THE VINEYARD AND ORCHARD
He who proposes to plant grape-vines will scarcely fail to take the
sensible course of inspecting the varieties already producing fruit in
his locality. From causes often too obscure to be learned with
certainty, excellent kinds will prove to be well adapted to one
locality, and fail in others. If, therefore, when calling on a neighbor
during August, September, or October, we are shown a vine producing
fruit abundantly that is suited to our taste, a vine also which
manifests unmistakable vigor, we may be reasonably sure that it belongs
to a variety which we should have, especially if it be growing in a
soil and exposure somewhat similar to our garden plot. A neighbor
worthy of the name will be glad to give us a few cuttings from his vine
at the time of its annual pruning; and with, very little trouble we
also may soon possess the desired variety. When the vine is trimmed,
either make yourself or have your friend make a few cuttings of sound
wood from that season's growth. About eight inches is a good length for
these vine-slips, and they should contain at least two buds. Let each
slip be cut off smoothly just under the lowest bud, and extend an inch
or two above the uppermost bud. If these cuttings are obtained in
November or December, they may be put into a little box with some of
the moist soil of the garden, and buried in the ground below the usual
frost-line--say a foot or eighteen inches in our latitude. The simple
object is to keep them in a cool, even temperature, but not a frosty
one. Early in April dig up the box, open a trench in a moist but not
wet part of the garden, and insert the cuttings perpendicularly in the
soil, so that the upper bud is covered barely one inch. In filling up
the trench, press the soil carefully yet firmly about the cuttings, and
spread over the surface just about them a little fine manure. The
cuttings should be a foot apart from each other in the row. Do not let
the ground become dry about them at any time during the summer. By fall
these cuttings will probably have thrown out an abundance of roots, and
have made from two to three feet of vine. In this case they can be
taken up and set out where they are to fruit. Possibly but one or two
of them have started vigorously. The backward ones had better be left
to grow another year in the cutting bed. Probably we shall not wish to
cultivate more than one or two vines of the variety; but it is just as
easy to start several cuttings as one, and by this course we guard
against failure, and are able to select the most vigorous plant for our
garden. By taking good care of the others we soon derive one of the
best pleasures which our acre can afford--that of giving to a friend
something which will enhance the productiveness of his acre, and add to
his enjoyment for years to come.
Not only on our neighbor's grounds, but also on our own we shall
discover that some varieties are unusually vigorous, productive, and
well-adapted to our locality; and we may very naturally wish to have
more vines of the same sort, especially if the fruit is to our taste.
We can either increase this kind by cuttings, as has been described, or
we can layer part of the vine that has won our approval by well-doing.
I shall take the latter course with several delicious varieties in my
vineyard. Some kinds of grapes do not root readily as cuttings, but
there is little chance of failure in layering. This process is simply
the laying down of a branch of a vine in early spring, and covering it
lightly with soil, so that some buds will be beneath the surface, and
others just at or a little above it. Those beneath will form roots, the
others shoots which by fall should be good vines for planting. Every
bud that can reach the air and light will start upward, and thus there
may be a thick growth of incipient vines that will crowd and enfeeble
each other. The probabilities are that only two or three new vines are
wanted; therefore all the others should be rubbed off at the start, so
that the strength of the parent plant and of the new roots that are
forming may go into those few shoots designed to become eventually a
part of our vineyard. If we wish only one vine, then but one bud should
grow from the layer; if two vines, then two buds. The fewer buds that
are permitted to grow, the stronger vines they make.
It must be remembered that this layer, for the greater part of the
growing season, is drawing its sustenance from the parent plant, to
which it is still attached. Therefore the other branches of this vine
thus called upon for unusual effort should be permitted to fruit but
sparingly. We should not injure and enfeeble the original vine in order
to get others like it. For this reason we advise that no more buds be
permitted to grow from the layer than we actually need ourselves. To
injure a good vine and deprive ourselves of fruit that we may have
plants to give away, is to love one's neighbor better than one's
self--a thing permitted, but not required. When our vines are pruned,
we can make as many cuttings as we choose, either to sell or give away.
The ground in which a layer is placed should be very rich, and its
surface round the young growing vines always kept moist and free from
weeds. In the autumn, after the leaves have fallen and the wood is ripe
and hard, cut off the layered branch close to the vine, and with a
garden-fork gently and carefully lift it, with all its roots and young
vines attached, out of the soil. First cut the young vines back to
three or four buds, then separate them from the branch from which they
grew, being sure to give each plant plenty of roots, and the roots BACK
of the point from which it grew; that is, those roots nearest the
parent plant from which the branch was layered. All the old wood of the
branch that is naked, free of roots, should be cut off. The young
shoots thus separated are now independent vines, and may be set out at
once where they are to fruit. If you have a variety that does not do
well, or that you do not like, dig it out, enrich the soil, and put one
of your favorites in its place.
We will now consider briefly the diseases and insect enemies of the
grape. A vine way be doomed to ill-health from its very situation. Mr.
Hussman, a grape-culturist of great experience and wide observation,
writes: "Those localities may generally be considered safe for the
grape in which there are no miasmatic influences. Where malaria and
fevers prevail, there is no safety for the crop, as the vine seems to
be as susceptible to such influences as human beings."
Taking this statement literally, we may well ask, Where, then, can
grapes be grown? According to physicians, malaria has become one of the
most generally diffused products of the country. When a man asserts
that it is not in his locality, we feel sure that if pressed he will
admit that it is "round the corner." Country populations still survive,
however, and so does grape-culture. Yet there are low-lying regions
which from defective drainage are distinctively and, it would almost
seem, hopelessly malarial. In such localities but few varieties of the
vine will thrive, The people who are compelled to live there, or who
choose to do so, should experiment until they obtain varieties so hardy
and vigorous that they will triumph over everything. The best course
with grape-diseases is not to have them; in other words, to recognize
the fact at once that certain varieties of the grape will not thrive
and be productive of good fruit unless the soil and climate suit them.
The proprietor of the Home Acre can usually learn by a little inquiry
or observation whether grapes thrive in his locality. If there is much
complaint of mildew, grape-rot, and general feebleness of growth, he
should seek to plant only the most hardy and vigorous kinds.
As I have said before, our cultivated grapes are derived from several
native species found growing wild, and some now valued highly for
wine-making are nothing but wild grapes domesticated; as, for instance,
Norton's Virginia, belonging to the oestivalis class. The original
plant of this variety was found growing upon an island in the Potomac
by Dr. Norton, of Virginia.
The species from which the greatest number of well-known grapes is
obtained is the Vitis labrusca, the common wild or fox grape, found
growing in woods and thickets, usually where the ground is moist, from
Canada to the Gulf. The dark purple berries, averaging about
three-quarters of an inch in diameter, ripen in September, and they
contain a tough, musky pulp. Yet this "slip of wilderness" is the
parent of the refined Catawba, the delicious Brighton, and the
magnificent white grape Lady Washington--indeed, of all the black, red,
and white grapes with which most people are familiar. Our earliest
grapes, which ripen in August, as well as some of the latest, like the
Isabella, come from the labrusca species. It is said that the labrusca
class will not thrive in the extreme South; and with the exception of
the high mountain slopes, this appears reasonable to the student of the
vine. It is said that but few of this class will endure the long hot
summers of France. But there are great differences among the varieties
derived from this native species. For example, the Concord thrives
almost anywhere, while even here upon the Hudson we can scarcely grow
the Catawba with certainty. It is so good a grape, however, that I
persist in making the effort, with varying success; but I should not
recommend it, or many of its class, for those localities not specially
suited to the grape.
I will now name a few varieties which have proved to be, or promise to
be, the most thrifty and productive whereever grapes can be grown at
all the labrusca class: Black--Concord, Wilder, Worden, Amenia, Early
Canada, Telegraph or Christine, Moore's Early. Red-Wyoming, Goethe,
Lindley, Beauty, Brighton, Perkins (pale red), and Agawam.
White--Rebecca, Martha, Alien's Hybrid, Lady Pocklington, Prentiss,
Lady Washington. These are all fine grapes, and they have succeeded
throughout wide areas of country. Any and all are well worth a trial;
but if the grower finds that some of them are weak and diseased in his
grounds, I should advise that he root them out and replace them with
those which thrive. The Niagara is highly praised, and may make good
all that is claimed for it.
Of the aestivalis class I can recommend the Cynthiana and the
Herbemont, or Warren, for the extreme South. Both of them are black.
There are new varieties of this vigorous species which promise well.
The cordifolia species promises to furnish some fine, hardy, and
productive grapes, of which the Amber is an example. The Elvira, a pale
yellow grape, is highly praised by Mr. Hussman. Although the Bacchus is
distinctively a wine grape, I have already said that its flavor, when
fully ripe, was agreeable to me. The only difficulty in growing it is
to keep the ground poor, and use the pruning-knife freely.
I have enlarged on this point, for I wish to direct the mind of the
reader to the fact that there are many very hardy grapes. I
congratulate those who, with the taste of a connoisseur, have merely to
sample until they find just the varieties that suit them, and then to
plant these kinds in their genial soil and favored locality.
At the same time I should like to prevent others from worrying along
with unsatisfactory varieties, or from reaching the conclusion that
they can not grow grapes in their region or garden. Let them rather
admit that they can not raise some kinds, but may others. If a variety
were persistently diseased, feeble, and unproductive under good
treatment, I should root it out rather than continue to nurse and
coddle it.
When mildew and grape-rot first appear, the evil can often be remedied
in part by dusting the vines with sulphur, and continuing the process
until the disease is cured, if it ever is. I have never had occasion to
do this, and will not do it. A variety that often requires such nursing
in this favored locality should be discarded.
There is one kind of disease, or feebleness rather, to which we are
subject everywhere, and from which few varieties are exempt. It is the
same kind of weakness which would be developed in a fine sound horse if
we drove him until he dropped down every time we took him out.
Cultivated vines are so far removed from their natural conditions that
they will often bear themselves to death, like a peach-tree. To permit
this is a true instance of avarice overreaching itself; or the evil may
result from ignorance or neglect. Close pruning in autumn and thinning
out the crowding clusters soon after they have formed is the remedy. If
a vine had been so enfeebled, I should cut it back rigorously, feed it
well, and permit it to bear very little fruit, if any, for a year.
Of insect enemies we have the phylloxera of bad eminence, which has so
dismayed Europe. The man who could discover and patent an adequate
remedy in France might soon rival a Rothschild in his wealth. The
remedy abroad is also ours--to plant varieties which are
phylloxera-proof, or nearly so. Fortunately we have many which defy
this pestiferous little root-louse, and European vine-growers have been
importing them by the million. They are still used chiefly as stocks on
which to graft varieties of the vinifera species. In California, grapes
of the vinifera or European species are generally cultivated; but the
phylloxera is at its destructive work among them. The wine-grapes of
the future throughout the world may be developed from the hardy
cestivalis and cordifolia classes. In many localities, even in this new
land, varieties like the Delaware succumb to this scourge of foreign
vineyards.
The aphis, or plant-louse, sometimes attacks the young, tender shoots
of the vine. The moment they appear, take off the shoot, and crush it
on a board with the foot. Leaf-rollers, the grape-vine sphinx, and
caterpillars in general must be caught by hand and killed. Usually they
are not very numerous. The horrid little rose-chafers or rose-bugs are
sometimes very destructive. Our best course is to take a basin of water
and jar them off into it--they fall readily--and then scald them to
death. We may discover lady-bugs--small red or yellow and black
beetles--among our vines, and many persons, I fear, will destroy them
with the rest. We should take off our hats to them and wish them
godspeed. In their destruction of aphides and thrips they are among our
best friends. The camel-cricket is another active destroyer of
injurious insects. Why do not our schools teach a little practical
natural history? Once, when walking in the Catskills, I saw the burly
driver of a stage-load of ladies bound out of his vehicle to kill a
garter-snake, the pallid women looking on, meanwhile, as if the earth
were being rid of some terrible and venomous thing. They ought to have
known that the poor little reptile was as harmless as one of their own
garters, and quite as useful in its way. Every country boy and girl
should be taught to recognize all our helpers in our incessant fight
with insect enemies--a fight which must be maintained with more
organized vigor and intelligence than at present, if horticulture is
ever to reach its best development.
Wasps and hornets often swarm about the sweet and early ripe varieties.
A wide-mouthed bottle partially filled with molasses and water will
entrap and drown great numbers of these ugly customers. Some of our
favorite birds try our patience not a little. During the early summer I
never wearied of watching the musical orioles flashing with their
bright hues in and out of the foliage about the house; but when the
early grapes were ripe, they took pay for their music with the
sang-froid of a favorite prima donna. On one occasion I saw three or
four alight on a Diana vine, and in five minutes they had spoiled a
dozen clusters. If they would only take a bunch and eat it up clean,
one would readily share with them, for there would be enough for all;
but the dainty little epicures puncture an indefinite number of
berries, merely taking a sip from each. Then the wasps and bees come
along and finish the clusters. The cardinal, cat-bird, and our
unrivalled songster the wood-thrush, all help themselves in the same
wasteful fashion. One can't shoot wood-thrushes. We should almost as
soon think of killing off our Nilssons, Nevadas, and Carys. The only
thing to do is to protect the clusters; and this can be accomplished in
several ways. The most expeditious and satisfactory method is to cover
the vines of early grapes with cheap mosquito netting. Another method
is to make little bags of this netting and inclose each cluster. Last
fall, two of my children tied up many hundreds of clusters in little
paper bags, which can be procured at wholesale for a trifling sum. The
two lower corners of the paper bags should be clipped off to permit the
rain to pass freely through them. Clusters ripen better, last longer on
the vine, and acquire a more exquisite bloom and flavor in this
retirement than if exposed to light as well as to birds and wasps. Not
the fruit but the foliage of the grape-vine needs the sun.
Few of the early grapes will keep long after being taken from the vine;
but some of the later ones can be preserved well into the winter by
putting them in small boxes and storing them where the temperature is
cool, even, and dry. Some of the wine-grapes, like Norton's Virginia,
will keep under these conditions almost like winter apples. One October
day I took a stone pot of the largest size and put in first a layer of
Isabella grapes, then a double thickness of straw paper, then alternate
layers of grapes and paper, until the pot was full. A cloth was next
pasted over the stone cover, so as to make the pot water-tight. The pot
was then buried on a dry knoll below the reach of frost, and dug up
again on New Year's Day. The grapes looked and tasted as if they had
just been picked from the vine.
For the mysteries of hybridizing and raising new seedlings, grafting,
hot-house and cold grapery culture, the reader must look in more
extended works than this, and to writers who have had experience in
these matters.
We shall next consider three fruits which upon the Home Acre may be
regarded as forming a natural group-peaches, plums, and raspberries, if
any one expresses surprise that the last-named fruit should be given
this relationship, I have merely to reply that the raspberry thrives in
the partial shade produced by such small trees as the peach and plum.
Where there is need of economy of space it is well to take advantage of
this fact, for but few products of the garden give any satisfaction
when contending with roots below and shade above.
We have taken it for granted that some grape-vines would be planted in
the two borders extending through the centre of the garden, also that
there would be spaces left which might be filled with peach and plum
trees and small flowering shrubs. If there is to be a good-sized
poultry-yard upon the acre, we should advise that plums be planted in
that; but we will speak of this fruit later, and now give our attention
to that fruit which to the taste of many is unrivalled--the peach.
With the exception of the strawberry, it is perhaps the only fruit for
which I prefer spring planting. At the same time, I should not hesitate
to set out the trees in autumn. The ground should be good, but not too
highly fertilized. I prefer young trees but one year old from the bud.
If set out in the fall, I should mound up the earth eighteen inches
about them, to protect the roots and stem, and to keep the tree firmly
in the soil. With this precaution, I am not sure but that fall planting
has the greater advantage, except when the climate is very severe and
subject to great alternations. Plant with the same care and on the same
principles which have been already described. If a careful system of
pruning is to be adopted, the trees may be set out twelve feet apart;
but if they are to be left to grow at will, which I regret to say is
the usual practice, they should be planted fifteen feet from each other.
There are many good reasons why the common orchard culture of the peach
should not be adopted in the garden. There is no fruit more neglected
and ill-treated than the beautiful and delicious peach. The trees are
very cheap, usually costing but a few cents each; they are bought by
the thousand from careless dealers, planted with scarcely the attention
given to a cabbage-plant, and too often allowed to bear themselves to
death. The land, trees, and cultivation cost so little that one good
crop is expected to remunerate for all outlay. If more crops are
obtained, there is so much clear gain. Under this slovenly treatment
there is, of course, rapid deterioration in the stamina of the peach.
Pits and buds are taken from enfeebled trees for the purpose of
propagation, and so tendencies to disease are perpetuated and enhanced.
Little wonder that, the fatal malady, the "yellows," has blighted so
many hopes! I honestly believe that millions of trees have been sold in
which this disease existed from the bud. If fine peaches were bred and
propagated with something of the same care that is bestowed on blooded
stock, the results would soon be proportionate. Gardeners abroad often
give more care to one tree than hundreds receive here. Because the
peach has grown so easily in our climate, we have imposed on its
good-nature beyond the limits of endurance, and consequently it is not
easy to get sound, healthful trees that will bear year after year under
the best of treatment, as they did with our fathers with no care at
all. I should look to men who had made a reputation for sending out
sound, healthful stock grown under their own eyes from pits and wood
which they know to be free from disease. Do not try to save a few
pennies on the first cost of trees, for the probabilities are that such
economy will result in little more than the "yellows."
In large orchards, cultivated by horse-power, the stems of the trees
are usually from four to six feet high; but in the garden this length
of stem is not necessary, and the trees can be grown as dwarf
standards, with stems beginning to branch two feet from the ground. A
little study of the habit of growth in the peach will show that, to
obtain the best results, the pruning-shears are almost as essential as
in the case of the grape-vine. More than in any other fruit-tree, the
sap tends strongly toward the ends of the shoots. Left to Nature, only
the terminal buds of these will grow from year to year; the other buds
lower down on the shoots fail and drop off. Thus we soon have long
naked reaches of unproductive wood, or sucker-like sprouts starting
from the bark, which are worse than useless. Our first aim should be to
form a round, open, symmetrical head, shortening in the shoots at least
one-half each year, and cutting out crossing and interlacing branches.
For instance, if we decide to grow our trees as dwarf standards, we
shall cut back the stems at a point two feet from the ground the first
spring after planting, and let but three buds grow, to make the first
three or leading branches. The following spring we shall cut back the
shoots that have formed, so as to make six leading branches. Thereafter
we shall continue to cut out and back so as to maintain an open head
for the free circulation of air and light.
To learn the importance of rigorous and careful pruning, observe the
shoots of a vigorous peach-tree, say three or four years old. These
shoots or sprays are long and slender, lined with fruit-buds. You will
often find two fruit-buds together, with a leaf-bud between them. If
the fruit-buds have been uninjured by the winter, they will nearly all
form peaches, far more than the slender spray can support or mature.
The sap will tend to give the most support to all growth at the end of
the spray or branch. The probable result will be that you will have a
score, more or less, of peaches that are little beyond skin and stones.
By midsummer the brittle sprays will break, or the limbs split down at
the crotches. You may have myriads of peaches, but none fit for market
or table. Thousands of baskets are sent to New York annually that do
not pay the expenses of freight, commission, etc.; while the orchards
from which they come are practically ruined. I had two small trees from
which, one autumn, I sold ten dollars' worth of fruit. They yielded
more profit than is often obtained from a hundred trees.
Now, in the light of these facts, realize the advantages secured by
cutting back the shoots or sprays so as to leave but three or four
fruit-buds on each. The tree can probably mature these buds into large,
beautiful peaches, and still maintain its vigor. By this shortening-in
process you have less tree, but more fruit. The growth is directed and
kept within proper limits, and the tree preserved for future
usefulness. Thus the peach-trees of the garden will not only furnish
some of the most delicious morsels of the year, but also a very
agreeable and light phase of labor. They can be made pets which will
amply repay all kindness; and the attentions they most appreciate,
strange to say, are cutting and pinching. The pruning-shears in March
and early April can cut away forming burdens which could not be borne,
and pinching back during the summer can maintain beauty and symmetry in
growth. When the proprietor of the Home Acre has learned from
experience to do this work judiciously, his trees, like the
grape-vines, will afford many hours of agreeable and healthful
recreation. If he regards it as labor, one great, melting, luscious
peach will repay him. A small apple, pear, or strawberry usually has
the flavor of a large one; but a peach to be had in perfection must be
fully matured to its limit of growth on a healthful tree.
Let no one imagine that the shortening in of shoots recommended
consists of cutting the young sprays evenly all round the trees as one
would shear a hedge. It more nearly resembles the pruning of the vine;
for the peach, like the vine, bears its fruit only on the young wood of
the previous summer's growth. The aim should be to have this young
bearing wood distributed evenly over the tree, as should be true of a
grape-vine. When the trees are kept low, as dwarf standards, the fruit
is more within reach, and less liable to be blown off by high winds.
Gradually, however, if the trees prove healthful, they will get high
enough up in the world.
Notwithstanding the rigorous pruning recommended, the trees will often
overload themselves; and thinning out the young peaches when as large
as hickory nuts is almost imperative if we would secure good fruit. Men
of experience say that when a tree has set too much fruit, if
two-thirds of it are taken off while little, the remaining third will
measure and weigh more than would the entire crop, and bring three
times as much money. In flavor and beauty the gain will certainly be
more than double.
Throughout its entire growth and fruiting life the peach-tree needs
good cultivation, and also a good but not overstimulated soil.
Well-decayed compost from the cow-stable is probably the best barnyard
fertilizer. Wood-ashes are peculiarly agreeable to the constitution of
this tree, and tend to maintain it in health and bearing long after
others not so treated are dead. I should advise that half a peck be
worked in lightly every spring around each tree as far as the branches
extend. When enriching the ground about a tree, never heap the
fertilizer round the trunk, but spread it evenly from the stem outward
as far as the branches reach, remembering that the head above is the
measure of the root extension below. Air-slacked lime is also useful to
the peach in small quantities; and so, no doubt, would be a little salt
from time to time. Bone-meal is highly recommended.
Like other fruit-trees, the peach does not thrive on low, wet ground,
and the fruit-buds are much more apt to be winter-killed in such
localities. A light, warm soil is regarded as the most favorable.
Of course we can grow this fruit on espaliers, as they do abroad; but
there are few localities where any advantage is to be derived from this
course. In our latitude I much prefer cool northern exposures, for the
reason that the fruitbuds are kept dormant during warm spells in
winter, and so late in spring that they escape injury from frost.
Alternate freezing and thawing is more harmful than steady cold. The
buds are seldom safe, however, at any time when the mercury sinks ten
or fifteen degrees below zero.
As we have intimated, abuse of the peach-tree has developed a fatal
disease, known as the "yellows." It manifests itself in yellow, sickly
foliage, numerous and feeble sprouts along the larger limbs and trunk,
and small miserable fruit, ripening prematurely. I can almost taste the
yellows in much of the fruit bought in market. Some regard the disease
as very contagious; others do not. It is best to be on the safe side.
If a tree is affected generally, dig it out by the roots and burn it at
once; if only a branch shows evidence of the malady, cut it off well
back, and commit it to the flames. The only remedy is to propagate from
trees in sound health and vigor.
Like the apple, the peach-tree is everywhere subject to injury from a
borer, named "exitiosa, or the destructive." The eggs from which these
little pests are hatched are laid by the moth during the summer upon
the stem of the tree very near the root; the grubs bore through the
outer bark, and devour the inner bark and sap-wood. Fortunately they
soon reveal their evil work by the castings, and by the gum which
exudes from the hole by which they entered. They can not do much harm,
unless a tree is neglected; in this case, however, they will soon
enfeeble, and probably destroy it. When once within a tree, borers must
be cut out with a sharp-pointed knife, carefully yet thoroughly. The
wounds from the knife may be severe, but the ceaseless gnawing of the
grub is fatal. If the tree has been lacerated to some extent, a plaster
of moistened clay or cow-manure makes a good salve. Keeping the borers
out of the tree is far better than taking them out; and this can be
effected by wrapping the stem at the ground--two inches below the
surface, and five above--with strong hardware or sheathing paper. If
this is tied tightly about the tree, the moth cannot lay its eggs upon
the stem. A neighbor of mine has used this protection not only on the
peach, but also on the apple, with almost complete success. Of course
the pests will try to find their way under it, and it would be well to
take off the wrapper occasionally and examine the trees. The paper must
also be renewed before it is so far decayed as to be valueless. It
should be remembered also that the borer will attack the trees from the
first year of life to the end.
In order to insure an unfailing supply of this delicious fruit, I
should advise that a few trees be set out every spring. The labor and
expense are scarcely greater than that bestowed upon a cabbage patch,
and the reward is more satisfactory.
For this latitude the following choice of varieties will prove, I
think, a good one: Early Alexander, Early Elvers, Princess of Wales,
Brandywine, Old Mixon Free, Stump the World, Picquet's Late, Crawford's
Late, Mary's Choice, White Free Heath, Salway, and Lord Palmerston.
If the soil of one's garden is stiff, cold, adhesive clay, the peach
would succeed much better budded or grafted on plum-stocks. Some of the
finest fruit I have ever seen was from seedlings, the trees having been
grown from pits of unusually good peaches. While the autumn planting of
pits lightly in the soil and permitting them to develop into bearing
trees is a pleasing and often profitable amusement, there is no great
probability that the result will be desirable. We hear of the
occasional prizes won in this way, but not of the many failures.
By easy transition we pass to the kindred fruit the plum, which does
not generally receive the attention it deserves. If one has a soil
suited to it--a heavy clay or loam--it can usually be grown very
easily. The fruit is so grateful to the taste and useful to the
housekeeper that it should be given a fair trial, either in the garden
borders or wherever a tree can be planted so as to secure plenty of
light and air. The young trees may be one or two years old from the
bud; I should prefer the former, if vigorous. Never be induced to
purchase old trees by promises of speedy fruit. It is quite possible
you may never get any fruit at all from them worth mentioning. I should
allow a space of from ten to fifteen feet between the trees when they
are planted together, and I should cut them back so that they would
begin to branch at two feet from the ground. Long, naked stems are
subject to the gum-disease.
In the place of general advice in regard to this fruit I shall give the
experience of Mr. T. S. Force, of Newburgh, who exhibited seventy
varieties at the last annual Orange County fair.
His plum-orchard is a large poultry-yard, containing half an acre, of
which the ground is a good loam, resting on a heavy clay subsoil. He
bought trees but one year from the bud, set them out in autumn, and cut
them back so that they began to form their heads at two feet from the
ground. He prefers starting with strong young plants of this age, and
he did not permit them to bear for the first three years, his primal
aim being to develop a healthy, vigorous tree with a round, symmetrical
head. During this period the ground about them was kept mellow by good
cultivation, and, being rich enough to start with, received no
fertilizers. It is his belief that over-fertilization tends to cause
the disease so well known as the "black knot," which has destroyed many
orchards in this vicinity. If the garden has been enriched as I have
directed, the soil will probably need little, if anything, from the
stables, and certainly will not if the trees are grown in a
poultry-yard. During this growing and forming period Mr. Force gave
careful attention to pruning. Budded trees are not even symmetrical
growers, but tend to send up a few very strong shoots that rob the rest
of the tree of sustenance. Of course these must be cut well back in
early spring, or we have long, naked reaches of wood and a deformed
tree. It is far better, however, not to let these rampant shoots grow
to maturity, but to pinch them back in early summer, thus causing them
to throw out side-branches. By summer pinching and rubbing off of
tender shoots a tree can be made to grow in any shape we desire. When
the trees receive no summer pruning, Mr. Force advises that the
branches be shortened in at least one half in the spring, while some
shoots are cut back even more rigorously. At the age of four or five
years, according to the vigor of the trees, he permits them to bear.
Now cultivation ceases, and the ground is left to grow hard, but not
weedy or grassy, beneath the boughs. Every spring, just as the blossoms
are falling, he spreads evenly under the branches four quarts of salt.
While the trees thrive and grow fruitful with this fertilizer, the
curculio, or plum-weevil, does not appear to find it at all to its
taste. As a result of his methods, Mr. Force has grown large and
profitable crops, and his trees in the main are kept healthy and
vigorous. His remedy for the black knot is to cut off and burn the
small boughs and twigs affected. If the disease appears in the side of
a limb or in the stem, he cuts out all trace of it, and paints the
wound with a wash of gum shellac and alcohol.
Trees load so heavily that the plums rest against one another. You will
often find in moist warm weather decaying specimens. These should be
removed at once, that the infection may not spread.
In cutting out the interfering boughs, do not take off the
sharp-pointed spurs which are forming along the branches, for on these
are slowly maturing the fruit-buds. In this case, as in others, the
careful observer, after he has acquired a few sound principles of
action to start with, is taught more by the tree itself than from any
other source.
Mr. Force recommends the following ten varieties, named in the order of
ripening: Canada; Orleans, a red-cheeked plum; McLaughlin, greenish,
with pink cheek; Bradshaw, large red, with lilac bloom; Smith's
Orleans, purple; Green Gage; Bleeker's Gage, golden yellow; Prune
d'Agen, purple; Coe's Golden Drop; and Shropshire Damson for preserves.
If we are restricted to very light soils, we shall probably have to
grow some of the native varieties, of the Canada and Wild-Goose type.
In regard to both this fruit and peaches we should be guided in our
selection by information respecting varieties peculiarly suited to the
region.
The next chapter will treat of small fruits, beginning with the
raspberry.