17 NOVEMBER 1944, Page 14

In My Garden The last of the fruit from an

orchard that had borne more than a bumper crop, especially of Coxes, was being stored in a cellar: Some had been sold, and the purchasers had volunteered the testimonial that they had never known cleaner fruit. I asked the orchard owner the secret. The answer was uncompromisingly' negative. " I never prune, never spray, never manure; but the apples are planted close, so ensuring cross fertilisation and the garden is full of birds." Then as a final nega- tive, " I won't allow wasps' nests to be destroyed." It is, of course, very, very wrong to deny the value of pruning or spraying; but there you are. The crop was clean and bumper in a bad season, as it was last year in a