194 STUDS FOR TRATNIXO FRl'IT-TUEES ON WALLS. 



against the wires. Wiring is, however, not only useful but 

 necessary against the lower Hues in hot walls, where the iieat is 

 occasionally liable to become so great as to make it dangerous to 

 have tiie shoots in immediate contact with the surface of the 

 bricks ; but this is the only place in which it can be employed 

 with advantage. 



The plan which I have adopted, and which I beg to recom- 

 mend as superior to either of the above methods, is to drive 

 permanent studs into the wall, and to tie the shoots to or be- 

 tween them with bast. The studs I use for this purpose are 

 common cast-iron nails with square heads, and the expense of 

 furnishing the walls with these is little more than the cost of tlie 

 new nails required during a few years' training in the ordinary 

 way. For fan-trained trees we place the studs 8 or 9 inches 

 apart in every course of bricks ; but for pear-trees trained hori- 

 zontally, they are sufficiently close in alternate courses. The 

 studs are prepared by healing them till red hot upon an old 

 shovel, or some such appliance, and then precipitating them 

 into a can of boiled oil ; in this way corrosion is prevented, 

 and durability ensured. As the whole of the wall is at once 

 supplied with studs, a little attention to inserting them in 

 straight lines and at regular distances gives a pleasing appear- 

 ance to those parts of it to which tiie brandies have not yet 

 extended themselves. The easiest way of proceeding is to pro- 

 cure a straight board, 4j inches wide, and as long as the wall is 

 hi^ii ; after the first perpendicular row is inserted in the alter- 

 nate courses, one edge of the board is placed against them, and 

 a straiglit line drawn down the other edge as a guide by 

 which to drive the second row in quincunx order, and so on till 

 the work is completed. The upright lines should be proved 

 with the plumb-line once in 4 or 5 yards, in order to prevent 

 any deviation from the perpendicular. 



By this method the walls are kept good, all harbour for in- 

 sects is avoided, and the trees are trained at much less expense 

 than they can be with nails and shreds ; the cost of the shreds 

 nearly balances that of the bast required for tyeing, but the 

 labour of cutting them into suitable sizes is saved, as is also that 

 of straightening and pointing old nails, and after the first few 

 years the cost of the nails themselves is saved. A good work- 

 man will do twice as much tyeing as he would of nailing ; while 

 the appearance of a tree bandaged with rags of all colours is not 

 to be compared with that of one whose neatly trained shoots form 

 right lines at equally divided angles, and which exhibits no 

 ornaments save leaves and fruit. 



The walls at Trentham had become so battered and disfigured 

 that it was necessary to repoint them, and to plaster up the 



