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 principally 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 hoarding, 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. | |
| Hagloe Crab—Tart; good for cider. | |
| Pawson—Tart; good for cider. | |
| † | Redstreak—Sweet; good for cider. |
| Yellow Styre—Sweet; good for cider. | |
| † | Hooper’s Kernel (A)—Moderately sweet; good for cider. |
| † | Hill Barn Kernel (A)—Sweet; good for cider. |
| † | Ribston Pippin (A)—Sweet; good for table and keeping. |
| Golden Harvey (A)—Sweet; good for table and for cider. | |
| Siberian Harvey—Sweet; good for cider. | |
| Farewell Blossom—Tart and bitter; large bearer. | |
| Upright French—Bitter sweet; large bearer. | |
| Black or Red French—Bitter sweet. | |
| Knotted Kernel—Tart. | |
| Leather Apple—Hardly any taste. | |
| Ironsides (A)—Hardly any taste; good for keeping. | |
| † | Cats’-heads (A)—Sweet; good for cider. |
| Pigs’-eyes—Sweet. | |
| Downton Pippin (A)—Sweet; table and eating. | |
| † | [335]Codlings (A)—Sweet; good as boilers and for cider. |
| † | May Blooms (A)—Sweet; good for cider, boiling, and keeping. |
| Rough Coat (A)—Dry and sweet; good keepers. | |
| Brandy Apple (A)—Very sweet; makes strong cider. | |
| † | Cowarne Quinin (A) Sweet; good for cider. |
| † | Blenheim Orange (A)—Very sweet; good for table. |
| † | Golden Pippin (A)—Very sweet; good for table. |
| Old Pearmain (A)—Very sweet; good for table. | |
| Brown Crests—Very sweet. | |
| Under Leaves—Sweet; large bearer. | |
| Red Kernel—Sweet; good for cider. | |
| † | Reynolds’s Kernel (A)—Sweet; large pot-fruit. |
| Newland Kernel—Bitter sweet; good for cider. | |
| Jackson’s Kernel—Tart. | |
| † | Sam’s Crab—Tart. |
| † | Bridgewater Pippin (A)—Sweet. |
| † | Spice Apple (A)—Sweet. |
| White Beach—Bitter sweet; good for cider. | |
| Handsome Mandy—Bitter sweet; good for cider. | |
| Golden Rennet (A)—Sweet. | |
| Pine Apple—Moderately tart; wood cankers. | |
| Stoke Pippin (A)—Sweet; good bearers; pot-fruit and for cider;and numerous others. | |
| From Prize Essay on Orchards, by Clement Cadle, from the Journal of the Royal Society. | |