For April, 1920 



137 



and are built in the same manner as the American grape 

 trellis, but with heavier wires which are placed ten or 

 twelve inches apart. Fruit trees grown on trellises are 

 ornamental and may well form a background to the 

 flower or vegetable garden ; they may be used as borders 

 of paths, or, to divide the parts of a garden. \\'ooden 





A Dwarf Quince Tree Tiauu-d .li^ain.\t ilu- i) all 



fences properly wired, make suitable iilaces for trellis 

 training. 



The plants are set at distances apart that the wall to be 

 covered and the method of training dictate. They should 

 stand at least a foot from a solid wall, but much 

 nearer, of course, to a trellis. There are no special re- 

 quirements in setting other than that, since the plants 

 are to stand a long time, and to become exceedingly 

 valuable because of the time put on training them, the 

 work should be done well. 



The shape vo which a fruit tree may be trained can 

 be any one that fancy may choose for a flat surface. The 

 simplest forms, however, are generally the best. As a 

 rule, also, plants confined to a small space are more 

 satisfactorv than those covering a large space. The 

 simplest shape for wall or trellis is the single stem, the 

 "cordon'' of the French. Trained to a single stem the 

 plant may be made to grow upright, obliquely, hori- 

 zontally with one or two arms, or in serpentine fashion. 



Trained with two or more stems, the branches may 

 form a fan, may have several horizontal or oblique arms. 

 or may l)c made to take a U- or double I '-form. These 

 are the simplest pos.'-ible shapes. 



The beginner is likely to succeed best with the upright 

 cordon. This is a tree trained to a single stem. 1 laving 

 mastered the simplest upright, he may then place his 

 cordon in whatsoever jiosition fancy dictates. The 

 oblique, horizontal and serpentine cordons are the mcsr 

 in vogue. The names express the positions of the stems, 

 but a word of direction is necessary as regards the ser- 

 pentine, which is really, however, about the easiest to 

 grow. The stem in the serpentine is bent hack and forth 

 in a series of .S's one above the other. 



Trained to the U-forni, the tree consists of two upright 

 branches springing from the trunk in such manner as to 

 form the letter I'. The double V can be made by grow- 

 ing two U's on the tree. That is. the stem is divided 

 near the ground into two branches, each of which is 



grown to form a L', thus providing four parallel fruit- 

 bearing branches. 



The fan, oblique and horizontal forms are sufficiently 

 explained by the names. The stone fruits seem to be 

 particularly well adapted to the fan and similar shapes', 

 while the pome fruits, apples and pears, respond espe- 

 cially well to the cordon, though often grown in the more 

 complex forms. 



There are many, many rules governing the trainmg of 

 wall and trellis-trained trees. These come for most part 

 from the Old World and many of them are not applicable 

 to New World conditions. Some of them, however, must 

 be observed, h'ortunate is the man in this sort of or- 

 charding, if he can have the advice and assistance of a 

 gardener from the Old World who can train the grower 

 to train his' plants. The following hints, taken from 

 ( )ld World fruit books, give the beginner in the 



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A Dtvarf Apple Tree Trmiicd Pyramid Shape 



pleasant art of miniature orcharding a working knowl- 

 edge: 



1. Prune strong branches severely; weak ones lightly. 



2. Depress strong branches ; elevate weak ones. 



3. Suppress useless buds on strong ]jarts early : on 

 weak parts delay supjiression. 



4. Fasten strong p;irts to wall or trellis early; delay 

 doing so to weak parts. 



5. Permit as nuich f'uit as possible on strong jiarts ; 

 remove all on weak parts. 



6. Keep strong parts close to the wall : bring forward 

 weak parts. 



7. ne]jrive strong parts of lisht bv covering. 



8. In Winter pruning, leive no more branches than 

 are requisite for the development of the tree and the 

 formation of fruit-bearing branches. 



'>. Repeatedly pindi off Summer shoots that are not 

 required for the development of tree. 



Training trees is one of the tasks never finished. 

 Lastly, trees trained on walls and trellises are worth 

 while. There ought to he millions of them in the back- 

 yards of cities and towns in this fruit-hungry land of 

 ours. — I". P. HicNDUicK in .hiirricaii Fruit Gr'o'.ccr. 



