different kinds of plums that no general rule can be given for
encouraging them. Close observation of each variety will soon enable the
gardener to direct his pruning in such a way as to assist in this
important process of fruit bud formation. In a rough general way it may
be said that the Domestica and Americana varieties of plums form
distinct fruit spurs along the sides of one and two year old branches,
and that, for the encouragement of these, considerable light should be
admitted and the growth of the interior shoots rather rigidly checked.
The Japanese and Hortulana varieties on the other hand fruit best from
very short spurs or clusters of buds which form along from the strong
one and two year old branches. The main object, therefore, with these
latter varieties is to maintain a succession of clean, sound, well
matured shoots. This is done by a moderate thinning of the main shoots
early in the year, resulting in the forcing of those which are left.
These strong growing shoots are checked late in the summer in order that
they may ripen up thoroughly, but the pinching which is done to this end
is delayed long enough so that the pinched shoots will not start into
growth again. Moreover, this pinching is done well out to the ends of
the shoots.
Certain varieties of plums succeed fairly well as vertical cordons. The
varieties least adapted to this purpose are the Hortulana offspring and
their hybrids and a few of the rank-growing Japanese, like Hale and
October Purple. In the dwarf tree garden at the Massachusetts
Agricultural College the writer has a row of plum trees containing a
large assortment of varieties and species. These trees were picked out
at random from various sources and very few of them were propagated on
dwarfing stocks. On this account the trees were set two feet apart,
which is more than is usually recommended for upright cordons. They have
now been growing three years, and they furnish much interesting
testimony regarding the feasibility of growing plums in this form.
Contrary to expectation such varieties as Red June, Abundance, and
Burbank have done well under this treatment. These varieties all fruited
the next year after planting. Some varieties of the Domestica group are
bearing the third year after planting, which is unusually early. All
of them seem to be fairly well adapted to this method of treatment.
Varieties like Wildgoose and Wayland, and such hybrids as Gonzales,
Waugh and Red May, can hardly be controlled in the restricted space
allowed them in a row of vertical cordons. They give very little promise
of success. It is probable that all these varieties would make a better
showing if they were propagated on some such stock as sand cherry.
[Illustration: FIG. 37--BURBANK PLUMS ON UPRIGHT CORDONS TRAINED TO
TRELLIS]
Plums are seldom--almost never--propagated as horizontal cordons. I have
never yet undertaken it myself, but propose to do so at the first
opportunity and with some expectation of moderate success with certain
varieties. The slow growing sorts like Green Gage, Italian Prune, and
Agen seem to offer special promise.
In the form of espaliers plums are often trained against walls. Indeed
this is the favorite way of producing fancy plums in England, and the
same practise prevails to a considerable extent on the continent of
Europe. In this country walls are not required, and in most cases would
be of no advantage. Where it is desired to cover back fences or sides of
buildings, however, plum trees in espalier form can be confidently
recommended. The Domestica varieties of highest quality such as Bavay,
Jefferson, Victoria, Pond, Bradshaw, and Coe's Golden Drop would have
first choice. The Japanese varieties can also be grown on trellises or
walls, but the freer forms, such as the fan espalier used for the peach,
are better suited to their habits of growth.
The following varieties of plums can be recommended for dwarf bush
forms:
Green Gage
Jefferson
Bradshaw
Agen
Grand Duke
Bavay (Reine Claude)
McLaughlin
Pond
Bleeker
Italian Prune
Cluster Damson (or other Damsons)
Such varieties of the Japanese class as Abundance, Chabot, Red June,
Satsuma, Burbank may be grown on dwarf stocks in bush forms, but they
are not altogether satisfactory. There are two objections against them:
(1) It is difficult to keep them in restricted bounds, such a result
being dependent on constant and severe heading in. (2) They overgrow the
dwarf stocks very strongly and thus do not have a very firm hold on the
ground. They are apt to blow over or break off after a few years, unless
carefully staked up.
The following varieties can be recommended for upright cordons, in which
form they will give moderate success if properly managed:
Coe's Golden Drop
Agen
Victoria
Grand Duke
Abundance
Burbank
Bradshaw
Bavay
Lombard
Chabot
Cheney
Aubert (Yellow Egg or Magnum Bonum)
Also most of the clean-growing Americana varieties such as Smith, Terry,
Stoddard, etc.
Mr. Owen Thomas recommends for growing on walls in England the following
varieties:
Green Gage
Brandy Gage
Denniston's Superb Gage
Comte d'Athem's Gage
Transparent Gage
Transparent Late Gage
Jefferson
Reine Claude Violette
Brahy's Green Gage
Bryanstone Gage
Oullin's Golden Gage
Golden Transparent Gage
Reine Claude de Bavay
Coe's Golden Drop
Kirke's Blue
Washington
XI
BUSH FRUITS
The bush fruits, so far as I know, are never cultivated as dwarfs. To
speak more exactly I should say that no dwarf stock is ever used to
reduce the size to which the plants grow. On the other hand, bush fruits
are often systematically pruned back in order to restrict their size,
and are sometimes trained in elaborate forms as dwarf fruit trees are.
To this extent they are managed in the same way and might properly be
treated in the same general category. What is more to our purpose, they
are almost always included in the plan of any private fruit garden on a
restricted area, such as we have had chiefly in view in this discussion
of dwarf fruit trees. These reasons make it appropriate, if not indeed
essential, that something should be said regarding these fruits here.
All bush fruits can be grown in such forms as cordons, espaliers, etc.
Anything of this sort which the gardener wishes can become a part of his
garden of little trees. Gooseberries and currants offer the most
entertainment and remuneration when subjected to special pruning and
training, and indeed they should not be omitted from any garden scheme
of this kind. Raspberries are less amenable to this kind of education
and should be introduced with some care. Blackberries are necessarily
difficult to handle and no very complicated schemes of pruning and
training can be successfully applied to them. Such other fruits as
Loganberries, strawberry-raspberries, June berries, etc., may be
introduced "at the owner's risk." Any of them will submit to a certain
amount of correction with the pruning knife, and may add to the variety
of fruits grown in the amateur's garden. Of course, it is distinctly
understood that these special methods of treatment are not commercially
recommended for any of the bush fruits in America.
[Illustration: FIG. 38--CURRANTS AS FAN ESPALIERS ON TRELLIS, HARTFORD,
CONN.]
Probably the most interesting and practical way for handling
gooseberries and currants in dwarf fruit gardens is the form known as
standards. This form consists of a small round fruiting top of almost
any desired variety grafted high upon a straight clean trunk or stem.
This stem may have any convenient height from two to ten feet, the most
common and practical height being about four feet. The stock used is the
flowering currant, _Ribes aureum_, which forms a sufficiently strong and
upright growth for this purpose. Nevertheless it is almost always
necessary to support these standards with a convenient stake apiece. For
the present these standard gooseberries and currants can be obtained
only of the European nurserymen. At least the writer knows of no one who
propagates them in America. There are several importers, however, who
make a business of supplying European stock and who are always glad to
import these on order.
The finer varieties are especially chosen for growing as standards. This
applies particularly to gooseberries, which are more widely grown and
which are more highly prized in Europe than in this country. The
varieties grown in Europe are usually finer table fruits than the
American varieties. It is generally understood that the finest fruits
for eating fresh out of hand are secured from the standard gooseberries.
[Illustration: FIG. 39--GOOSEBERRY FAN ESPALIER
Variety Industry, trained on wire trellis]
Gooseberries and currants are also adapted easily to the espalier form.
The most elaborate palmettes and other geometrical designs can be worked
out. Nevertheless the simplest and most practical form for trained
gooseberries and currants is the fan shape. If a suitable trellis is
provided, the vines may be easily tied out upon it in very attractive
fan forms and these are found to be quite satisfactory, both as regards
their looks and their product of fruit. They are also easily sprayed,
which is a consideration worth mentioning when one has to fight the
currant worm. In general, it is best in our latitude to run these
espaliers north and south, because they receive too much sun when the
trellis runs east and west. This rule, however, is not absolute.
Probably the most convenient and practical way for growing these fruits
in the dwarf tree garden is to plant standards at regular intervals in a
row, say six feet apart, and to plant a certain number of fan shaped
bushes between each pair of standards in the row. If these standards
were six feet apart, two plants for fan training would be enough between
each pair. The top of the trellis on which the fan forms are tied, would
not be above four feet high, better only three. The heads of the
standards then rise well above the top of the trellis. This furnishes
some support for the stem of the standard and economizes space. Economy
of space is one of the first principles of this style of gardening.
[Illustration: FIG. 40--TREE FORM GOOSEBERRY]
No list need be given here of the varieties of gooseberries and currants
to be recommended for this class of planting. It may be said that any of
the favorite varieties of currants grown in this country, as for
example, Fay, Victoria, Red Versailles, etc., may be chosen, and that
these are indeed the varieties usually preferred in Europe. With respect
to gooseberries it may be remarked that the English, French, and German
varieties are mostly very different from those grown in America, and
that while they have some shortcomings in our climate, they are for the
most part to be recommended for the purposes which we here have in
view.
XII
FRUIT TREES IN POTS
Those who are used to seeing large fruit trees in orchard plantations
where each specimen has 1,000 to 2,000 square feet of space, with
unlimited opportunities downward, find a fruit tree in a pot a
curiosity. It seems remarkable to see a tree in vigorous health and
bearing fruit with less than one cubic foot of soil. Nevertheless this
method of handling fruit trees is entirely practicable. In some places
it is practised extensively in an amateur way, and occasionally reaches
almost commercial proportions. For those who grow fruit trees for
recreation there could hardly be a more interesting experiment.
The pots mostly used are the nine, ten, eleven and twelve inch standard
earthenware pots. With most trees it is best to begin with small sizes
and gradually shift forward to the larger ones. A bearing tree may be
maintained for several years in a twelve inch pot or even in a ten inch
size. Sometimes wooden tubs are substituted for pots. These look better,
but are not so good in any other way.
Trees may be grown in pots out of doors, although there is no particular
advantage in doing this. If such practise is undertaken the pots should
be plunged their full depth in good garden soil. Perfect drainage should
be secured by having some broken brick or coarse cinders underneath.
Usually potted trees are grown under glass. They are kept in a cool
greenhouse, that is one with little heat. Sometimes they are without
artificial heat. In fact this is probably the best way. The houses which
are purposely constructed for fruit trees may have a single line of pipe
if this is convenient, so that the chill may be taken off the air in
severe cold weather. To reach anything like real success, houses must be
devoted exclusively to fruit trees. Occasionally trees may be grown with
other plants, as in cold graperies, but the results are not the best and
often come very close to failure.
In building houses for fruit trees exclusively, the even span
construction is nearly always used. Houses eighteen or twenty feet wide,
and five feet high at the eaves, will answer the purpose very well. The
leading greenhouse designers are prepared to furnish plans for such
houses and it is usually best to follow the advice of their experts.
All kinds of fruit trees can be grown in pots. This includes apples,
pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, and cherries. Those which give the
best returns are plums and nectarines. Apples in pots are very
interesting and furnish a superior quality of fruit when grown under
glass. Apples, plums and nectarines take a finer finish and a higher
flavor when grown in this way than when grown in any other.
All fruit trees to be grown in pots should be propagated on the dwarfest
of dwarfing stocks. This means practically that apples should be on
Paradise, pears on quince, peaches and nectarines on sand cherry, plum
on sand cherry or St. Julien plum, and cherries on Mahaleb.
[Illustration: FIG. 41--A FRUITING PEACH IN POT]
The trees should be potted in good rich soil, preferably the best garden
loam. This should have enough sand and gravel in it to insure good
drainage. A considerable amount of drainage material should be placed
in the bottom of each pot. The trees should be repotted in fresh soil
annually in October or November.
Trees in pots require liberal feeding. Besides being given well enriched
earth at the time of repotting, they should be supplied from time to
time with small amounts of fertilizer. Good soluble chemical fertilizers
can be applied either dry or dissolved. A good formula is one part
nitrate of soda, two parts of muriate of potash, two parts of high grade
phosphoric acid. A very little sprinkling, say a tablespoonful, of this
can be given on each pot once a month during the growing season which
lasts roughly from December to May. In place of this, or alternately
with this, moderate waterings with liquid manure may also be given.
These small doses of food are especially useful at the time when the
fruit is forming on the trees.
The trees are usually brought into the house at the time of potting, say
November 1. If early fruit is desired, they are kept in a house with
some heat. It is necessary only that the temperature should be kept
constantly and safely above the freezing point. Rapid forcing with a
high temperature is not desirable and is hardly possible. If kept simply
above the freezing point, these trees will start into growth in January.
They can then be kept somewhat warmer during February, the heat being
slightly increased in March. Peaches and nectarines will stand fairly
high temperatures after the fruit is well set and especially toward
ripening time. By this method of mild forcing, plums, peaches, and
nectarines can be brought into fruit as early as the latter part of
May.
[Illustration: FIG. 42--A FIG TREE IN A POT]
The main crop of potted fruits, however, need not be expected until June
or July; that is not very much in advance of the outdoor crop. The
object of growing fruit under glass is not so much to force it ahead of
season as it is to improve the quality. Trees which are to be kept in a
cool house without heat need no particular attention except to see that
they are watered occasionally and that some plant food is given after
growth begins. Even if the temperature goes down considerably below
freezing during the winter months in this cold house where the potted
fruit trees are, no damage need be expected.
Of course, special care will be given to prevent damage from attacks of
fungi or insects which occasionally become troublesome in the houses.
The small size of these trees makes such work comparatively easy.
The methods of pruning are the same as those recommended for pyramid and
bush form trees. These forms are the most practical for pot culture,
though pot trees are occasionally trained in cordon forms.
XIII
PERSONALIA
Many persons have a strong prejudice in favor of the concrete. On
general principles they object to generalities. They choose rather the
specific case. Personal experience, they say, means more to them than
theory, even though the theory be the sublimation of all experience. For
the benefit of such people I am going to set down an account of some of
my own attempts at growing dwarf fruit trees, and to that I will add
brief opinions and experiences of some friends of mine.
The first dwarf fruit tree that I ever saw, so far as I remember, was in
the grounds of the Kansas State Agricultural College when I was a
student there. This tree was an apple, on Paradise stock, and at two
years after planting it bore six or eight very fine Yellow Transparent
apples. It was one of several dwarf apples planted by Professor E. A.
Popenoe, but the other trees did not much attract my attention. This
particular specimen had a straight, clean trunk of about thirty inches,
after the absurd style of heading dwarf apples practised in most
American nurseries. But the crown was full and symmetrical, and the
fruit was incomparable. That particular tree has always been a sort of
ideal and inspiration to me.
Later, when I planted an orchard in Oklahoma, I put in some dwarf trees,
particularly pears, but I did not stay there long enough to see what
came of them.
The next fruit garden in which I became interested was in Vermont. This
had in it some dwarf pear trees, dwarf apples and dwarf plums, and my
own personal experience had fairly begun. The dwarf apples proved to be
an almost complete failure, for reasons which I can not now
satisfactorily explain. A few years later I planted a few dwarf apple
trees in another Vermont garden, where they did reasonably well. But, at
any rate, the whole undertaking was unsatisfactory, for it did not give
me a vital understanding of the trees. I never got onto terms of real
personal goodfellowship with them; and until a gardener does that his
work is some sort of a failure.
The dwarf pears did somewhat better. They seemed to understand their
business, and they kept about it without much attention from me. I never
cared much for pears, anyway.
But the plums were the brilliant success, at least with reference to my
own interior personal experience. Every plum tree meant something to me.
A stub of a root and two scrawny plum branches would at any time arouse
my imagination like the circus posters' appeal to a boy. In this Vermont
garden which I adopted when it was about four years old, there were
various plum trees, mostly of domestica varieties, growing on Americana
roots. They had come from the Iowa State College, where they had been
educated that way. They had been given those Americana roots, not
primarily to dwarf them, but to insure them against damage from the cold
winters. The tops had not been cut back, and the whole treatment was
just such as would have been applied to standards. Later I saw the bad
results of this treatment, for several of the trees blew over in high
winds. From subsequent experience I feel sure that if they had been
headed low at first, if they had been kept closely headed back and
otherwise handled like real dwarfs, they would have lived to a greater
age and would have made everybody happier.
At this time also I began, on a somewhat comprehensive plan, the
propagation of plums on all sorts of stocks, including Americana,
Wayland seedlings, Miner root cuttings and sand cherry, all more or less
efficient dwarfing stocks. By this time I was into it head over ears, as
far as the plums were concerned.
This having been the largest chapter in my personal pomological
experience, I suppose it ought to form the largest portion of this
chapter in the book; but my plum work and my experiments in propagation
have been so often and so fully reported elsewhere that it would be a
vain repetition to go over them again now. They are all written down in
the proper places where they may be consulted by the enthusiastic or
ill-advised student.
And then I came to Massachusetts; and here the first project, almost, to
which my hand was turned was the installation of a garden of dwarf fruit
trees. From the following memorandum of the trees growing in this garden
any reader may surmise the enjoyment I have found in it. There is one
row of dwarf plum trees set six feet apart and trained, rather
unsatisfactorily, into bush form. The trees were many of them too large
when they came from France, and, though I cut them back severely, they
did not form such low bushy heads as my ideal species. They are on St.
Julien roots, which serve the purposes in hand fairly well. Though the
trees had a hard trip across the water only one out of forty-six has
died in three years. Unfortunately these trees have not yet borne
fruit,--not one of them. Next year many of them will bear. Earlier
fruitage can certainly be secured on sand cherry stocks and under other
methods of training.
Besides the bush plums, the garden contains a row of upright cordons.
Most of these were not propagated on dwarf stocks at all, and were not
expected to suffer any such drastic training as I have put upon them.
They were taken from the college nursery and from the nurseries of
several of my correspondents, just wherever I could find the varieties I
wanted, and without reference to the stocks on which they were growing.
A few are on Americana stocks, several are on peach roots (of all
things), and probably a majority are growing on the usual Myrobalan
roots. These trees are planted two feet apart in the row and are tied up
to a trellis of chicken wire. There are about thirty varieties in the
row, numbering most of the different botanical types more frequently
cultivated in North America. Many of the varieties are totally and very
obviously unsuited to this method of treatment, and presently I will
replace them with more amenable varieties. But many of the varieties
have fruited, especially the Japanese kinds, and some of them, like
Burbank, have proved most unexpectedly docile. Altogether this row of
unsuitably propagated and unsuitably selected varieties of plum trees
has been one of the most interesting, instructive and entertaining
elements in my dwarf fruit garden.
Next there comes a trellis bearing some espaliers, including plums,
pears, apples, peaches and cherries; but these have been recently
planted, and as yet they have done nothing worth relating.
There is one row of twenty-three dwarf pears, mostly trained in pyramid
form. These have not done well, but the reason is not far to seek. The
soil is light and full of gravel, and quite unsuited to pear or quince.
Pears never thrive on it. Several of the trees are bearing a crop this
year, but some of the trees are also dead, and the whole row looks like
the finish of a bargain sale on the remnant ribbon counter.
The row of upright cordon pears is a trifle better, but that is only an
accident, I think. The varieties which are growing there seem to be
rather better adapted to withstand the unpropitious surroundings. These
trees also are bearing.