252 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



when I followed my business as a gardener in Scotland. There are several 

 orders of gardening in that country which are, in a certain way, adapted to the 

 different classes of the society. There are first the gardens of the aristocracy, 

 inclosed with high brick or stone walls, upon which are trained the various 

 fruit trees on what is called the fan and horizontal system. Here the peach, 

 the apricot, and all the finer fruits are grown to the greatest perfection. Then 

 there is a second class which are occupied by the large farmer and smaller 

 gentry; and it was in some of these that the Espalier mode of fruit culture was 

 carried out in a systematic form. 



I may here mention that these gardens are generally of a square shape and 

 again divided into squares, or bricks as they are called, by gravel walks with a 

 boxwood edging. The Espalier trees are planted about two feet from the walk 

 and to train them on the horizontal system the branches are laid in from the 

 bottom right and left. To carry this out into pi oper effect, a tree with a good 

 root should be planted and cultivated to grow up with one good leading shoot 

 for the first year. In the second season, in spring, cut it off to eight or nine 

 inches and as it sprouts select three of the strongest stems as leaders, bending 

 down two right and left and the third to stand up in the center and to be cut 

 over in spring to form a set of leaders in the same way as before. This mode 

 is continued annually till a full height of five or six feet is attained. Of course 

 it is necessary, from the beginning of this process, to place stakes along the 

 line upon which to tie these leading branches and thus draw out their horizon- 

 tal form. Trees of strong growth will in this way extend for a distance of 18 feet 

 on each side. It is necessary to prune off all the extra strong shoots and so 

 induce the fruit spurs to set all along the leading branches. Apples and pears 

 are for the most part grown in this form, though I have seen cherries and 

 plums trained in the same way and bearing well. 



I think that by this mode of Espalier and trellis culture, the peach, especially, 

 could be grown with great advantage, as by this means the tree could be so 

 easily protected in winter from the cold snaps, which so often destroy the first 

 buds, by placing against the trellis a few cornstalks or a straw matting, which 

 would be a sure protection. 



This peach culture on a trellis ought, I think, to be conducted at firs.t in a 

 somewhat different way from that of the other by starting the first growth at 

 the beginning with two strong shoots, and laying them in at an angle of 45°, 

 and continuing to train each in a fan form and then have them elongated on 

 the trellis so far as convenient. 



In this way something of the same mode of culture could be adopted as is 

 common with the peach culture on the wall. This mode is to leave and lay in 

 a certain number of the young shoots of the early summer, as the fruit bearers 

 for the next season, and in the fall or winter cut out those that were the fruit 

 bearers of last year, and then tie or fix in the others in their place. By this 

 mode of training the whole tree is to a certain extent renovated every year. 

 This is the way they are trained on the walls in Scotland, and I have often 

 seen trees that were 25 and 30 years of age and still bearing great crops of fine 

 fruit. 



From what I have now said on this subject it will be seen that in all our 

 village and suburban lots there is a considerable space well adapted for the 

 growing of the various fruits in the way I have described, and also for a cer- 

 tain amount of flowers and vegetables. 



To flower culture the front space should be allotted and for vegetables the 

 back quarters. 



