February 6, 1868. ) 



JOURNAL OP HOHTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



107 



CORDONS. 



EADEUS of this .Jom-nal will not regi-et seo- 

 ing the subject of cordou-training so ably 

 taken up by the Editors. I have frequently 

 in these pages and elsewhere recorded my 

 own convictions as to the very great advan- 

 tages of a system that with obvious modifica- 

 tions is so well adapted for our climate, and 

 which for orchard houses will soon alone 

 prevail. 



I regret that ^Mr. llobinson will not be 

 induced to accept my definition of cordon-training as given 

 eight years ago in my work so entitled ; but as the view is 

 supported by excellent authority, and especially by that of 

 the Editors of this .Journal, what is here stated is merely 

 supplementary. Mr. Robinson did good service to the 

 cause of cordon-training when he bad an opportunit3' of 

 doing so as correspondent of the leading journal ; but why 

 did he confine liis praise of the system to only one form of 

 it — the horizontal cordon '.' This is a very old acquaint- 

 ance of mine now, and for edgings of borders merits every 

 praise, always provided that the right stock be employed, 

 which is of the greatest importance. I should not call 

 500 feet of such edgings " toy cultivation," but look to it 

 for a succession of the very finest table Apples in the world. 

 The fact is, that in a large garden no single style of culture 

 should exist, but various modes of training would give a 

 better chance of good results. 



Professor Du BreuU first tried cordons as far back as 

 1843 in the public gardens of Rouen. lie began, not with 

 the Pear, as many thmk, but with the Peach. The reason, 

 he tells us himself, was the excellent one that the I'each 

 tree, by the time it had reached the summit of an ordinary 

 garden wall, had attained to its point of gi'catest production, 

 and that it could not be maiutamed at that point, but must 

 begin to decline from that date. Therefore he placed trees 

 diagonally and closer together, and succeeded in realising 

 all his expectations. Since that time a quarter of a century 

 has elapsed ; and if we may believe the leading authorities 

 abroad, this form has remained pre-eminently that which 

 produces the finest fruit and the hea\'iest crops, covers the 

 wall the soonest of any, and is the sunplest to manage. 

 Why is this '.' Because the diagonal form, representing the 

 angle naturally formed by a fruitful branch with the main 

 stem, is in accordance with first principles. A vertical 

 cordon has the defect of alluring the sap upwards ; a 

 horizontal cordon causes the branches to languish. Not 

 that these defects are at all unmanageable, but they exist, 

 while in the spiral and diagonal cordons they do not. 



The single diagonal cordon is the " cnnlnn rililiijin: siiiiph- " 

 of M. Du Breuil. I believe that I am responsible for this 

 change of term, now generally accepted. Diagonal cordons 

 are regularly advertised now. The reasons for changing 

 the name were these. Every one knows what diagonal 

 represents, while oblique is vague. Besides, the terms 

 vertical cordons and horizontal cordons being in general 

 use, diagonal was the nearest corresponding term to these 

 for trees at an angle of 45°. 

 I must here re-introduce an old acquaintance, Professor 



No. 358.— Vol. XIV., New Series, 



Gressent, whose works have, I was told last year, a very 

 large sale, and are approved by the Minister for Agricul- 

 ture in France. He says, " Diagonal cordons produce as 

 much alone as all the other trees in any garden. Thej 

 are the most easy to form, suit every kind of tree, and 

 produce soonest the very finest fruits." 



M. Du Breuil commenced the system with tliis form, 

 and it is still his favourite. To tliis may be added my 

 own experience. I have for fifteen years cultivated all 

 kinds of trees in this form with perfect success on the open 

 wall, and for twelve or thirteen years in the orchard house. 

 These are the oldest diagonal cordons, strictly so called, 

 in England, and they are as good as ever tliis season, 

 and full of promise. Such cordons should have a certain 

 amount of space in every garden with a good wall, not for 

 Peach trees, but for Pear trees especially. We planted 

 last season some Pear trees for this form extremely well 

 prepared by Mr. Rivers. Never have I seen better. Some 

 were double-worked, the first of this mode I have tried. 

 No doubt they wUl be a success. Trees double-worked as 

 single diagonal cordons were not even heard of till very 

 lately. 



The cordon system has been gradually developed since 

 its origin, a quarter of a century ago. It will soon become 

 further modified, and, no doubt, scarcely then resemble 

 what it was at first. This must cause some confusion in 

 terms. IM. Du BreuU Idmself tells iis that when he went 

 to see M. Grin's close system at Chartres, in 1R50, he was 

 so charmed with it that " ho docs not hesitate to recom- 

 mend its adoption to the exclusion of all others." The 

 cordon of the present day, therefore, imites the leading 

 ideas of these two systems, both founded 8n strict regn- 

 larity of detail, as opposed to loose and irregular pruning, 

 such as is so common here and abroad. 



Cordons also mean close pruning : if not, the beauti- 

 ful, regular "coursiiiiiie.i ih- Montreiiil " would have a claim 

 to the term : but these, however sj-mmetrical, require 

 laying-in of long shoots, several successive tyings-up, and 

 much removal \vith the knife. All this is unknown in the 

 cordon jnir H simple, which depends, and is founded on, 

 the more modern theory of the close summer-stopping ot 

 the shoots, as opposed to the old system of hardly stopping 

 them at all. In the old ways, and even at Lepere's, where 

 there is the very best long pruning in France, the extre- 

 mities of the leading branches were extended only to be 

 elaborately suppressed : while in cordon-training, after the 

 first few seasons, they are trained-in much as they ex- 

 tend. In loose long pruning, and in regular long pruning, 

 the leading idea is to extend and to laj'-in a gi-cater or less 

 length of summer wood. In cordon-pruning tlus is never 

 done. Nor is cordon-training mere spurriug-in, for it de- 

 mands symmetrical and regular forms, and eschews com- 

 pletely any idea of forking branches. For these reasons 

 all standard pyramids, and all bush trees in pots, are net 

 cordons. 



We must take cordon-training as it now is, modified by 

 the lapse of twenty-five years. Still it retains the germ 

 of the original idea, which idea rules modern fruit-cultiue. 

 and that is, more trees and closer pruned, symmetrically 



No. 1010.— Vol. XXXIX., Ou) Szxife, 



