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G4WYW > GARDEN 07.04.08 17:38l 222 Lines 13779 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 7E0267G4WYW
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Subj: THE APPLE TREE
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Apple.—The apple does well in any moderate loam, providing that the
situation be not too low-lying, too exposed, or, on the other hand, too
much shaded from the sun. According to the amount of space available and
the nature of the plantation, so may the form of the tree vary. In
planting an orchard on grass land what is known as the standard form is
undoubtedly the one to be selected. This form of tree is usually, in fact
almost invariably, grafted upon the crab stock, which sends out strong and
deep roots capable of fighting their way and obtaining nourishment in the
rough and untilled ground. In this form no branches are allowed to develop
in the stem until it has reached a height of about six feet from the
ground, this part of the tree being kept straight and clear. Even in
large, mixed fruit plantations on arable land the standard form of tree is
often desirable, and in this case the ground underneath the standard trees
is given up to bush trees and small growing fruit-trees, such as
gooseberries and currants. Standard fruit-trees have many advantages where
space is not an object. Thus, as we have said, they are able to fight
their way in uncultivated ground; they do not materially interfere with
the grazing value of the orchard, and once planted they require
comparatively little attention, beyond an annual topdressing of manure and
a little simple annual pruning. On the other hand, they have certain
disadvantages. For small gardens they are obviously unsuitable on account
of the space they occupy, and they do not conic into good bearing until
six or seven years after planting, whilst it may be some twenty or more
years before full bearing capacity is reached. For most purposes the bush
form of apple-tree is well suited. It takes up very little space, and is
therefore adapted to even quite small gardens moreover, these trees come
into bearing very quickly, often yielding a small crop of quite excellent
fruit a couple of years after planting. It takes many years for the
diameter of a bush tree to reach even six feet, so that the number of such
trees which can be planted on an acre of land is considerable. In this
form of tree the branches spring almost horizontally from the stem about
nine inches above the ground. Other branches are allowed gradually to
occupy the centre of the bush, but one great object in pruning and
training the tree is to allow plenty of space between the several
branches. The bush tree is grafted on the Paradise stock, the roots of
which are fibrous, and tend to keep near the surface. Consequently it is
less suited for rough, uncultivated ground, but much more suited for the
cultivated ground of gardens. Also it is much more suitable than the
standard for planting on wet or ill-drained soil, since its roots do not
tend to penetrate into the stagnant sub-soil. What may be considered as a
variant of the bush form of tree is the Pyramid, which differs in having a
central stem from which horizontal branches proceed. It is not so
economical of space as the bush tree, nor is it so generally useful.
Apples are also sometimes grown as cordons or espaliers, trained against
trellis or wire fence.
PLANTING.
The best time to plant apple-trees is in November. The ground should be
thoroughly prepared and ready to receive the trees. Standard trees should
be allowed a space of twenty to twenty-four feet in all directions from
tree to tree. The turf should be removed over an area of five or six feet
square for each tree, and in the centre of this space a circular hole
should be dug about three feet in diameter and two feet in depth. The soil
below this should then be broke up to a depth of at least another foot. If
the subsoil is thus involved, it will be as well to incorporate with it an
allowance of stable manure, which must, however, be covered with a
sprinkling of earth, as manure must not be allowed to come into direct
contact with the roots. The bottom of the hole should then be beaten or
trampled finn, care being taken that the centre of the hole is a little
higher than the sides. A little soil should then be thrown into the hole,
so as to raise the level to such a point that when the tree is placed on
it, with the roots spread out, the top roots when ultimately covered shall
be about four inches below the surface of the ground. It is most important
that the tree should not be planted too deep. The depth of the hole being
thus corrected, the tree should be placed in it, with its lowest roots
laid out horizontally. Earth should then be loosely thrown over them, and
carefully pressed firmly over them. The next layer of roots should be
treated in a like manner, and so on until the whole of the roots are
covered. It is most important that the rootlets should as far as possible
assume their natural position, thoroughly penetrating and permeating the
surrounding soil. It is also most important to make the soil firm at each
stage of the planting in order to minimise the depth to which the tree
will sink as the soil settles. Moreover, it is well, throughout the
proceedings, to keep the level of the soil at the centre higher than at
the edges, so that water will not tend to stagnate round the stem. Do not
replace the turf within two or three feet of the tree-stem. This ground,
instead, should be covered with a generous mulching of stable manure. A
strong stake about six feet high should be driven into the ground for nine
inches or more at a distance of six inches from the stem of the tree. A
band of leather or cloth should then be fastened around the stem near its
top and around this some tarred string should be wound whereby the stem
may be attached to the stake.
Bush trees, pyramids, and espaliers should be planted in a very similar
way.
SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT.
Apart from pruning, which is separately described, the subsequent
treatment of apple-trees consists principally in the taking of steps to
maintain a degree of moisture in the soil and to afford
supplies of nourishment for the growing trees. During the spring and
summer surface mulchings of farmyard manure should be given. This not only
will add plant food to the soil, but will also materially assist in
keeping the ground moist. Breaking up the surface of the soil with a hoe
during the hot, dry weather has a somewhat similar effect. During the
summer, water should be liberally afforded during the early morning and
evening.
It is necessary to thin out the fruit in some years, for it is undesirable
that a tree should be allowed to ripen in any one year much more than an
average crop. Not only is the size and quality of the fruit affected, but
the bearing capacity of the tree is likely to be diminished.
GATHERING OF FRuIT.
October is the great month of the apple harvest. Much the most important
point to be attended to in picking apples for storage is to avoid
bruising. The storeroom should be cool and dry, the temperature being kept
between 40 and 50 degrees. Before they are actually put away in a close
room, however, the fruits should be allowed to “sweatö by being exposed to
a free current of air for a week or two. If possible each fruit should be
kept separate from the other.
VARIETIES.
By careful selection a supply of apples may be had almost the year
through, at any rate from July to May. As some guide to the novice who
wishes to plant ten dessert apples and ten cooking apples, the following
list may be useful: Mr. Gladstone, Worcester Pearmain, Ribston Pippin,
Allington Pippin, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Blenheim Pippin, Adams’ Pearmain,
Rosemary Russet, Lord Burghley, and Sturmer Pippin for his ten dessert
apples; and Ecklinville Seedling, Lane’s Prince Albert, Bramley’s
Seedling, Newton Wonder, Wellington, Bismarck, Sandringham, Blenheim
Orange, Lord Grosvenor, and Northern Greening for his cooking apples.
For those who are handicapped by a heavy soil, Bramley’s Seedling, Lord
Grosvenor, Wellington, and Worcester Pearmain are the most serviceable
kinds.
DISEASES AND INSECT PESTS.
Several moths attack apple-trees, one of the most destructive being that
named from its habitat, the Codlin moth. “Worm-eaten apples are those
which have been spoiled by the larvae of this insect.
The moth lays its eggs singly, one in the eye of each fruit, in early
June, and fixes it inside the calyx with a gummy fluid. As the little
apple grows and swells the grub eats its way further and further in, until
a little before the fruit would normally be ripe, the maggot has reached
its core, feeding upon the pips, a proceeding which causes the fall of the
fruit. The caterpillars, released from the fallen apple, creep up the
tree-stem until they find a sheltered crack in which they pass the other
stages of their life, till the perfect moth emerges in the following
spring to repeat the process. The chief preventive operation consists in
tying strips of sacking or haybands round the stems of the trees to
prevent the caterpillars from climbing them, together with the gathering
up and destruction of all prematurely fallen apples. The trees should also
be sprayed with insecticide as soon as the blossoms fall in spring. The
protective bands should be placed on the trees about a foot from the
ground, and are best applied in July. It is usual to remove them at the
end of October or early in November, replacing them by the bands of grease
that are used as preventives of the attacks of the Winter moth. All bands
removed should be burned at once. The Winter moth, mentioned above,
attacks the foliage of the apple as well as that of most other
fruit-trees, doing enormous damage. The female moth is not fully winged
and, being unable to fly, crawls up the tree-stem to lay her eggs. The
grubs hatch out early in April, and begin at once to feed upon the young
leaves, when fully fed letting themselves down from the tree by spun
threads and burying themselves in the ground to pass the next stage of
their life. The eggs are laid all through the winter, and the best method
of prevention is, as recommended above.
There are several other moths which attack the apple, the commonest of
them being the Lackey moth, which lays its eggs in rings round the bark of
a branch or twig; the caterpillars when hatched living in colonies, and
covering themselves with webs spun over the leaves. The moths emerge in
July and August. To keep them down the trees should eats be looked over in
May and June, all infested leaves being picked off, shoot and all, and
dropped into a bucket of strong insecticide.
The Apple Sucker emerges from the egg in spring, the perfect insect being
seen in July, and secretes itself in the buds. Spraying is the best means
of combating this pest. Soft soap and quassia should be liberally applied
with the the syringe as soon as they begin to hatch out, and the
application should be repeated frequently throughout the hatching season,
which is about a fortnight. Three pounds of softsoap, four pounds of
quassia, and fifty gallons of water make an efficient wash.
The Apple Blossom weevil is really a little winged beetle, and attacks the
unopened flower-buds early in spring. It pierces the bud, laying its egg
in the hole, never attacking the opened flowers. The grubs eat the ovaries
of the flower, which is thus rendered sterile. The perfect insect hives
appears in midsummer. It has the habit, common to all the weevil family,
of dropping to the ground if alarmed, and much may be done to thin it out
by spreading sheets of tarred paper on the ground under the affected trees
on a The warm, summer day, and shaking the trees suddenly. Many of the
insects will fall on the papers, and be trapped.
The American Blight is perhaps the commonest of all the apple pests. It is
found on the trunk and limbs of the tree, and is so well known, with its
tufts of cotton-like down. These aphides injure the tree in a direct
manner by sucking all its vital juices, and also cause the bark to split,
exposing the inner wood to all sorts of fungoid growths, and in this way
they often give rise to canker. It is best to deal with the pests by hand,
brushing the limbs affected with a strong solution of good carbolic soap.
Of fungoid diseases of the apple, that popularly known as Apple Scab is
very common. It is very disfiguring to the fruits, making roundish
patches. Trees attacked by it should be sprayed with weak Bordeax mixture,
not more
than half its full strength, in the beginning of the flowering season,
just as the buds are opening; and the operation should be repeated when
the petals are alling, and again when the young fruits are just about the
size of a pea.
Canker is a disease of fungoid origin which affects the bark. Canker is
usually first noticed through the dying away of certain of the shoots, and
on closer observation cracks in the bark will be observed, containing
groups of small red, dot-like fungi. The symptoms may also appear on the
trunk itself, and, when once the fungus has found a lodgment in the bark,
the wood itself is soon involved and great damage done, the tree often
dying if neglected. All diseased shoots should be cut clean away and
burned at once, while other portions of the wood which are affected should
be cut clean out and burned also. The wound left from the cut should be
treated
with Stockholm tar (or Aquaseal Number 5 Bituminous Roofing Compound).
This will not only preserve the cut from rot, but will protect it from
re-infection by the fungus spores. Absolute severity is necessary in
dealing with canker, and any trees badly affected, or those which are only
of slight value should be stubbed up and burned. To avoid canker the growr
should take care that his soil is well drained, and neither damp nor over
cold.
73 - Mel, G4WYW @ GB7FCR
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