Five Pear Trees, Apted's Glen Ard Orchard

310 Eagles Nest Road ARTHURS CREEK, NILLUMBIK SHIRE

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Nillumbik Shire

HO197 5 Pear Trees

Statement of Significance

• Additional Place Information

  • Physical Description 1

    Five Pear Trees, Apted's Glen Ard Orchard - Physical Description 1

    ELTHAM STUDY DESCRIPTION:

    There are (thought to be) up to 60 Pear trees that are 120 years of age in the orchard, all of which are commercially productive. The orchard contains a variety of other trees of various ages which are maintained as long as they are commercially viable. 9

    REVISED DESCRIPTION & CONDITION, 2006

    (see annotated aerial photograph, 2006, showing tree locations and digital images)

    The old pear tree plantings are thought to have been reduced in number since the above estimate and are in now two major groupings, set among other fruit trees 10.

    In addition to the main orchard building complex, a Californian Bungalow further west (CA4, also cited in the Shire of Eltham Heritage Study) was built for George Apted's third son, in the 1930s. ltis now owned by Leslie Apted and Sons P/L of 864 Cottles Bridge-Strathewen Road, Arthurs Creek (97148201). This building is a well preserved example of its type and era.

    Physical Description 2

    Five Pear Trees, Apted's Glen Ard Orchard - Physical Description 2

    Group 1 French seedling tree base, former Buerre Capment graft, now Packham Triumph (5), at310 Eagles Nest Rd

    (Five trees, photographed individually and located as a group via GPS, annotated onto aerial image, see Figure 2).

    Located in an orchard at a bend on the north side of Arthurs Creek, these trees have been grafted (reworked) three times in their history as far as the Apted family is able to discover. The original graft is thought to have been in .(" the 1880s as Buerre Capment onto seedlings grown from French imported. . seed. When George James Apted took over in 1914 these trees were large and 'unwieldy'. He trimmed them back with an axe and reworked them, removing the Buerre Capment. These were reworked or grafted to either Vicar Winkfield or Napoleon in 1914. In 1938 they were reworked, this time to Packham Triumph. Thus the only original part of each tree is the base trunk of an unknown French seedling which is less than a metre high in all cases. Grafting (top working) is a way to change a large tree from old to a new variety. It is also a method of using a root system better adapted to soil or climate than that produced naturally by an ungrafted plant. The girth of a representative tree was 1270mm measured at 762mm above the ground, so they are not large trees. Being part of a productive orchard these tree have always been pruned regularly and generally maintained. As these trees are grafted, the trunk branches dramatically at a low point. fC" Cavities in the forked part of the trunk are already leading to rot and disease. .One tree is badly affected. Bark is flaking off some branches, indicating death of those limbs.

    In order to preserve these trees the cavities would need appropriate arboreal treatment to prevent further moisture congregating in that location. All dead and diseased wood should also be destroyed.

    More research needs to be done to establish the credentials of the Buerre Capment variety of the stock as no reference can be found to this variety by a search on the internet or early references. The current top worked variety of 'Packham Triumph' is common.

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Heritage Study and Grading

    Nillumbik - Shire of Nillumbik Planning Scheme Amendment C13 Part 1

    Author: Graeme Butler & Assoc.
    Year: 2006
    Grading:

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