THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



113 



to push to any length the first season, as 

 a free growth ensures stout wood, which 

 the next season will form fruiting spurs. 

 All the fundamental parts of a trained 

 espalier should usually be allowed to 

 grow freely in len<:th all the season, as 

 they can be cut back to a proper length 

 at the winter pruning, and the wood 

 will be stout and ripe. The first up- 

 right is never to go beyond the limits of 

 the espalier, and all other uprights are 

 to be allowed to grow to the same 

 height. Hence, it and its fellows will 

 generally require to be shortened back 

 at every winter pruning. Page 48 of 

 Mr. Rivers's -5th edition of the " Orchard 

 House," you have a figtire of a peach- 

 tree in a pot pruned so as to form a 

 close pyramid. When the top-shoot has 

 made five leaves, pinch out the top, and 

 adopt the same plan with all the shoots 

 below the uppermost one when two, or 

 at the most three, leaves are developed. 

 By practising this method, one season 

 will be sufficient to form a close pyramid 

 with a plant of tolerable vigour. When 

 the laterals, induced by the taking out 

 of the points of the shoots, have attained 

 the third leaf, pinch out as before, and 

 so for every growth that may be made 

 in the course of the season. Precisely 

 the same remarks will apply to the for- 

 mation of the " Vertical Cordon." Let 

 the same treatment in the way of pinch- 

 ing, stopping, etc., be applied to eaeh of 

 the three, five, or seven shoots, as the 

 case may be, as to the one in the case 

 of the pyramid. The only difference 

 will be, at the end of the first year's 

 growth, having secured as many shoots 

 as you wish, bring down the shoots at 

 the bottom, and curve them upwards, so 

 as the tree may be open in the centre 

 that the fruit and leaves may have all 

 the benefit of a free circulation of air, 

 thus : — 



FIG: t 



a is a strong peg thrust into the soil ; b 

 is a tie of bast matting, securing the 

 shoot at the point indicated, to the top 

 of the peg, which should have a notch 

 cut in it, so as to prevent the slipping 

 of the tie ; c is a slight stake, suffi- 

 ciently strong to carry the remaining 

 part of the shoot into an upright position. 

 Compare Fig. 1 with Fig. 2, the natural 

 mode of growth without artificial inter- 

 ference, and you will see the propriety 

 of the mode of training indicated. 



TIG: 2. 



Queries on Roses. — S. X. Z. — The many 

 questions you ask in reference to roses 

 could not very well be replied to, unless 

 we were to devote the whole of oar 

 pages to the subject for some time to 

 come. The months of March and April 

 is the season for pruning roses in the 

 open ground, and but few general rules- 

 can be given as to the modes of prun- 

 ing, which would be applicable to all 

 kinds of roses. Moss, Provence, Hybrid 

 Perpetual, and Bouibon roses require 

 rather close pruning, leaving five to> 

 eight eyes only on each main shoot, and 

 observing this general rule to prune 

 weak shoots more severely than strong 

 ones, and weak growers more severely 

 than strong growers. If these kinds of 

 roses are not pruned every year, they 

 become lanky and weak, and by pro- 

 ducing their blossoms at the end of long 

 thin shoots, the weight of the flowers 

 bends them over, and when they should 

 be at their best they are in reality at 

 their worst, for they fall over and become 

 a disgrace to the garden. Strong grow- 



