108 THE GARDENER. [March 



growing variety — where it might tend more to balance the tree and in- 

 duce an equal distribution of sap througliout its branches — we consider 

 them no improvement upon the fan and horizontal. The herring-bone 

 fan is nothing more than a tree jtruned as if intended for a horizontal — 

 its lower branches being laid along the bottom of the wall, the next laid 

 at a slight angle, each branch having more of an angle than the one 

 below it, until the branches near the top are running upon a pretty 

 sharp angle, resembling the disposition of the branches in a fan -trained 

 tree, while the upright stem is retained and cut yearly, the same as in 

 the horizontal. Oblique training is identical with horizontal, so far 

 as pruning is concerned, while the branches are all trained permanently 

 at any angle from 25° to 45°. This method has this fault, that a con- 

 siderable portion of the w^all is left entirely without branches towards 

 the bottom. The curvilinear is certainly worthy of notice in such cases 

 as have already been indicated, and may be done in the following 

 manner : — Cut the maiden tree over about 18 inches from the ground, 

 leaving two good buds at the top, one in front for a leader, and the 

 other to form a branch either to right or left — whatever direction it is 

 most likely to suit. This leader may be laid in straight to the wall 

 for 1 foot, the remaining 6 inches being drawn about 3 inches from 

 the straight in the direction the bud for the upper side-branch indicates. 

 In spring, when the buds have started, rub off all the eyes below the 

 two spoken of to the place where the leader goes off at an angle, where 

 a strong bud ought to be left to form a branch for the opposite side. 

 In the following year prune and train in the manner already directed 

 for horizontal trees, cutting the leader about 1 foot from the upper 

 branch, and laying the branches in the same way as recommended for the 

 horizontal, by bringing them down year by year till they all run on a 

 level. The leader is to be treated .year by year as it has been for the 

 first until the wall is filled, when it will have a far more imposing aj)- 

 pearance than a regular horizontal, as, besides having the twisted stem, 

 the branches will be alternate all the tree over, from bottom to top. 

 The principal object in view by this mode of training is to check the 

 rapid rush of sap to the upper branches of a tree to the detriment and 

 loss of the under ones, and this twisting of the stem has that tendency, 

 as the cellular tissue is to a certain extent broken and wounded. 



It is almost superfluous for us to enter upon the various modes and 

 modifications adopted for the Pear in the open garden or orchard. 

 Every cultivator has a mode of his own, which he is sure to consider 

 one of the best, if not the very best, extant. All the different methods 

 may, however, be reduced to three general principles — viz., the pyr- 

 amid, the dwarf-stemmed standard, and the tall-stemmed standard. 



The Quince stock is the only one which forms, as a rule, a real 



