Part 10

In Europe, where greater attention has been paid to these matters, the opinion has settled down to a comparatively limited number. For example, Mr. George Bunyard in "The Fruit Garden" recommends the following varieties for cordons:

Mr. Gladstone Aug. Devonshire Quarrenden Aug. James Grieve Sept. Wealthy Oct. Margil Oct. King of Pippins Oct. Mother Oct. Calville Rouge Precoce Oct. Cox's Orange Pippin Oct., Feb. St. Edmund's Pippin Nov. Ross Nonpareil Nov. Duchess of Oldenburg Aug. Pott's Seedling Sept. Lord Grosvenor Sept. Adams' Pearmain Dec. Hubbard's Pearmain Dec. Allington Pippin Nov., Feb. Scarlet Nonpareil Jan., Feb. Norman's Pippin Jan. Lord Burghley Feb. Duke of Devonshire Feb. Rosemary Russet Feb. Sturmer Pippin Very late Allen's Everlasting Very late Fearn's Pippin. Very late Lord Derby Nov. Bismarck Dec. Lane's Prince Albert Jan., March Lord Suffield Sept. Grenadier Sept., Oct. Golden Spire Sept., Oct. Seaton House Sept., Oct. Sandringham Feb. Alfriston Feb., March Calville Malingre Feb. to Mch. Calville Rouge Feb. to Mch.

The same authority recommends the following varieties to be grown on Paradise stocks as bushes:

Beauty of Bath July, Aug. Red Quarrenden July, Aug. Lady Sudeley Sept. Worcester Pearmain Sept., Oct. Yellow Angestrie Sept. Duchess' Favorite Sept. to Oct. King of the Pippins Oct. Early White Transparent J'ly. Lord Suffield Aug., Sept. Pott's Seedling Aug., Sept. Lord Grosvenor Aug., Sept. Early Julien Aug., Sept. Ecklinville Seedling Sept., Oct. Grenadier Sept., Oct. Stirling Castle Sept., Oct. Golden Spire Sept., Oct. Cox's Orange Pippin Nov., Feb. Beauty of Barnack Nov. Allington Pippin Dec., Feb. Gascoigne's Scarlet Dec. Christmas Pearmain Dec. Winter Quarrenden Dec. Baumann's Reinette Jan. Lord Derby Oct., Nov. Stone's Apple Oct., Nov. Tower of Glamis Oct., Nov. Warner's King Oct., Nov. Bismarck Oct., Nov. Lane's Prince Albert Dec., Mch. Bramley's Seedling Dec., Mch. Newton Wonder Dec., Mch.

Max Loebener in his book on dwarf fruits recommends the following varieties for dwarf apples:

Red Astrachan July, Aug. Yellow Transparent Aug., Sept. Charlamowsky Aug., Sept. Transparent de Croncels Sept., Oct. Prince Apple Sept., Jan. Danzig Oct., Dec. Dean's Codlin Oct. to Feb. Landbury Reinette Nov., Feb. Cox's Orange Nov. to Mch. Requires good soil Winter Gold Pearmain Nov., March Ribston Pippin Nov., April Good warm soil Canada Reinette. Nov., April Hardy Belle de Boskoop Nov., May Virginia Rose Aug. Red Peach Summer Apple Aug., Sept. Lord Suffield Aug., Oct. Cellini Sept., Nov. Alexander Oct., Dec. Gravenstein Oct. to Jan. For moist soils, bears late Yellow Richard Nov., Dec. Bismarck Nov., Feb. Yellow Bellflower Nov. to April Requires good position Baumann's Reinette Dec., May

Inasmuch as the advantages of the dwarf trees apply especially to the growing of fine fruit, only the better varieties should generally be propagated in this way. On this basis, therefore, rather than on the basis of adaptation learned from experience, the following varieties may be suggested among the well known American sorts for growing in dwarf form:

Baldwin Esopus Mother Williams' Favorite Sutton King Northern Spy Grimes Winesap Yellow Transparent McIntosh Red Astrachan Alexander Wolf River Ribston Pippin Wealthy Wagener

Of course, one propagating dwarf apples would always select his own favorites. It should be noticed that in the list given above are some varieties which are notable for beauty of appearance rather than for superior quality. They are recommended on the former consideration. Certain varieties in the list, for instance Alexander, are known to succeed especially well as dwarfs.

VIII

DWARF PEARS

Pears are the fruit most largely grown in dwarf form in America. There are a few well established and successful commercial orchards of pears, especially in western New York and Michigan. The pear is the fruit most assiduously cultivated in dwarf and trained forms in Europe. At the same time it is the one with which I confess I have had the least satisfaction. This is perhaps because I have always experimented in a country where pears do not naturally succeed, and because, further, my fancies have run more to other kinds of fruit.

It is probably true that the pear is improved more in quality than any other fruit by being grown in dwarf form and trained as cordons and espaliers on a suitable frame or wall. This is emphatically true in cold and inclement climates, where indeed some of the best varieties of pears will not succeed at all unless given this advantage. A west wall is recommended as giving the very finest results. It should be noted, however, that some varieties do better on walls than others. Those which grow vigorously in bush, pyramid, or standard forms receive comparatively less benefit from wall training.

The pear is the best of all trees for training in pyramid form. Sometimes very tall slim pyramids are made, becoming almost pillars of foliage and fruit in their old age. These may be in fact upright cordons which are trained with strong stems and allowed to support themselves without a trellis. Some of the less upright growing varieties are difficult to form into pyramids, and such may be pruned in the ordinary bush or vase form. In growing dwarf pears commercially, as is sometimes done, it is probably best to give most varieties the bush form. The pyramid is rather harder to maintain.

The pear succeeds well as a cordon tree. Perhaps the best form is the oblique cordon, one placed at an angle of about forty-five degrees with the horizon. The upright and horizontal cordons may also be used, though neither of these forms is specially well adapted to pears.

All of the better types of espaliers are suited to pear trees. Probably the Palmette-Verrier is the best, although the old fashioned espaliers are often used. The U-form and the double U-form also succeed if well built.

The pruning of the pear tree is substantially the same as that of the apple. Where pear blight is a factor in the problem, due allowance must be made for it. It sometimes happens that entire branches or arms have to be cut away on account of blighting. The system of pruning therefore should furnish a means of renewing such members promptly when necessity requires.

The quince root prefers a fairly heavy and even moist soil. A heavy clay loam is best, although a strong clay will answer. Light sandy soils or loose gravelly soils will not give such good results. On the other hand any clay soil which holds water to a considerable extent will answer. As these are the requirements for quince roots, they become also the requirements for dwarf pears. Any attempt to grow dwarf pears on a light loose soil is almost certain to prove a failure.

It is often said that dwarf pears should be planted deep in the ground when they are set out. The rule is to put them deep enough so that the bud union will be buried beneath the surface of the soil. With such treatment the pear itself often throws out roots and eventually establishes a feeding system of its own, becoming independent of the quince stock. It is then no longer a dwarf tree except by the authority of the pruning knife. It is probably true that many varieties of dwarf pears are longer lived when treated in this way. In planting, therefore, it becomes a question whether one desires chiefly a long-lived tree or a strictly dwarf one. The ease with which dwarf trees are replaced makes longevity a less important factor than in commercial orchards of standard trees.

Of course, it is understood that if the dwarfest form is to be maintained, the tree must be planted high enough to leave the union out of the ground, thus preventing the pear from throwing out roots of its own.

The varieties principally grown in this country as dwarfs are Angouleme, Bartlett, Anjou, and Louise Bonne.

In European nurseries the list of pears propagated on quince roots is much larger. The following varieties are recommended for England by Mr. Owen Thomas, and are said to be particularly good for training on walls:

Buerre Giffard Clapp's Favorite Jargonelle Williams' (Bartlett) Buerre d'Amanlis Fondante d'Automne Triomphe de Vienne Buerre Bosc Buerre Hardy Buerre Brown Comte de Lamy Louise Bonne de Jersey Pitmaston Duchess La France Buerre d'Anjou Buerre de Jonghe Doyenne d'Alencon Glou Morceau Marie Benoist Winter Nelis Buerre Diel Nouvelle Fulvie Buerre Sterckmans Easter Buerre Le Lectier Olivier de Serres Seckel Conference Doyenne du Comice Marie Louise Thompson's Duchesse d'Angouleme Passe Crassane Ne Plus Meuris Bergamotte Esperen Buerre Rance Josephine de Malines

DWARF PEACHES

The peach as a dwarf tree is almost unknown in America. It is not very often grown as a dwarf even in Europe, except when it is trained on walls or grown in houses. The species, however, is easily dwarfed and makes a good tree in various forms when well propagated. The methods by which dwarf peaches are propagated are fully described in the chapter devoted to that subject.

Peach trees growing on plum stocks and formed in vases or bushes make excellent garden trees. Naturally they should be headed low, best within three to six inches of the ground. They then make fine, regular, well balanced tops which are easily kept opened out in the desired vase form. Such trees usually come into bearing one or two years earlier than those propagated and trained in the usual way. In a country like New England where peach growing is largely a system of gambling against cold weather, and where the business largely resolves itself into a race for getting a crop before the trees freeze back, the smaller stature and the earlier bearing of the dwarf tree are obvious advantages. It has not yet been shown that this may be turned to account on a commercial scale, but there seem to be possibilities in it. In case the peach grower undertakes the method of laying down his peach trees and covering them during the winter to save them from freezing, the smaller growth of the dwarf trees would prove a decided advantage. This method of handling peach trees has proved a practical success under certain conditions.

Headed back and formed into bushes]

The peach does not succeed as a cordon. The nearest that this form can be successfully approached is the U-form. The double U-form is probably even better. The fan form of training is the best of all methods of training for the peach. The tree makes wood so rapidly that considerable space has to be provided for the annual growth. The fan form being less definite in its makeup can be more readily adapted to the exigencies of rapid growth and severe cutting out.