FRUITGROWING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 137, 12 February 1915, Page 2

FRUITGROWING.

FOR MAN OR WOMAN. AN AUCKLAND GIRL’S WORK. (By MY IDEA.) My object in writing this article is a great desire to persuade girls to enter wholeheartedly into horticulture. To do this without thoroughly understanding the work would mean a great outlay for the trees, and at. the same time losing much of the true enjoyment. Certainly we cannot love the little trees we buy as we do those we make into real living trees with our own hands. Now the materials required we all have at our very doors, and there is no earthly reason _ why every girl living in the country should not have an orchard of her own. I have one bearing immense quantities of fruit, and all these trees I grafted myself, excepting about a dozen varieties I have bought from time to time to secure the scions. Now, I will suppose 1 am speaking to young girls about sixteen, just leaving school, for that was when,l started mine. In the first place do not rush at your work, but take it quietly, with that calm determination that nevei knows defeat. Put on a pair of gardening gloves and a sun-bonnet, and fence in a little garden the size of an ordinary dining rocm. Put three plain wires around it, and then securely tack on some net wire. This is very necessary to keep out the smallest of the chick ens and young ducklings. ,Too many grafts are lost through these supposed' innocent little things. Dig the ground which should be fairly rich and dry and remove the weeds. In June, July, or August you may commence work. PREPARING ROOT GRAFTS. Take a sharp spade and go to a Northern Spy tree, or a Winter Majetin. The Northern Spy is far the best, as its roots are more fibrous than the Majetin. Dig in a circle around it, a yard away from the tree, until you touch a surface root. Then cut it off, and carefully follow it up, taking care not to bark it with the spade or tear its fibre off. With patience yen will secure afoot some yards long. This root is then to be cut into short lengths from nine to twelve inches long, and the pieces tied up into little bundles, remembering to put the top of the roots always in order. These roots should then be “heeled in,” leaving them half an inch above the soli. Great care should now be exercised in the choice of scions.

CHOICE OF SCIONS. 1 The water sprouts or coarse grown | wood should never he used, as trees grown from this wood are poor in i fruit-bearing qualities. Neither should : the thin, weak wood be used, but choose between the two, and use the centre only, as tljis part of the scion tends more to fruit 1 bearing. The mid : die of August and September is a good ; time to commence grafting apples, as the sap is beginning to rise a little. Now, most country girls are busy during the day, especially in the sprinS and cannot afford lire time for grafting. So a good plan is to take a dozen apple roots from your tied-up bundle, half a dozen scions, some budding wax, and a piece of strong calico, and put them all into, say, an old milk dish. At night time you can take the dish into the warm kitchen and do a pleasant hour’s work. Damp the cloth and tear it into strips half an inch wide. Take a root (or stock, as they are called), and cut any root for about three indies down. This part cf the root will help to form the standard o fthe"tti’ ee later on. Lock for the smooth, straT| hf part of the root, and press your sharp knife through the rind, and then ben£ the knife to yen and from you. will lift the rind a little on both sides cf the cut. Shape your scion, push it from the top o ft he root downwards into the incision already made. Then put a little wax over the cut, and wrap the bandages round and round, and fasten it with eelton or fibre thread. In the morning you can plant them ail in a quarter of an hour, about six or eight inches apart, and two feet' apart in the rows. In this manner .grafting dees not become tedious. Great care should be exercised not to knock the grafts after they are planted, as the bandages scon decay. This method of propagation I discovered myself. The grafts must be put deep

in the soil, allowing two eyes only above tbe surface. Provided the fowls and chigks cannot enter, the weeds are the only trouble now. They must not be allowed to grow.

CARE OF YOUNG TREES. Twenty minutes each week with a garden fork will keep them under*. I have often had a hundred per cent, of my grafts to grow year after year, done in this manner. Next year all these grafts must be taken up, and the graft raised four inches above the surface. This precaution must be taken to prevent the scion putting out its own roots, which may be affected with blight.

These little trees should still be kept in the netted garden, as they are still in their infancy. The choice of apples must be left to Individual taste, but I would like to speak a word for the Northern Spy, to my mind the most delicious apple ever grown, yet by many misunderstood, because it has the name of not bearing until it is fifteen or so years old. Now, my, father discovered some years ago how the Spy could be made to bear at five years old, and ever onward bear in abundance. By grafting the Spy on to the Majetin the sap is changed, and at the same time allows the Spy to put out its own roots as well. They are more fibrous, and support the tree, while the Majetin roots collect the sap for the fruit. All my Spys are done this way, and are laden with fruit while quite young. Stocks can also be raised by sowing the Spy seeds, and when large enough, graft the desb/d vq^ieti^s

:n to the young trees, and also by setting the water sprouts of the Spys into a hothouse to strike roots, and in time using them as stocks. However, jffie best and most expeditious way for private use is to use the rcots as I have described. Moreover, trees propagated in this way are considered to give better coloured fruit. THE STONE FRUITS. I have found a good method of raising young peach trees to be as follows: Collect all the peach or nectarine stenes, and put them in a cool, -,hady place to dry. In February and 'larch place them alternately in layers :>f sand in old kerosene tins, and stand them in a coiner cf the garden. In September carefully turn the contents out, and you will find a splendid lot of peach kernels putting out their first roots. These should be planted out like onions, only a little further apart, In autumn they can be budded with peaches, nectarines, or apricots, and in a short time a nice little orchard will be.the result.