; though some of the chestnuts sold for the table are grown in Devonshire. In France, chestnut-trees are more common; and they are divided there into two kinds: the chataigniers and the marroniers; the former bearing about the same relation to the latter as the crab does to the apple. The best chestnuts in France are those called les marrons de Lyons. The sweet chestnut is a native of Asia; but it has also been found in the north of Africa and North America. It is always propagated by seeds, and thrives best in a deep sandy loam; it will grow in even the poorest gravel, but it never does well in either a calcareous soil, or a stiff clay.

There are several celebrated chestnut-trees of enormous size and great age; the most remarkable of which are the Castagna di Cento Cavalli on Mount Etna, and the Tortworth chestnut in England. Till within the last eight or ten years it was believed that the wood of the chestnut was good timber; but it has lately been discovered that it is absolutely worthless, except while quite young: the wood that was supposed to be chestnut, having been proved to be that of the English chestnut oak (Quercus sessiliflora). The wood of the chestnut, when the tree attains a large size, becomes what the English timber-merchants call shaky, and what the French call dialled; that is, instead of forming a solid log of timber, the trunk when cut down is found to fly off in splinters, or to divide into a number of angular pieces, as if shivered by a blow from the centre.

The filbert is only a variety of the common hazel; and it is supposed to derive its name from the words “full beard,” in allusion to the length of its husk. The varieties of the hazel are indeed divided into two classes: those with long husks which are called the filberts; and those with short husks which are called the nuts. All the varieties grow best in calcareous soils, like those of Kent; in which county the best nuts grown in England are raised. When either filberts or nuts are grown in gardens they are generally planted in rows from five feet to ten feet apart from each other in the row, according as they are wanted to grow high, or to spread. Filberts are generally propagated by sowing the seeds, and nuts by suckers, which the trees throw up in abundance. “The principal art in the culture of the filbert as a fruit-tree,” says Mr. Loudon in his Arboretum Britannicum, “consists in training and pruning it properly, as the blossom is produced upon the sides and extremities of the upper young branches, and from small young shoots which proceed from the bases of side branches, cut off the preceding year. The tree requires to be kept remarkably open, in order that the main branches may produce young wood throughout the whole of their length. In the filbert orchards about Maidstone, the trees are trained with short stems like gooseberry-bushes, and are formed into the shape of a punch-bowl, exceedingly thin of wood.” When the trees are pruned, care is taken to eradicate all the suckers. Filberts are always kept in their husks, and if they lose their colour and appear black or mouldy, their appearance is renovated by the dealers, by putting them into iron trays pierced with holes, and gently shaking them over a chafing-dish full of charcoal, on which a little powdered sulphur has been thrown while the charcoal was red-hot.

The Constantinople nut, or Colurna hazel, is a large handsome tree, and the American hazels are shrubs grown occasionally in plantations, but not cultivated in England for their fruit.

The almond is in fact a peach-tree, with a fruit having a leathery pericardium instead of a fleshy one; and what are called almonds are the kernels of the stones of this fruit. The bitter and sweet almonds are varieties of the same species; and there are several other varieties differing principally in the degree of hardness of the stone. The other part of the fruit is in all the varieties quite worthless; except for the prussic acid it contains. The prussic acid used in medicine is, however, made principally from the kernel of the bitter almond, though it does not exist in that of the sweet variety. Almond-trees are propagated by grafting either on almond or plum-stocks; they are frequently planted for the beauty of their flowers, which appear before the leaves, but they are seldom grown in England for their fruit; most of the almonds sold in London being imported from Italy or Spain. The Jordan almonds, which are considered the best, are brought from Malaga. The almond requires a dry soil, either sandy or calcareous; and the situation should be sheltered, as the branches are brittle and apt to be broken off by high winds. When the stones are sown, care should be taken to press the sharp ends downwards. The young plants will not bear transplanting, as they will send down tap-roots two feet long the first season.

Fruit-shrubs.—The principal fruit-shrubs grown in gardens are gooseberries, currants, and raspberries; to which may be added barberries and cranberries.

The gooseberry.—The number of varieties of this useful fruit almost exceeds belief, and fresh kinds are originated every year. The principal reason of the great number of gooseberries thus raised may be traced to the gooseberry shows now so prevalent in different parts of the kingdom. At these shows the largest and heaviest berries gain the prize; and it thus becomes an object with the exhibitors to grow berries that shall be as large and as heavy as possible. For this purpose they raise a great many new kinds; and when they have obtained one likely to suit their purpose, they plant it in very rich soil, water it well, and picking off all the berries except three or four, they nourish these by putting saucers filled with water under each. By these cares gooseberries have been produced weighing above an ounce and a half each; and one weighing very nearly two ounces; though gooseberries generally, even of large size, seldom weigh above half an ounce.

Gooseberries may be propagated either by seeds or cuttings; and they will thrive in any good garden soil, if it be well drained, well manured, and not under the drip of trees. When gooseberries are wanted large, the ground between the rows should have a coating of rotten manure laid on it every third year. Gooseberry-bushes are generally planted in rows, the rows eight or ten feet apart, and the bushes six feet from each other in the rows. They are pruned twice a-year: in winter to remove the branches not likely to produce fruit; and in summer to clear away the cross shoots which shade the fruit from the sun, and prevent the access of air to every part of the tree. It is a very good plan to thin the fruit; which is easily done when gathering green gooseberries for pies and puddings, by taking a few from every branch and never gathering from the same tree twice. The gooseberry bush produces fruit both on the old and young wood; but in the summer pruning all the long slender shoots which the tree sends out beyond the part which produces fruit should be cut off, to prevent the plant from wasting its strength. The best red gooseberries for general use are perhaps the following: the Warrington, which is a great bearer, and retains its fruit a long time on the tree; the Champagne, an early gooseberry of very fine flavour; the early Rough-Red, small, but remarkable for its sweetness; the Roaring-Lion, the largest gooseberry grown, a good bearer, the berries of which are oblong, and have a smooth skin; the Ironmonger, the fruit of which is almost black; the Crown-Bob, a very large gooseberry, equally good for using green or ripe; and the Top-Sawyer, a large, round and rough gooseberry, with a very thin skin, and agreeable flavour. The best white gooseberries, are the White Dutch, the Whitesmith, Wellington’s Glory, and the Cheshire Lass, the last two being of very large size; the best yellow are Rumbullion, and Rockwood, the first of which is reckoned the best of all gooseberries for preserving; and the best green are Ocean, a large early gooseberry, and the Pitmaston Greengage, a late variety, remarkable for its extraordinary sweetness, and for its hanging on the tree till killed by frost.

Currants are very seldom raised from seed; as there is no particular desire for the production of new sorts. The usual mode of propagation is by cuttings, which are taken off the strongest shoots in autumn or early in spring, and planted in rich soil. The cuttings are generally about a foot long; and all the buds are taken off except five or six at the top: the cutting is then firmly inserted in the soil about six inches deep. No other care is required but pruning the young trees every year. The currant bears on spurs of the old and new wood; and as currant-trees, when pruned, are generally cut into these spurs, a currant-bush after its winter pruning looks like a worthless stump, fit only for the fire. The currant is very hardy, and will grow in any soil or situation, even under the drip of trees. In open situations and rich soils, currants have been grown to a very large size; but not proportionately large to gooseberries. The red, white, and striped currants are varieties of the same species; but the black is another species. All belong to the same genus as the gooseberry.

Raspberries are, what are called, travelling plants; that is to say, if left to themselves, they would, by the old plants dying off, and being succeeded by suckers every year, soon travel over a considerable extent of ground. The raspberry thrives best in a light, free loam, moderately rich; and in an open situation. It always bears on the young shoots, so that the principal art required in pruning it consists in cutting out the old wood, and shortening the young. The height at which the bearing shoots should be left is three feet, or four feet. The best raspberries are the red and yellow Antwerp. Raspberries are propagated by suckers, which are produced in great abundance every year. The raspberry belongs to the same genus as the bramble, or blackberry.

Barberries.—No fruit-tree or shrub requires less care in its culture than the barberry, or, as it is more properly called, the berberry. The sorts usually grown for their fruit are all varieties of the common sort: they are the common red, the stoneless, and the sweet. Several varieties of the Mahonia or Ash berberry bear excellent fruit, but the trees are at present too rare, and of too high a price, to be cultivated for that purpose. The berberry will grow in any soil and situation, and it does not require any pruning.

The Cranberry will only grow in moist soil, or peat earth. It succeeds very well on the muddy margin of a pond; particularly if a row of stakes be driven into the water two or three feet from the edge, and lined with stones, on which is laid a quantity of bog earth. In this earth the cranberries are planted, and they will require no after-care except the occasional trimming into shape of their long runners. The common cranberry is a native of England, Scotland, and indeed of all the north of Europe; but its fruit is much smaller than that of the American cranberry, which has also a more delicate flavour.