Correspondence.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XIII, Issue 1018, 24 April 1869, Page 2

Correspondence.

ARBORICULTURE. TO THE EDITOR OF THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE. Sir, —As the season for planting trees is close at hand, and. from the numerous inquiries made about the planting of hedges, trees, and the pruning of them, I am induced to make a few remarks which may interest some of your readers. I shall begin with the planting of the hawthorne for hedges.- As a rule the hawthorne does best on the level lands, but requires to be protected from stock of all kinds as they are very partial to tbe young shoots ; it therefore should be protected by a double fence, which makes the hedge expensive. The following plan I would specially recommend for an orchard or garden from which all kinds of stock are excluded. Make a single ditch and bank (ditch outside) as high as possible, then dig a strip inside all round, plant the thorns in the middle of it, which will leave about eighteen inches each side to clean them, don’t cut them back the first year but let them grow ; the next winter after planting cut them down within a few inches of the ground, when they will start strong the following spring. Under such treatment they frequently make shoots, six feet long, which should not be cut until they have stopped growing for the season. Only cut the laterals or side shoots. By these means you get strong shoots and in five years a good fence. It is necessary that they should be kept carefully cleaned at the roots. The outside bank should be planted with furze to bind it until the thorns are strong enough, when it may be all levelled down. In planting an orchard, young trees may be planted (that is, one or two year old trees) at the same time as the fence, as they will grow up with it, but on no account should large trees be planted unless the situation is well sheltered from the winds that are so liable to blow them about, as this must seriously injure the roots, and if they are brought from a distance with their roots exposed it frequently happens that they are killed altogether.. Young trees take a firm hold and grow up with the shelter thus afforded them. Another thing to avoid, unless your space is unlimited, is seedling trees. No trees ought to be admitted into an orchard unless grafted ones of good varieties. Seedlings may be planted in some place out of the orchard until thej are proved, as very many are worthless, and, as the grower’s aim ought to be to get a selection for all the year round, it is better for him to have well-known varieties which will suit his purpose than to plant any kind indiscriminately. For a commercial orchard a few leading well-known varieties pay better than a great many sorts mixed up together, but for private use a variety of sorts is always preferable. Thera is another form of cultivating fruit trees, which is by dwarfing them. I have had considerable experience in dwarfing trees, and I must say that for small gardens there is nothing to equal it, as by this means a great variety can be grown in a small space; it is besides a work of the greatest interest to the cultivator. If your soil is not suitable you can easily make it so at a very small expense, and the management of the dwarfed trees is verj 7 simple. Three years ago I planted about one hundred and twenty of one and two-year old grafted trees for a gentleman who only had about half an acre altogether for house, offices, &c. The only shelter he had was a six foot fence, round which I planted peaches, nectarines, and pears. The apples, plums, and cherries were planted as edgings to the walks and trained along a single wire. This year he considers the fruit has repaid the outlay. The quality was very superior, more especially the nectarines. One person can manage fhe summer pruning, and can superintend the root-pruning in winter — such as apples. By this method you have blight completely under control. The dwarfing system has been found to pay commercially in England, but I could not recommend it to be practiced on a large scale here where the climate is so favourable, though for small gardens a great variety of fruit is thus secured in a comparatively small space, which gives an interest to the work far beyond the money value of the fruit.

Fearing I am trespassing tco much on your space, 1 close my present letter, but should you think the subject of sufficient interest 1 will endeavour to continue it in a series of letters embracing the different subjects in detail. I am, &c. James Laird. Wanganui, April 21, 1869.