STUDS FOR TEAINING FKUIT-TEEES ON WALLS. 193 



XX. — On 2jerma?ient Studs as a means of Training Fruit- 

 trees on Walls. By Mr. Fleming-, C.M.H.S., gardener to 

 the Duke of Sutherland, F.H.S., Trenthani Hall, StafFord- 

 shire. 



Having been convinced tliat disadvantages attended the com- 

 mon method of training fruit-trees on walls, I tried the following 

 plan, which I have practised for these last six years, and which 

 I have found to answer perfectly. 



Tlie old method consisted in fastening the trees to the walls 

 by means of nails and shreds of cloth. The nails are inserted 

 where they are most useful for the season, but they must be 

 removed every winter when the trees are pruned and fresh 

 trained. In the operation of unfastening a portion of the mortar 

 is loosened and brought away with the nails ; and as the old holes 

 seldom happen to be in the right place for the new arrangement 

 of the branches, the nails are inserted in fresh places every year. 

 The repetition of this process for a number of years causes the 

 walls to look like honeycombs, materially injures them, and 

 affords a permanent harbour for insects. The neat and conve- 

 nient training of the trees in future years is in a great measure 

 prevented, on account of the difficulty experienced in finding 

 mortar sufficient and sound enough to hold the nails. In flued 

 walls it not unfrequently happens tiiat the nail-holes open a 

 communication with the interior, and allow the smoke to escape 

 amongst the leaves and fruit. In order to render the walls 

 more sightly, in some places they receive a coat of colouring 

 occasionally ; but this practice offers considerable annoyance to 

 the trainer, who may often rap his fingers tw'enty times before 

 he finds a place solid enough to insert a nail in. The difficulty 

 of fixing nails in the joints compels him to drive them into the 

 bricks, and this gives the walls a naost unsightly appearance. 

 Another disadvantage connected with drawing cast-iron nails is 

 their liability to break ; and if wrought-iron ones are used a 

 much greater expense is incurred. 



Placing wire-trainers on walls has been recommended as a 

 substitute for nails and shreds, but there are several objections to 

 this plan ; one is the inconvenience occurring from young shoots 

 getting behind the wires, and another is the distance at which 

 the trained shoots are kept from the wall, thereby depriving 

 them in a great measure of its warmth. Wiring walls is also 

 much more expensive than the system I am about to recommend, 

 not a whit more convenient for tlie trainer, and rather worse for 

 the trees, as the shoots, unless made objectionably fast, are 

 liable to become half-sawn through by rubbing continually 



