December 12, 1867. ] 



JOUBNAti OP HORTICDLTURE A\D COTTAGE G.UIDENER. 



437 



LOW CORDONS. 



OUBTI.KSS many of us 

 Knimblo iit the capricious 

 worldug of the laws — if there 

 are any — which regulate the 

 naming of plants ; and the 

 cases are not few in which 

 an ill-suppressed growl is called forth when, after ordering 

 something with a strange name, instead of a novelty we 

 unpack in great haste some old well-lino\TO plant — notliing 

 the worse, certainly, from the mere fact of its being old, 

 but highly objectionable on account of its thus receiving a 

 fresh start in the world under cover of a new name, or, as 

 more generally hai^pens, of some old and obscure synonymc, 

 longer and more unpronounceable than the name usually 

 adopted. 



Somctliing veiy near akin to this is presented to us in 

 tlio now-fashionable " cordon " S3-stem of training fruit 

 trees. Some of its singularities in the wa}' of pinching 

 and pruning, and many of its more fantastic moditications, 

 may be comparatively new, but the system itself is by no 

 means a thing of ^yesterday. Sixteen years ago I saw lines 

 of what would now be called double lateral cordons, occu- 

 pying the back part of some long herbaceous borders in 

 an old ganlen in Uoxburghsbire, and as far as I can now 

 recoUec^t — being then more interested in the fruit than the 

 trees — they seemed to be at leasttbirty years old. Since then 

 I helped to remove about .")(l or (10 yards in length of Apple 

 trees trained in a somewhat similar manner : only in tliis 

 case the branches were triple instead of dmible, in such a 

 form that a section of the cordon woulil be nearly tri- 

 angular. The lower two branches were about 1 foot and 

 tlio top one IS inches frum the ground, and they were 

 trained on cross-headed stakes, each something very like a 

 crucitix, additional stakes having been added year by year 

 as required. Unfortunately, thougli not, I believe, result- 

 ing from the particular mode of training, thciie trees were 

 more given to canker than fniit-bearing. so that they had 

 ultimatelj' to be taken out, and were at that time apparently 

 not much under twenty years of age. 



However, passing by the question when it originated, 

 tliis system of low cordons, when considered altogether 

 apart from the ([uestion of superior productiveness, will be 

 found well adapted to small gardens where space and light 

 have to be economised to the utmost, and wliere utility 

 and a presentable appearance have to be combined to a 

 degree undreamt of in those of four or five acres in extent. 

 One eyesore in snuiU gardens very often is the Goose- 

 berry bushes. Trained bush-fashion, these invariably look 

 out of place when they occupy any other situation than a 

 plot of ground or border specialh- devoted to tlieir cultiva- 

 tion ; but it sometunes happens that a row of them is 



No. 350.— Vol. XIII.. New Sebies. 



wanted as a division between two quarters, or along the 

 back of vegetable borders skirting the walks, and in these 

 cases this little re^ivilied mode of training is just w"hat 

 we want. 



Various opinions exist as to the kind of trellis most suit- 

 able for the trees. One great authority in these matters 

 recommends, in the case of Apple trees, no trellis at all, 

 but simply galvanised wire pot-hooks thrust into the 

 ground to secure the branches, mucli in the same way as 

 Verbenas are pegged down ; this might do for the iirst 

 j'ear or two, but as a permanent means of support is open 

 to many objections. Another mode is the old espalier 

 method of a series of independent wooden stakes, inserted 

 when needed— which is very often, as, \\ith all precau- 

 tions they very soon rot at the surface of the ground ; 

 added to which, by each of these modes, a continuous line 

 of either trees or trellis is not formed for some years. 



As an experiment, rather than from any wish to economise 

 ground, I lately put up a line of trellis on which to train 

 Gooseberry trees hi the iVilIowing manner : — Strained wire 

 being the support selected, and the length being •'iJ yards, 

 three iron straining posts of the crucifix form, before men- 

 tioned, were procured. These were set in coarse blocks 

 of stone. The height of each post above the point of in- 

 sertion in the stone was 2 feet inches, and above the 

 ground wlien set 18 inches. The cross-bar is Vi inches long, 

 and intersects the upright at 7 inches from the top, thus 

 leaving 11 inches between the lower two br.anches and the 

 gi-ouutl, suthcient to admit of a hoe or rake being used 

 under tliem. "When the posts were fixed in their places, 

 one at each end and one in the middle, a garden line v/as 

 stretched along their tops, and irou supports inserted at; 

 12 feet apart. These supports were of the same si^e and 

 form as the straining posts, but made of light rod iron 

 with the three ends flattened and pierced with holes, 

 through wliich to pass the wires, and not having any strain 

 to bear, were onlj' fixed into pieces of wood. In straining, 

 the wires were Iirst fastened to the middle post, and strained 

 to each end, beginning witli the upper \rire, tlien the lower 

 two were tightened. It should be done little by little, 

 iirst one ar.d then the other, or if two screws were avaOable 

 it would be better if both wires were strained together. 

 The reason for straining from the middle is, that 1)3' doing 

 so less strengtli is required in the posts than if the whole 

 length were done fi-om either end. After receiving two 

 coats of green paint, and havmg the soil, which had pre- 

 viously been trenched, well forked up. the whole ai-range- 

 ment v,as linished, and ready for planting as soon as dry. 



There are several canny old sayings to inculcate the 

 propriety of "not hallooing till we are out of the wood," 

 or of ■■ Iirst catching our hare," &c.. which many, m^'self 

 among the rest, would do well to bear in mind : but in 

 such a trivial matter as this little hai'in can result from 

 our taking a good hurrah to ourselves before having much 

 more tlian begun. I am, however, in nowise hopeful of 

 an_v great success ever attending this toy system in our 

 nortlieru climate, and have never vet had suflicient reasons 

 for expecting that any early llowering frnit trees will be 

 I in the least benefited b,v being trained as low cordons, 



-Vo 1002. -Vol XXXVIII., Old ISeries. 



