Stream Corner

You very seldom find medlars today other than in really old gardens. If they are grown they are usually planted as ornamental trees because they produce large flowers something like a wild rose. It is possible to buy the trees as bushes or pyramids but they are usually planted as half-standards or standards.

The fruit is not picked until November. It is then stored, stalk upwards, being laid individually on paper in a frost-proof room. The fruits are then not used until they go soft and almost rotten. This ripening process is known as Wetting.

I know of one tree which crops heavily each year whether potatoes are grown about it, carrots or cabbages! It is merely a question of regular weed control.

Some nurserymen in the past used to graft the Morus nigra on to the Morus alba for reasons I have never been able to discover. No special feeding seems to be necessary for mulberries. They will grow happily in almost any soil. They just like a sunny position and well-drained good earth.

Wait until the fruits have been touched by the frost and then pick them during a nice clear day after the middle of November. Two weeks after storage the fruits will start to soften and may turn yellow. They may be eaten as dessert or may be made into jelly or `cheese'.

All that need be done is to cut out the dead wood, the diseased wood and any wood which tends to cross over to the other side of the tree and so keep out light and air. Remove also, carefully, the rubbing branches. It is just a question, therefore, of thinning out each December.