THE FLOJIAL WORLD 



AND 



GARDEN GUIDE. 



OCTOBER, ]867 



ENGLISH PEUIT-GKOWINa. 



E,UIT culture in England as compared with fruit culture 

 in France has been the subject of a somewhat prolix, 

 but nevertheless interesting, discussion in the news- 

 papers for some time past. The discussion arose 

 principally out of a panegyric by one of our ablest 

 horticultural writers of the Erench mode of training cordon trees. 

 It was thence argued that English cultivators should take cordons 

 in hand, and look for their reward in an increased production and a 

 higher quality of home-grown fruit. It is quite true, we might even 

 say delightfully true, that French amateurs bestow much time and 

 care upon their fruit-trees, and excel in their various modes of 

 training. As to the cordons, we see fruit-trees of all kinds subjected 

 to this mode of training, though it is more particularly adapted for 

 the pear and the peach, when trained on walls. The essential feature 

 of the cordon system is that the trees consist of a certain number of 

 long rods, crowded with fruit spurs, but quite destitute of the side 

 branches and ramifications which every tree will naturally form 

 when left to grow in its own way. The business of the cultivator 

 is to promote the growth of the fundamental rods or branches in 

 length, and to suppress all side-shoots, and, generally speaking, keep 

 down the growth of lateral wood. AVhen well made, a cordon tree 

 is like a series of knotted ropes, or if it is a simple cordon, it is like 

 one long rope, with fruit and leaves scattered its whole length, 

 a curious and an interesting object for the pride and comfort of the 

 cultivator. 



It will be observed that the principal manipulation in cordon 

 training consists in pinching back the wood shoots that are sure 

 to appear in plenty during April, May, and June. The constant 

 pinching of these tends in time to their conversion into fruit spurs, 

 and if they are well matured by a dry warm autumn they bear fruit 

 abundantly. But one objection to the adoption of the system in 

 this country is, that we cannot depend upon having the late growths 

 perfectly matured, whereas the Frenchman has no doubt about it at 

 all. It is rarely that his better climate fails to give the finishing 



VOL. TT. — NO. X. 19 



