290 THE FLORAL \yORLD AXD GAEDEX GUIDE. 



touch to liis delicate operations in fruit-tree training. It may appear 

 at first thought to some of our readers that this objection is not well 

 founded, for they may say, if the English climate ripens the wood of 

 one kind of tree, will it not ripen another kind, and that irrespective 

 of the mode of training ? But the case turns upon this considera- 

 tion, that cordon trees are of necessity much more subjected to dis- 

 budding, green pruning, and pinching, than trees in any other form ; 

 that therefore they form their final growths later in the season than 

 trees less interfered with, and therefore require a longer, brighter, 

 drier autumn for the maturation of the spurs and fruit shoots which 

 are allowed by the cultivator to remain. It follows that cordon- 

 training in this country is most likely to succeed in the southern 

 counties, and that in any district it is much better adapted to trees 

 on good walls than trees in the open quarters. "U^e have no wish to 

 discourage the adoption of cordon trees in English gardens, but it 

 appears to be our duty, now that their advantages have been ex- 

 plained, with persuasive eloquence, to give our readers a few words 

 of caution as to the probable difiiculties attending the cordon system 

 in this somewhat uncertain clime. 



jNTor should we forget another caution, which we feel assured is 

 not of secondary importance with persons who value time and have 

 to pay for labour. The cordon system entails an immensity of 

 trouble. A week's neglect of the trees at the time when they are in 

 vigorous growth will result in completely altering their figure, and 

 necessitate much cruel use of the knife to subdue their growth of 

 useless wood. The cultivator is at war with jS'ature at every step, 

 and if he sleeps, or forgets his work, Xature triumphs and laughs at 

 him. Those who enjoy much leisure, and really need more employ- 

 ment in the garden, may not fear the cultivation of cordon trees, but 

 irritable people, who soon grow weary of ''niggling, "had best not begin, 

 for it is pretty certain they will soon repent it. As to the practical 

 part of the matter, cordon-training is easy enough ; we have but to 

 lay in young shoots, and then suppress all side growths, save and 

 except such as are calculated to become bearers of fruit, as, for 

 example, short spurs in the case of pears, and short wiry branches 

 in the case of peaches. 



"W^hile we have little to say in favour of the extension of cordon 

 practice in English gardens, we gladly testify that the production of 

 English-grown fruit has been much improved since pyramid and 

 bush trees have increased in public favour. There are few now who 

 plant standard trees in the certainty of having to wait the fifth part 

 of a century to see their fruit, and with the probability of never 

 iseeing it at all. A few years suffice in these times to bridge over 

 the space of time between planting the tree and gathering the fruit, 

 and this is one of the best results of grafting near the root, and 

 much more the result of that practice than grafting on starving 

 stocks. We meet with many collections of bush and pyramid fruit- 

 trees on quince and doucin stocks, and we cannot pronounce those 

 stocks to be delusions. But we meet with many still finer collections 

 on free stocks, and we begin to doubt if anything substantial has 

 been gained by the use of dwarfing stocks, for the pear and the crab- 



