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The various forms of espaliers and fan-shaped trees have their special and legitimate uses. It may be said here that the Palmette-Verrier is regarded generally as being the most successful for the largest number of varieties of fruits. It is a safe rule also that the simpler forms are generally the better. With rare exceptions a tree confined to a moderately small space is more satisfactory than one trained over a large space.
Great care must be exercised in forming these trees. If the geometrical style of training is undertaken at all, it should be carried out with considerable precision. If one arm happens to be placed a little higher, or at a little more moderate angle, or otherwise more favorably than the corresponding arm, it will very soon divert to its own use the major portion of food supplied by the top. It will outgrow its mate and the form which the gardener designed will eventually be lost. It will be seen at once that this condition makes the same care and precision necessary in all forms of training.
Fig. 16—PEARS IN U-FORM
Sometimes called two-arm upright cordons
The U-form classifies somewhere between the cordon and the espalier. It consists of two upright branches joined to a single trunk below by an arc of a circle. The fruit is all borne on the two parallel stems which are treated essentially the same as upright cordons. (Fig. 17.)
The double U-form is made by growing two U's from the same tree. The stem is first divided near the ground into two branches and each of these is immediately divided into two more. The tree thus provides four parallel and equally spaced upright and fruiting stems equal to four upright cordons, except that they are all supported from a single trunk. The U- and double U-forms are employed mostly for plums, apricots, peaches and nectarines.
One occasionally sees much more elaborate schemes of training than any here mentioned. There are complex geometrical designs, even pictorial figures—birds, dogs, and beer-steins—and sometimes the initials of the gardener, or the name of his kingly and imperial majesty. In every case the method of producing these forms is practically the same. A frame is built of wood or wire in the form which it is desired to give the tree. Branches are developed at suitable points on the tree and these are tied out while they are growing to the wooden or metal form. It does not require any special care or ingenuity to produce the most elaborate designs in this method. It is essentially a job of carpentry.
FIG. 17—APRICOTS IN U-FORM
We come now to the cordons. If we take the simplest form, namely the upright cordon, we have what we may call a tree of one dimension only. The upright cordon has nothing but height, eschewing both breadth and thickness. A cordon is simply a tree trained to a single stem and this stem may be placed in any position. The position or direction of the stem classifies the cordon. There are, therefore, besides the upright cordon, others which are oblique, that is, which make an angle with the horizontal, those which are horizontal, and those which are bent into various forms. The serpent form is one of the simplest of these. This form of cordon is simply bent back and forth against a trellis forming a series of S's one above another. The horizontal cordons are of two varieties, namely one-arm and two-arm forms. It is altogether a matter of convenience which one of these forms is chosen.
FIG. 18—PEAR IN ESPALIER
This tree is carrying over 200 fruits
In conclusion it may be pointed out that the slower growing trees, pears and apples, are the better suited to the more elaborate forms of training. The more free and rapid growing species, such as peaches, nectarines, cherries, and Japanese plums, are better managed in somewhat simpler forms, preferably the fan. Such trees do well, however, in the U-form or double U-form.
FIG. 19—OLD ESPALIER PEARS ON FARM HOUSE WALL
VI
GENERAL MANAGEMENT
The general management of dwarf trees is naturally very much like the management of ordinary standard trees. As dwarf trees are grown more often in gardens rather than in orchards they will receive garden treatment. Heavy tools and extensive methods of culture will hardly find application.
Good soil culture may be regarded as essential. Whatever some American fruit growers may be saying about the propriety of growing apple orchards in sod, no one has yet undertaken to adapt the sod system into the kitchen garden. The close planting which is customary with dwarf trees makes culture comparatively difficult, yet not unreasonably so. Apple and pear trees planted six feet apart each way can be worked for several years with a single horse and cultivator. In fact if the trees are kept carefully headed in, the time need never come when the cultivator will have to be abandoned. When cordons or espaliers are planted in a garden large enough to warrant horse cultivation under ordinary circumstances then the rows of trained trees should be set six feet apart, which will be enough to permit the continued use of the horse and cultivator between the rows.
FIG. 20—HORIZONTAL CORDON APPLE AND OTHER DWARF TREES
With cover crop of hairy vetch
However, the horse cultivator is certain to be definitely crowded out of some dwarf fruit gardens. Many of the men who have greatest reason for growing dwarf fruit trees are those whose backyard gardens were never large enough to justify the presence of a horse or horse tools. In such cases the spading fork and the hand cultivator are the ready and proper substitutes. Our extensive methods of farming in America have bred a strong prejudice against all sorts of hand labor like this, but experience will show that under some conditions it is quite worth while. A very common mistake in all kinds of agriculture is to allow prejudice to rule experience.
FIG. 21—DESIGN FOR A BACK YARD FRUIT GARDEN 50 FT. SQUARE
North fence (top of map), peach espalier (4); Row 1, bush apple (7); Row 2, pyramid pear (7); Row 3, currants and gooseberries (11); Row 4 and 5, horizontal cordon apples, with grass walk between; Row 6, raspberry bushes (7); Row 7, strawberries; Row 8, plums in bush form (7); Row 9, apples in horizontal cordons (4); East fence, apples as upright cordons (31); West fence, pears in espalier.
Garden culture means not only good tillage of the soil, but good treatment in other respects. It means good feeding and good spraying. As for spraying we need make only two observations. First, the treatment to be given is almost precisely the same as that which is given to standard trees of the same species; second, the work is much more easily performed because the trees are smaller. If one happens to have a considerable block of dwarf trees closely planted. There may be difficulty, it is true, in driving in with a spray pump. This difficulty is overcome by having long runs of hose on the spray pump, so that the cart may stand on the borders of the garden while the operator carries the nozzle in among the trees. In case of large plantings of dwarf trees alley-ways should be left every one hundred feet, or better, every eighty feet, between the blocks. These alleys will be useful for other purposes besides spraying.
FIG. 22—DWARF FRUIT GARDEN 111 BY 144 FEET
From Lucas' Handbuch des Obstbaues
In the management of a small garden the gardener is expected to be liberal in his allowance of fertilizers. While it is true that dwarf fruit trees should be liberally fed there is a possibility of overdoing it. It has already been explained that the dwarfing of the tree depends in a certain way on its well-regulated starvation. If the tree top could get all the food which its nature calls for it would not be dwarfed. The rule in feeding dwarf fruit trees therefore should be to give enough fertilizer to keep them in perfect health and in good growing condition, but not enough to force unnecessary growth. Fertilizer rich in nitrogen should be especially avoided, and, as the object in view is to secure an early maturity of the tree and to produce fruit always in preference to wood, a larger proportion of potash would naturally be substituted for the diminished proportion of nitrogen. Of course the amounts and proportions of the different elements (nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid) to be applied will vary greatly with different conditions,—with the nature of the soil, the age of the trees, etc. As a sort of standard we may say that under normal conditions of good soil with dwarf apple and pear trees in bearing there should be given annually for each acre:
400 pounds ground bone
400 pounds muriate of potash
100 pounds Peruvian guano
Peaches and plums require more nitrogen during early growth, and more potash when in full bearing. For a new plantation of these trees the following amounts should be given annually for each acre:
300 pounds ground bone
400 pounds muriate of potash
150 pounds nitrate of soda
For peach and plum trees in bearing, the following formula may be suggested:
400 pounds ground bone
500 pounds muriate of potash
100 pounds Peruvian guano
Inasmuch as many owners of dwarf fruit trees will have so much less than an acre for treatment it will be best to repeat these formulas, reducing them to a smaller unit. Making this reduction somewhat freely, in order to avoid long and useless decimals, we may compute the quantity needed annually for each one hundred square feet of land as follows:
FOR APPLES AND PEARS IN BEARING1 pound ground bone
1 pound muriate of potash
¼ pound Peruvian guano
FOR PEACHES AND PLUMS NEWLY PLANTED¾ pound ground bone
1 pound muriate of potash
⅜ pound nitrate of soda
FOR PEACHES AND PLUMS IN BEARING¼ pound Peruvian guano
1¼ pound muriate of potash
1 pound ground bone
Cherries should be treated like plums; gooseberries, currants, and most other fruits, like apples.
In the home of dwarf tree culture, that is, in Europe, trained trees are extensively grown upon walls. The gardeners utilize for this purpose not only the walls of stables and outbuildings, and of the enclosed gardens, but long ranges of brick are built for the special and exclusive purpose of accommodating fruit trees. In southern Germany, in Switzerland, in Belgium, in France, and especially in the neighborhood of Paris, there are hundreds of miles of these walls. The walls may run north and south or east and west. Both sides of the walls are used, even when one side faces the north. Currants and gooseberries are expected to thrive on north walls. West walls are considered especially favorable for pears and plums. The walls are nearly always built of brick. They should have a height of ten to fourteen feet. Each wall usually has a coping at the top with a projection of ten to eighteen inches, which sheds the rain, protecting both the wall and the fruit trees. Where extreme pains are spent on the culture of fancy table fruits there are curtains hung from rods along the outer edge of these copings, and the curtains are drawn to protect ripening fruit from too hot sunshine, or to protect the blossoms in the spring season from late frosts.
Brick walls, with all their appurtenances, are less important in America than in Europe and the advantages to be expected from this particular method of culture are decidedly less. Walls would more probably be useful for peaches and nectarines in northern latitudes than for any other fruits.
Cordons and espaliers require some sort of support, however, and where walls are not used trellises are necessary. These may be of wood or wire. There is a belief current that the wooden trellises are better because they reflect less heat, but wire is so much cheaper and more durable that it will usually be chosen.
Five or six wires are needed to make a good trellis for upright cordons. These should be placed twelve to fourteen inches apart, with the lowest wire thirty inches from the ground. All wires should be tight, and to this end stout, well-set posts are necessary. The wires should be loosened in the autumn, before freezing weather begins, and should be tightened again in the spring.
FIG. 23—FRUIT GARDENING AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING COMBINED
From Lucas' Handbuch des Obstbaues
The entire planting, exclusive of the borders, is made up of fruit trees and bushes. Dimensions, 752 × 1,362 feet.
For espaliers the woven wire fences are better. In fact, the woven wire fencing is excellent for all sorts of fruit trellises. Poultry netting makes a cheap and convenient trellis, but it is neither so strong nor so durable as the better grades of woven wire fencing. On the whole it is very poor economy to buy a cheap trellis or to put it up on poor posts.
These trellises will need to be comparatively high. Nothing less than eight feet will be satisfactory, and for upright cordons a trellis ten to fifteen feet high will be much better. Of course, this entire height is not needed the first year, but upright cordon apples will cover a twelve foot trellis in five years. Peaches or Japanese plums will cover the same trellis in three years.
In the selection of varieties for growing in a garden of dwarf fruit trees the horticulturist will naturally be guided by principles altogether different from those which control him in the selection of varieties for a commercial orchard. He must, of course, consider which varieties are best adapted to the special stocks on which they have to be propagated. He must also bear in mind that certain varieties are better adapted than others for the special forms in which he may wish to train his dwarf trees. Beyond all this lies the great consideration that in the very large majority of cases dwarf fruit trees are grown to secure fancy fruit, not to produce a large quantity for a general market. All varieties of inferior quality would therefore be eliminated from consideration at the beginning, no matter how productive they might be, nor how famous for other things.
FIG. 24—A FRUIT GARDEN CONTAINING MANY DWARF TREES
A is the entrance; B, well or cistern; C, space to turn a horse and cart.
From P. Barry's "Fruit Garden"]
Varieties of specially good flavor would be given special thought, even though they might lack in hardiness or productivity. The special favorites of the man who owns the garden should be chosen, no matter whether they are popular or not. Then for similar reasons a comparatively long list of varieties will be chosen instead of the very short list always held to by the commercial grower. From first to last one should remember that the growing of dwarf fruit trees is essentially the enterprise of an amateur, not of a man who grows fruit for money.
VII
DWARF APPLES
Dwarf apples are the most interesting and valuable of dwarf fruits. We have become so thoroughly accustomed to the standard apple tree in this country, however, and it so fully meets all the apparent requirements, that there seems to be no call for dwarf apples. Nevertheless dwarf trees have some real advantages under certain circumstances. Some of these have already been pointed out in the general discussion in previous chapters, and some of them will bear reiteration here. Where so much interest is taken in apple culture as in America, the advantage which dwarf trees offer for the rapid testing of new varieties cannot be overlooked. Still more important is the value of the dwarf trees in producing extra fancy specimens. Thus in growing very fine apples for exhibition or for a particularly fastidious market, one would naturally choose the dwarf trees.
Inasmuch as dwarf trees are recommended chiefly to the amateur and are grown generally less for cash profit than for other considerations, the great and obvious advantages of standard trees quickly disappear. For men who like to play at fruit growing, nothing can equal a selection of apple trees on Paradise stocks. They are the most engaging of all dwarf trees, in fact of all fruit trees whatsoever.
The general matter of selecting stocks has been referred to under the head of propagation, but the statement should be repeated here that the French Paradise stock is preferable for very dwarf garden trees, and is almost necessary for cordons and espaliers, while the Doucin (sometimes called the English or broad-leaved Paradise) may be chosen where only a moderate amount of dwarfing is desired. Some of the most expert apple growers of North America are beginning to think that the Doucin may be required for the commercial orchards in the future, when spraying for the San José scale becomes an established routine and smaller trees are an accepted necessity.
Dwarf apple trees may be cultivated in nearly all the artificial forms ever given to fruit trees. Undoubtedly the simplest is the bush or vase form. This requires less care and attention and probably gives as much fruit to the same area as any other. The pyramid form is somewhat difficult to produce. It can be secured successfully only with the varieties which have a tendency to grow strong, straight branches, as for instance Sutton, Gravenstein and Northern Spy. On the whole the pyramid is not to be recommended for dwarf apples.
Apples succeed very well as upright cordons and in all the simpler modifications of this form. As these trees can be planted very close together—as close as fifteen inches certainly—thus occupying very little room, a large number of them can be planted in very limited areas of the city lot or backyard. They are especially adapted to stand on the property line where they seem to use no space whatever, and where in fact they do occupy space which otherwise would be lost. The upright cordon can be bent into the form of an arch in order to make delightful arbors along the walks. The illustration, Fig. 2, shows a good example of this sort.
FIG. 25—DWARF APPLES ON PROF. L. H. BAILEY'S FARM, NEW YORK
Nearly all varieties of apples—indeed all as far as I know—succeed in this form. The trees are not very long-lived, however. That is they cannot be maintained in good presentable form and prolific bearing indefinitely, because it is difficult to reproduce the fruit spurs on the lower part of the stem. Nevertheless the trees are inexpensive and can be cheaply replaced. As they come into bearing the first or second year after planting, this task of replacing worn-out trees is a small one. Very fine specimens of fruit can be produced on these upright cordons. Indeed this form is superior to the bush form in this respect.
The apple is the best of all trees for horizontal cordons. In this form it becomes the most entertaining plaything in the garden, as well as one of the most rewarding trees in its product of fruit. Either the single arm or the double arm cordon can be used with success. These horizontal cordons are naturally used along the borders of walks, flower beds or plots devoted to vegetables. They may sometimes be used along foundations of buildings, where it is not desired to grow upright cordons or espaliers against the walls. The fruit produced by horizontal cordons is probably superior in size, color and finish to that produced on any other form of tree. In climates where the summer's heat and sunshine are apt to be meager, this advantage of the horizontal cordon will be comparatively greater. Conversely it will be less in places where sunshine and heat are very abundant during the summer. It is probably true that on the plains of Arizona and Texas the horizontal cordon will not be a brilliant success.
Dwarf apples need practically the same care and cultivation, aside from pruning, as standard apples. The soil should be cultivated during the early part of the summer and allowed to rest during the latter part of the year. Cover crops may be sown during June or July, according to the custom practised in the usual orchard management; but the advantages of a cover crop in a small garden are less material than in a large commercial orchard.
FIG. 26—UPRIGHT CORDON APPLES
18 inches apart; in author's garden
The formation of the tree is discussed under another head. It remains to be said only that careful and intelligent pruning are required to keep any dwarf apple tree to its work. The more complicated and the more restricted the form of the tree, the more careful and continuous must be this pruning. The general system may be outlined in comparatively few words, and may be explained in its simplest form as applied to the treatment of a horizontal cordon. Each horizontal cordon, perfectly formed and full grown, should have fruit spurs throughout its horizontal length, which may be from three to fifteen feet. The upright portion of the trunk, from the point where the graft is set to the angle made by the bending down of the stem, should be kept clean and bare. Constant care is required to remove the sprouts from this portion of the tree, especially such as come up from the stock. At the further end of the horizontal portion there should be one, two, or three strong shoots allowed to push forth each year. These may be called leaders. They represent the principal wood growth in each tree. They draw up the sap from the roots, their leaves elaborate this sap, and from them the digested material is sent back for the support of the tree and the ripening of the fruit. They are allowed to take an upright or nearly upright position and their growth is encouraged. On all other portions of the tree growth is sternly restricted, when not altogether repressed.
There is a constant tendency for strong shoots to start into growth all along the horizontal part of the stem and especially near the bend. If any of these shoots are allowed to make headway, the form of the tree is spoiled. Even if they are cut out after a year's growth, thus retaining somewhat the form of the tree, the fruit spurs are thereby lost. It is the business of the fruit grower, therefore, to pinch back these shoots which start along the horizontal stem, and this pinching is done at a comparatively early stage of their growth. Usually the first pinching should be given when the stems have grown long enough so as to have seven or eight leaves. These shoots are then cut or pinched back to three leaves. If the tree is in good vigorous condition, these shoots will soon start into growth once more. Again they have to be pinched. This time the pinching comes a little earlier, taking the shoot when it reaches only about five leaves and the pinching is still more severe. The shoots may start into growth a third time or even a fourth time, but each time they are pinched back sooner and more severely than before. In most cases two or three pinchings will suffice. These constant repressions of growth tend to secure the formation of fruit spurs and fruit buds along the horizontal trunk of the tree.
Some slight modifications of the plan here outlined will develop themselves in experience. In particular it will be found that different varieties require slightly different handling. Some form fruit spurs more readily than others. With certain varieties it is very difficult to repress the rampant habit of growth and to secure a proper formation of fruit buds. These differences, however, are of minor importance as compared with the general management of the tree.