If the white roots are seen to be growing around the side of the pot and the soil is hardly to be seen, then the plant certainly needs re-potting.

The loam is always sterilized, generally by steaming at 200F. for about half an hour. This ensures that all weed seeds in the soil are killed, a matter of the utmost importance.

The so-called `soil-less’ mixtures have appeared only in the past few years, again as the result of investigation and experiment by plant scientists. The easiest to buy ready made is called Levington compost, is peat-based, and is once again available either for seeds or for potting. It is inexpensive, easy to buy, standard in composition and suitable for almost all house plants.

This is why gardeners make compost, import farmyard manure, peat, spent hops and other similar bulky organic matter that will rot down to make the humus that the soil must have if it is to be alive and active. And this is why soil composts for our house plants must have on average a higher humus content even than garden soils, for compare the amount of soil available in a pot to the amount available to the same sized plant growing in the woods or the garden !

At the actual time of grafting the bud should be cut from the young wood in such a way that it produces a semicircular shield, inch in length.

These must be melted together and stirred into one another, and the wax should then be used while warm. You can use ordinary candle-grease with success. The wax is needed to cover all the cut surfaces and to seal up the union of the stock and scion.

A wax should never be applied so hot as to damage the bark or to allow the thinned liquid to trickle in between the two cut surfaces. This would prevent the cambium layers from uniting.

During the summer it is generally necessary to have to remove, with the thumb and forefinger, young growths that develop from the stock. If this is not done, the rising sap will concentrate on the stock growths and will not feed the bud as it should.

With the sharp blade of a knife, make a T-shaped cut in the stock on the shady side, at about 2 inches above ground level. Make the downstroke of the ‘T’ 1 inch long and the cross stroke I- inch long. With the bone wedge-shaped handle of the knife, raise the bark slightly.

When considering the protection of the trees, bushes and canes it is necessary to bear several very different points in mind. It may be necessary, for instance, to grow the soft fruits-and particularly raspberries, redcurrants and dessert gooseberries-in a wire cage. This is done to prevent the birds from robbing the fruits the moment they are starting to ripen, also the buds in winter. My fruit cage, for instance, is 50 feet long and 17 feet wide, and accommodates twelve redcurrants, fifty raspberry canes, six blackcurrants and six gooseberries. Cane fruits like boysenberries, nectarberries and blackberries are grown on the sides of the cages, trained up the wires.

All the ground is mulched with straw I foot deep-and twice a year, in February and August, a fish fertilizer with a 10 per cent potash content is given all over the straw at 3 oz. to the sq. yard. This is allowed to be washed in gradually by the rain and, as necessary, once a year further dressings of straw are given to keep the depth of straw at a foot.

Cordons need support, because they have to be trained at an angle of 45 degrees to start with and later on at 30 degrees- and to do this they are tied to wires stretched tightly between concrete posts. The drawing makes this quite clear.

Bush trees, dwarf pyramids and apples and pears grown on the Pillar System need supports, but these usually come under the heading of staking.

An upright stake, however, has not got quite such purchase as a stake driven in at an angle of 60 degrees, and for this reason I prefer a stake driven in diagonally on the northeast side, crossing the main trunk and protruding on the south-west side.

There is always the fear that the stem of the tree will rock ever so slightly in the soil, with the result that a shallow, cone- shaped depression may form at the point where the base of the stem joins the soil and for an inch or two below. A cone, formed by the slight moving backwards and forwards of the trunk, may easily be so ’shiny’ and firm that, when water collects in it, this cannot possibly run away.

Hedges are extremely useful to the fruit grower for three reasons: (1) they give protection against high winds, (2) they keep out marauding boys, and (3) they should be strong enough to prevent the inroads of grazing animals.

Of course, the ideal thing to do is to plant the wind-break or hedge so as to form a screen several years before the fruit is to be planted. It is invariably necessary to give protection against south-westerly gales and, in my own case, it has been vital to have equally strong hedges to combat the north-easterly winds!

It is possible to control a late spring frost by using water sprinklers in trees, and those who are interested can consult the report of Dr. W. S. Rogers which was published in The Commercial Grower on 8th November 1957.

In order to prevent damage by rabbits and hares, it is necessary in most districts to protect the trees with wire netting. One of the ways of doing this is to use a wire guard for each tree. One-inch mesh wire netting is bought for this purpose, 3 feet wide.

There are varieties of strawberries which are self-sterile, Tardive de Leopold and Deutsch Evern being two typical examples. If it is thought advisable to plant such self-sterile kinds, then it would be necessary to interplant with a suitable pollinator, and I have found that one row in six is sufficient to ensure that the pollination is perfect.

Those who are planting strawberries should make inquiries from the raiser of new varieties as to whether they are self-fertile or no.

For strawberries one pollinating row in six will do, but in the case of apples, pears and plums I believe in the one-in-nine system, which has proved extremely satisfactory in the many orchards he has planted or managed. This system ensures that every tree has a pollinating variety next to it, and yet, as will be seen in the plan, it is only necessary to plant one pollinator in nine of the main variety one wishes to grow.

It is sufficient for the compost fruit grower to realize that no variety of sweet cherry can possibly set fruits with its own pollen, therefore it is always necessary to plant a second variety.

Strawberries are propagated by means of the little plants which develop on the stolons sent out with great vigor by one-year-old plants. These are generally called runners. Because strawberries are subject to a number of virus troubles, it is tremendously important only to save runners from truly healthy soil and so the compost fruit grower has a far greater chance of keeping his ’stock’ of strawberries healthy than the man who relies on chemical fertilizers.

With redcurrants, healthy shoots can be selected in November. These should be pieces of one-year-old wood cut into lengths 12 to 15 inches long. All the buds should be removed with the sharp blade of a knife, with the exception of the top four.

The two main periods of aphis attack seem to be June and September and it is then that one can effectively spray with nicotine. Nicotine, coming as it does from the tobacco plant and being so volatile, will kill and then evaporate without leaving any taint behind. It must, however, be applied on a warm day (temperature 65 F. at least) to be effective. It gives a better kill of the strawberry aphis than liquid derris, but the wash must reach all parts of the plant, under and over.’

With the stone fruits it is usually advisable to bud rather than graft, because there is always a better ‘take’ when buds are used. The aim therefore is to see that the buds arc inserted into the stocks during the months of July and August.

There are two main groups-pear seedlings which are usually used for standard trees in farm orchards, and the quince stocks which are more suitable for bush trees, pyramids and cordons.

Unfortunately, there are varieties of pear which cannot be grafted successfully on to quince stocks.

As far as I knows, little work has been done on the best stocks for apricots, and most nurserymen appear to use the common Mussel because it has a dwarfing effect. Other nurserymen bud the apricots on the Myrobolan, usually Myrobolan B, while one or two other nurserymen prefer Seedling Plum Stocks. Prunus Besseyi may be the dwarfing stock of the future, at any rate with certain varieties. East Malting has recommended Brompton, and although this does not make a very strong union in all cases, it is probably satisfactory for growing trees that are supported against a wall.

The suburban fruit grower undoubtedly has many more difficulties to face than a man who lives in isolation in the country.

Since the outbreak this Fireblight will not be used, as it is an awkward market variety.

It is probably true to say that the organic fruit grower has quite a different approach in respect of the management of his orchards or few fruit trees.

As a manager, the fruit grower must always be on the alert. Things may happen almost in a night. One cannot wait for three or four days before spraying trees in the spring and summer, if this becomes necessary, because populations of some insects can build up by the hundreds in a day or two. The good manager, therefore, has insecticides and fungicides in stock, and he is able to use them the moment they are needed. Reference at this juncture may be made, if desired, to Chapter Seven.

Good management, of course, will ensure the use of a sufficiently large spraying machine, to ensure that first of all the trees and bushes can be covered from top to toe without any difficulty, and that, secondly, all the trees one has to spray in the spring and summer months, can be covered in the course of a few days.

Of the citrus fruits tangerines appear to give the most attractive plants, for the leaves are a dark, shining green rather than pale and dull.

All tend to get a little leggy unless they get good light and although it is sometimes possible to get a good, bushy plant by pinching out the growing tip, some plants seem to resent this and show the fact by dropping leaves or even by dying.

Avocado stones can be planted in soil in the usual manner, but they will also grow just as well if they are grown like a hyacinth bulb, suspended with just the base touching the water. Always plant or grow with the more pointed end facing upwards. The stone will gradually split down the center and the growing shoot will appear from this point.

So if I am asked, ‘ Can I grow this?’ my answer based on cautious experience must always be, ‘Try it and see.’

Slice off the top, as I have said, with just a very thin layer of the fruit. Allow this to dry out slightly, perhaps for a clay or so, and then place this firmly on a bed of moist, clean sand in a seed pan. This sand must always be kept well moistened but never so wet that water shows at the side if it is tilted.