Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

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.