APPLES

There are countless varieties of apples in general culti­vation in this country and all have their likes and dis­likes - yet all the all-round varieties seem to do well almost anywhere.

Like all fruits they like to be treated well and will reward those who remember this. I am concerned with growing apples and other fruits such as plums for wine-making; therefore there seems little point in covering the growing of these fruits in the espalier fashion or as cordons. Apart from the fact that the average home-grower will not want this type of tree, he will want as much fruit as he can get from as little space as he can allow. No one will dispute the quality of fruits grown as cordons, but they are expensive to start with and cannot hope to compete with the bush tree when a lot of fruit is the aim of the grower.

The bush tree is the most suitable for the small garden where the owner wants as much fruit as he can get from a small space and for a minimum of labour.

Deep digging is essential, for it must be remembered that trees, once planted, will remain perhaps the life­time of the owner.

The roots of apples go a great deal deeper than is generally imagined and provided the right variety for the type of soil is planted, the trees will settle down and fruit well. Unless your garden is in what we call a 'frost hole1 - a natural depression in the lie of the land that catches the spring frosts harder than elsewhere and then catches the first rays of the morning sun - you can grow apples without fear of the frosts depriving you of your crops.

Bush apples are usually planted ten to twelve feet apart and are put in before Christmas. Early February is the latest that I would leave this job.

Prepare the soil well in advance and allow it to settle before planting. Six months in advance is not too early to get the first digging done if the soil has never before been broken.

Planting. Take out holes a good bit larger than are required to accommodate all the roots without cramp­ing. The depth of the hole will depend on the depth the young tree had been planted before it was delivered to you and this will be clearly marked on the young trunk.

Any roots damaged in transit should be cut off cleanly with a sharp knife.

It is best to drive a stake firmly into the middle of the hole and to tie the tree to this while planting. Spread out the roots, shovel sifted soil over them and firm each layer by treading. 'Rattle* the tree occasionally so that the soil is shaken down between the roots. Plant firmly; insecure planting is the most frequent cause of deaths among young trees. When firmly planted, untie the tree from the stake and bind the trunk with felt or some other material and bind this part to the stake. This will prevent chafing of the bark.

Pruning. A book this size could be written about the pruning of tree fruits and even then the sub½ect would not be covered fully.

For general purposes it is best not to prune a young tree during the first season after planting, but pruning thereafter is of the greatest importance. Not only does it keep the tree in shape but it prevents overcrowding and ensures regular and heavy fruiting.

In the case of bush apples, each leading shoot - that is the growing tip of each main branch - is cut back by about six inches. The young growths growing off this main branch are laterals; these must not be allowed to become branches otherwise the tree will become overcrowded. These laterals are pruned back to leave four or five buds.

Varieties. The best all-round varieties are Worcester

PEARMAIN, JAMES GRIEVE, CHARLES ROSS, ELLISON'S ORANGE, BEAUTY OF BATH and LADY SUDELEY.

The following precautions should be taken against pests and diseases. Spray during winter with a tar-distillate wash. Spray with a nicotine wash in spring, when the buds begin to open and again a week after the petals have fallen. Fix grease bands to the trunks.

PLUMS

As with apples, plums are best grown as bush fruits in a small garden. They may be grown against a wall or fence, but the crops, whilst usually being of better quality, are small compared with those from bush trees.

Plums do well in the same positions and soil as apples and are planted in the same way. But because they flower rather early, the young buds are sometimes damaged by spring frosts - especially if the very early spring has been unusually warm and the trees in con­sequence are rather advanced. If plum trees can be planted so that a building or a tall tree can protect them, so much the better.

The damage is caused not so much by the frost, but by the early morning sun catching the buds and, by thawing them out too quickly, rupturing them. If there is a building to the east of the plums this will take the first rays of the sun, and by the time the sun reaches the buds they will have thawed.

Varieties. The victoria plum is without doubt the best all-round variety and should be grown in every garden. It crops regularly and heavily and is self-fertile; that is, it does not need another plum tree handy as a polli­nator, as in the case of certain other fruits.

Pershore and the czar are other good varieties that should be grown wherever there is space for them.

Spray with tar-oil wash in winter. In spring spray with derris wash when the leaves are about half-size.

DAMSONS

These make excellent wines; they are quite easy to grow, being for all intents and purposes regarded as plums.

PEARS

Pears are another fruit best grown as a bush in small gardens; but, as with apples and plums, they may be grown against a wall or fence. And here, as with apples and plums, the crops are of better quality but not nearly so heavy. With the same soil and conditions as apples (see p. 204), pears will give good results, though, like plums, they sometimes need a little protection according to situation.

Plant as for apples and allow them twelve feet each way.

Pruning is the same as for plums and apples.

Varieties, laxton's superb is a very good variety with quite large fruits of excellent flavor; colmar d'elite is somewhat smaller, but this one has a very good flavor and is very sweet; the bartlett pear used ex­tensively by the canning industry is known as Williams bon chretien; louis BONNE is an October variety which should be found a place in every garden for it does well almost anywhere.

CHERRIES

Cherries do not do well everywhere; they dislike both heavy clay soils and light gravel ones. They are best grown as standards, though they do well against walls in favorable conditions. Grown against a wall they are unlikely to give enough fruit to make more than a gallon of wine at a time, and it is doubtful, where a small garden is concerned, whether enough fruit would be produced at one time to make even one gallon.

Grown as standards they occupy far more space than the average small- to fair-sized garden has to spare for them. Apart from these points, cherries like a lot of sun and they like it early because they mature early.

Readers interested in growing cherries would be well advised to discuss the matter with their local nursery­man; he will be able to tell them whether it would be worth while.

PEACHES, APRICOTS, NECTARINES

Unfortunately, the only really satisfactory method of growing these fruits is against a wall or fence and trained in the 'fan1 or espalier fashion, when, as with plums and apples, the yield is unlikely to make large quantities of wine. They need a wall facing south, and considerable care and after-attention.

In the very warmest districts peaches and apricots might do well as standards, but these need something like twenty-five feet each way - rather more than can be spared for them. In any case, something like specia­list treatment is needed to get the best results; and since I am concerned with growing fruits for wine-making and with readers who want as much as they can get from a small space and for the minimum of labour, there seems little point in including the growing of these fruits.

ELDERBERRIES

Elderberries are, of course, wild fruit, but this does not mean that they will not grow in a garden. Some of the best elderberries I have seen were growing at the end of a cultivated plot that formed part of what was then my garden. They are not mine now, but I have only to walk a few yards to get all the elderberries I need -something like thirty pounds a year for the great amount of wine I make from them.

In my opinion, elderberries are the best wild fruit for wine-making, for they make excellent ports and burgundies and, in fact, can very easily be made to imitate the best and most expensive red wines. They have that richness of color and strength of flavor that characterizes the wines they make. Regular tipplers of good ports and expensive clarets have been unable to tell the difference between these and my elderberry wines. A friend of mine delights his visitors with 'cherry brandy* - made with elderberries. This will show the reader what can be done with this lowly fruit.

I don't think you will get an elderberry tree from your nurseryman, but a friend in the country will be able to get one for you. Otherwise a trip to the outskirts of the town you live in - not necessarily to the country­side, but where there are a few trees or waste land during August or September - should enable you to spot an elderberry tree with its massive clusters of black berries. They grow almost anywhere: round gravel and sand pits, on derelict building sites, waste land, railway embankments, chalk-pits - they love chalk-pits - and of course at the edges of woods and streams and along country lanes.

Go out and find one for yourself; earmark it if it is earlier than the end of September, and then return. Dig round and find yourself a young shoot with a good rooting system attached to it and cart it off.

This may not be the same advice as a nurseryman would give you, but it works - I've done it several times.

If you can get two or three roots for making two or three trees so much the better. Plant them where they will get plenty of sun but not so that they shade other fruits needing sunshine. They benefit by being cut down to within a foot or so of the soil after several years, so if more than one is planted you can still cut one down and have fruit the following year. By the time the next one needs cutting down the other one will be ready to fruit.

A good plan is to plant them at the far end of the garden and plant blackberries under them. They grow well together - often being found like this in their wild state.

If you happen to approach a nurseryman for an elder­berry tree, tell him that you want it for wine-making, there being certain varieties grown merely for ornament.

I have never known the wild elderberry to suffer from any disease and they seem to do well however severe the winter or poor the summer.

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