72 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 23, 1868. 



November, or, indeed, any month from November to March, 

 the tips of the main Bhoots should be shortened three or four 

 bnds from the ends, and unless a few lateral Bhoots have been 



left, which should be removed, the pruning for the first year 

 will be accomplished. 



The second year each cordon, or branch, will produce many 



^MiJ&^tMIjut^ . ^ 



Fig. 1. 



lateral shoots, and as these are snoceSBively produced they 

 should be pinched. The first pinching must be done when the 

 shoot has formed five or six leaves, and, as a general rule, 

 three leaves from the leaflets should be the stopping point. 

 This primary shoot will form the bloom buds, and the shoot 

 made from the terminal bud must be stopped in the same 



manner as the first. Puring the summer many of these 

 growths will be made, and pinching should continue until the 

 end of August. After this month pinching should be discon- 

 tinued, and the remaining growth left for the winter pruning. 



The tree after the second year will assume the appearance 

 of a cordon — i.e., a thick rope of closely-studded shoots, anS 



the pruning must be left to the judmient of the operator. 

 Many shoots must be removed ; and as the size and strength of 

 the tree must regulate the number of fruit-bearing spurs, a 

 sufiicient number of these being left, the operator should prune 

 all others to wood buds, in order to produce year by year an 

 alternate succession of fruit-bearing wood. 



Firi. 2 is a half-standard double horizontal cordon. This is 

 very useful for low walls in gardens ; where the border is occupied' 

 by flowers or other plants the part of the wall exposed to the sun 

 may thus be used. A standard cordon with a stem C feet high 

 may also be used for the top of a wall, the main surface being 

 occupied by other trees. A cordon fringe, or cornice, will be 



found exceedingly orn.imental, and may he carried the entire 

 length of a wall, the standards being planted at intervals of 

 20 feet or more. 



Many other forms of cordon training will, doubtless, be dis- 

 covered as the system becomes better known. 



Single horizontal cordons {Jifl. S), require the same pruning 

 as the double, but the dwarf maiden tree does not absolutely 

 require the cutting-back necessary for double cordons. The 

 tree may be planted in a slanting position, against the train- 



ing wire, and the shoot tied down. The first year after plant- 

 ing most of the buds will break and produce shoots ; these 

 must be treated in the same manner as the double horizontal 

 cordons. If a single cordon is required for a special height, 

 the shoot should be shortened to the height required, and a 

 single horizontal shoot selected to form the cordon. 



Single oblique (./;'.'/. 4j, cordons may be planted to training wires 

 by the sides of walks, or in rows in the garden devoted to their 

 cultivation. The space given up to them wiU yield an. ample 



