real fun has begun. Nearly all these trees are in bearing, and a few of
them have borne every year since they were planted out. They are set
only three feet apart in the row, which is not enough; and they suffered
terribly the first year from a midsummer attack of aphides; and the
pruning was neglected to allow them to recover from that scourge, so
that the form was somewhat injured; but they have never ceased to be a
joy to me and a wonderment to visitors. They are mostly of European
varieties, but Bismarck is the showiest and most fruitful one in the
collection, though far from the best to eat.
Then there are standard gooseberries and currants, of which there is
little to be said. They haven't been there long, but they are at home
and are going to stay. Next year I am going to put in some gooseberries
and currants in espalier form.
[Illustration: FIG. 43--DWARF PEAR IN PYRAMID FORM
Two years planted; author's garden]
Very few persons know what a medlar is. For the benefit of the ignorant
and to increase the kaleidoscopic effect on my fruit garden, I have
some medlar trees,--Hollaendische Monstroese,--which I bought of Louis
Spaeth, Baumschulenweg, Berlin.
A wire trellis, built much like a grape trellis, only higher, carries
the row of upright cordon apples. Some of these bore fruit the first
year they were planted, and there has been a fair sprinkling of fruit
every year since then. This has been one of the most satisfactory lots
in the make-up.
There are two rows containing forty-six bush-form apples on paradise
roots set six feet apart. Some of these have borne every year since
planting out, many of them showing a good crop this year. Again Bismarck
is the most fruitful, but the least pleasing to eat. Alexander has made
a good record, and this year Calville d'Automne shows a very pretty
crop. It is customary with visitors, especially those already interested
in fruit-growing and those of a practical turn of mind, to depart with
the judgment that "all those other schemes are curious and interesting,
but the bush form apple trees look the most like business." I think so
too. In fact my experience with dwarf apples might be summarized by
saying, "bush trees for business, cordons for fun."
One row of peach trees on St. Julien plum roots set fruit buds in
abundance the first year, but they were killed by the freeze of the
following winter. The second year the experience was the same, except
that the tops froze with the fruit buds. New tops were grown at once,
however, and the following year nearly every tree bore a small crop of
fruit. Dwarf peach trees are worth while.
This garden has also a row of cherry trees, including Morello, Richmond
and Montmorency; but these trees were set the second year of the garden
making and have borne only a small crop of sample cherries.
The last planting in this garden consists of one row of nectarines,
twenty-two trees.
This little garden, containing considerably less than a quarter of an
acre of land, has now growing upon it 548 fruit trees of the kinds
named. And I am not yet done planting. There are various other things
that I want to put in,--quinces, apricots, and perhaps raspberries,
dewberries, and other bush fruits. In fact, I should like to make it a
"Paradise" like good old Gerarde's or Dodoens', in which all the fruits
"good for food or physic" might be brought together and represented in a
little space.
It would be quite wrong to close this experience meeting without giving
the observations and quoting the opinions of some other and better men.
Patrick Barry, in his delightful "Fruit Garden," recorded his belief
that dwarf fruit trees were well worth while. "The apple," said he,
"worked on the Paradise, makes a beautiful little dwarf bush. We know of
nothing more interesting in the fruit garden than a row or little square
of these miniature fruit trees. They begin to bear the third year from
the bud, and the same variety is always larger and finer on them than on
standards." Speaking of pears, he said: "On the quince stock the trees
bear much earlier, are more prolific, more manageable, and consequently
preferable for small gardens."
The late Mr. E. G. Lodeman, who wrote the most comprehensive American
monograph on dwarf apples, concluded his essay rather pessimistically in
these words: "From all the evidence which I have been able to collect,
therefore, I cannot advise the planting of dwarf apple trees for
commercial rewards, but it seems to me, nevertheless, that they are
worth experimenting with for this purpose." Mr. Lodeman recorded and
endorsed the common opinion "that apples grown on dwarf trees are
handsomer and of better quality than those grown upon standards"; but he
did not seem to consider that fact of much importance.
Those who are acquainted at the Lazy Club in Cornell University, and
especially those who know Bailiwick, have heard of Professor L. H.
Bailey's dwarf apples. (Fig. 44.) These were planted six or eight years
ago, and most of them are now in bearing. There are a good many
different varieties, nearly all French. My understanding of the scheme
is that it was as much as half intended to be a commercial venture; but
up to the present time little else but confusion and fun have been
gathered with the fruit from those dwarf apple trees. When last I asked
the proprietor for his experience with dwarf apples he said that he was
having a lot of experience, only he didn't know what it was.
Dwarf pears have been planted frequently, especially in Western New York
and Michigan. I asked Professor S. A. Beach for his observations of
them, to which he replied: "With regard to dwarf pears I will say that
the variety which is most generally grown in commercial orchards is
Bartlett. Almost without exception this is grown as a standard. Other
important commercial varieties are Seckel, Bosc and Winter Nelis. All
these are generally grown as standards. The variety commonly grown as
dwarf is Angouleme. A few fruit growers of my acquaintance are making
some money from orchards of dwarf Angouleme. The other varieties which
are often propagated on dwarf stock as Clairgeau, Anjou and so forth,
are seldom profitable. In fact I have heard it stated that outside of
Ellwanger and Barry's orchard there is not a profitable orchard of Anjou
in this State. From these statements I wish you to derive the conclusion
that in New York State under present conditions there is little
encouragement for planting dwarf pears commercially."
[Illustration: FIG. 44--IN PROFESSOR BAILEY'S ORCHARD
Chenango apple on Doucin stocks, interplanted between standard trees]
Mr. E. W. Wood, for many years chairman of the fruit committee of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, says that "under the right
conditions the dwarf pear tree is a necessity for commercial pear
growing. The growers in Revere and Cambridge would feel they could not
get along without the dwarf trees. Putting the pear on the quince stock
does not change the wants of the roots of the latter, and it is no use
setting them on a light, dry soil, as the roots being confined to a
small area of unsuitable soil, will make a feeble growth and finally die
outright; or, if in an exposed situation, blow over. Most all the
varieties may be grown as dwarfs. The Angouleme and Clairgeau, both good
market varieties, cannot be successfully grown in any other way."
Recently Mr. M. B. Waite has written me the letter quoted below, giving
some conclusions from his experience with dwarf pears in Anne Arundel
County, Maryland. He says:
"I planted out 1,000 dwarf pear trees nine years ago. They were largely
Duchess (Angouleme), but there are some Manning, Howell, Anjou, Louise
Bonne and Lawrence. I have not been entirely satisfied with the results.
We have not had the proper quantity of fruit. There has been some fruit
every year since the fourth year, and two years ago there was quite a
good crop, but nothing to compare with the yield per acre of Kieffer,
LeConte and Garber, for instance. Of course, these are higher-priced
fruit and large yields are not required for good returns. Only the
Duchess and Manning, however, have produced sufficient to pay at all,
and the orchard has not as yet really paid financially. We have a nice
crop this year, however, more than the total yield up to this season,
and perhaps from now on we may win out. My dwarf pears are on a soil too
dry and sandy for the best results, and I think we are at Washington
pretty near the southern limit, at least at low altitudes. In the
mountains of Virginia and North Carolina they can be grown further
southward. They require a moist, preferably clay-loam soil even in their
naturally favored districts, such as New England, New York and Michigan,
but such a soil is still more desirable when rather too far south for
their normal range. They require high culture, manuring and fertilizing,
and thorough pruning and spraying in any locality, and these
requirements are still more exacting in Maryland. A slight neglect in
cultivation, pruning or spraying in one season results in a mass of
blooms the next spring, but little or no fruit set. Of course, this
extra attention which has to be devoted to dwarf pears as compared with
Oriental pears, peaches, apples, etc., to be profitable should result in
larger yields, but does not usually do so in this latitude. On the other
hand, we may say in favor of the dwarf pear that the quince root is a
healthy, reliable root for the pear tree; that the trees attain their
seasonal growth early, and therefore are not as susceptible to pear
blight as standard pears. Furthermore, they are more easily sprayed,
pruned, and otherwise handled than the high standard trees."
My friend, Mr. J. W. Kerr, of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, who owns
one of the oldest and most picturesque orchards of dwarf pears I ever
saw, says that Angouleme (Duchess) is the only variety that pays for
growing in that form.
Thus the experience of many men in many parts of America sums up as we
began. The conclusion of the whole matter seems to be about this: Dwarf
fruit trees have not yet played any prominent role in American
commercial horticulture; but they have been profitable in a few special
cases, and the probability seems strong almost to the point of certainty
that, with the development, refinement and specialization of our
commercial fruit growing, a wider field of usefulness will be opened for
dwarf trees. In the realm of amateur fruit growing, on the other
hand,--a realm now daily widening,--dwarf fruit trees are of capital
importance. The owners and renters of small grounds, the cultivators of
little gardens--the great majority of American home-makers, in
fact,--will find in them an unfailing source of pleasure, inspiration,
and even of profit.
INDEX
PAGE
Advantages of dwarf trees, 8
Apple, propagation of, 23
Apples, 63
Apples, recommended varieties, 72
Bailey, H., quoted, 120
Barry's "Fruit Garden," 119
Bismarck apple, 7
Boundary fences, 16
Bush fruits, 99
Commercial value, 20
Cordon trees, 46
Currants, 101
Definition of dwarf tree, 1
Designs for fruit gardens, 53, 55, 59, 61
Disadvantages of dwarf trees, 18
Double-working, 27
Doucin apple, 26
Dwarf tree, definition, 1
Early bearing, 8
Erwin, A. T., quoted, 29
Expense of dwarf trees, 18
Fertilizers, 54
Fillers in orchards, 13
Forms for trees, 41
Gooseberries, 101
Heading young trees, 32
Houses for dwarf fruits, 107
J. W. Kerr, quoted, 124
Lodeman, E. G., quoted, 119
Longevity of dwarf trees, 19
Management of dwarf trees, 51
Management of trees in pots, 109
Nectarine, propagation of, 28
Nursery management, 31
Paradise apple, 24
Peach, propagation of, 27
Peaches, 83
Pear, propagation of, 26
Pears, 76
Pears, recommended varieties, 81
Personalia, 112
Pinching, 35
Plum, propagation of, 28
Plums, 90
Plums, recommended varieties, 97
Pots for fruit trees, 106
Propagation, 22
Pruning apple trees, 68
Pruning dwarf trees, 33
Pruning peach trees, 86
Pruning plum trees, 92
Pyramid tree, 42
Quality of fruit, 10
Root pruning, 36
Sand cherry, 30
San Jose scale, 10
School gardens, 15
Selection of varieties, 60
Suburban places, 12
Tillage, 54
Training in special forms, 38
Trellises for trees, 58
U-form trees, 44
Uses for dwarf trees, 12
Waite, M. B., quoted, 122
Walls and fences, 15
Walls for dwarf trees, 57
Wood, E. W., quoted, 122
.............
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
In the plain-text version of this ebook italics are indicated by
_underscores_.
Obvious typographical errors in spelling and punctuation have been
corrected without comment. One example of an obvious typographical error
is on page 124 where the word "an" was changed to "on" in the phrase
"... on the other hand...." Other than obvious typographical errors, the
author's original spelling, punctuation, hyphenation and use of accents
has been left intact with the following three exceptions:
1. On page 92 a hyphen was added to the term "one-half".
2. In the Index (page 125) an accent mark was added in the term:
"San Jose scale".
3. In the Index (page 125) the entry "J. W. Kerr" was changed to
"Kerr, J. W." to correspond with other similar entries.