1879.] HARDY FRUITS. 61 



ready to form natural spurs, which are the best, and most likely to 

 last longer than those cut in with the knife. The finer kinds of 

 Pears are less hardy than Apples, and do little without the aid of a 

 wall, except in the more southern districts. Training on walls is an 

 operation which is attended with good results when well done, and the 

 roots kept healthy and near the surface. All the training and knife- 

 work possible will never make fruitful trees when the roots are allowed 

 to go down — away from sun and air. The spurs growing out from the 

 walls may be cut off, and those growing on each side of the branch 

 should be left ; and they should never be allowed to become crowded. 

 In northern districts the spurs should have the full benefit of the wall. 

 The difference we have noticed by the close system is very remarkable. 

 On walls many systems of training may be practised with good results. 

 Horizontal, or taking shoots at right angles, and each placed about two 

 or three bricks wide, is the system which gives least labour, and looks 

 very neat. Fan-training is simply extending the branches to a given 

 distance formed as a fan. They start close to the main stem of the 

 tree, gradually widening, so that at the extreme points they may stand 

 a foot or more apart. We often have seen these shoots left a few inches 

 apart ; and the cultivators have wondered how they, year after year, 

 show profusion of bloom, and never bear (scarcely) any fruit. The reply 

 is simple enough : the fruit-buds are always so crowded by foliage up 

 to late in the autumn, that they never ripen, and are consequently un- 

 prepared to fertilise their blossoms when they open. Let the roots of 

 such trees have the influence of sun and air to form fibres, and every 

 alternate branch cut out, and we have no fear of fruiting. We once 

 had the charge of a splendid wall of trees, which were all loaded 

 every year, many seasons running. They were got into fine shape 

 and size by a skilful predecessor; and we lifted them piecemeal, 

 mulched the surface with good manure, cut off long spurs, tied others 

 close to the wall, and the result was a great change of fruit, both in 

 appearance and quality. It is useless to suppose that attention to 

 these items once is to be a permanent success. They must be examined 

 yearly, and receive what is to keep them healthy and in bearing condi- 

 tion. 



Plums, like Pears, can be trained in any form, but they are very often 

 found fan-shaped ; but seldom are these or any stone-fruits found 

 well trained (even where they are in healthy bearing condition), but 

 spread over the walls to cover the space without any proper system. 

 We prefer laying them out similiar to Pears, with leading shoots 

 from the trunk to the full extent, with short side shoots and natural 

 spurs from base to top. The centres are cut back to about half 

 the length of the side shoots to give the necessary branches to fill up 

 the whole tree ; but it is long since we discontinued cutting back so 

 closely. A tree when at its full size should bear fruit to the base — 

 the two lower branches being horizontal, about a foot from the ground. 



