478 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



2502. The sorts of plants made use of for planting against ivalls are dwarfs and riders, 

 and these may be of the age of one year from the graft, or they may be several years 

 trained. Dwarfs are understood to be the permanent trees, and riders merely temporary 

 plants introduced to fill up the upper part of the wall. With both sorts it is the practice 

 to make choice of trees that have been two or more years trained ; or if they have been 

 moved in the nursery every second year, they may be of five or six years' training, in 

 which case they come into immediate bearing. Some gardeners, however, prefer young 

 plants. Marshall says, trees to be planted against walls, should not be older than two 

 years from the graft or bud. " Much disappointment has been the consequence of 

 planting old trained trees, through their being accustomed, perhaps, to a contrary soil, 

 or bv damage done the roots in taking the trees up, and thus, instead of saving time, it 

 has frequently been lost, being obliged, after some years, to be replaced with young 

 ones. But if trained trees are to be made use of, let them be planted as early, and with 

 as full roots as possible, and in a right good soil." 



2503. Willi respect to the age of the plants, Nicol observes, "maiden, or one year 

 trained trees, are to be preferred, especially of apples and pears. Even of the stone- 

 fruits, such will succeed best ; though two or three years' trained are often planted. I 

 here allude to the dwarfs. Riders of greater age than dwarfs may be planted, in any 

 case, with propriety ; they being considered temporary, and it being desirable to obtain 

 fruit of them as soon as possible." A safe mode is, to plant partly maiden, and partly 

 trained plants, by which means, those which come early into fruit, should they prove 

 bad sorts, may be replaced by others ; meanwhile, those sorts which are approved of, will 

 afford an early return for the labor and expense incurred. 



2504. The distance at which wall-trees should be planted from each other, depends jointly 

 on the sort of tree, and the height of the wall. For a wall nine or ten feet high, 

 Marshall plants apricots, peaches, and nectarines, twenty feet apart. Nicol, for a 

 wall of twelve feet in height, indicates the following distances : — Apples, eighteen or 

 twenty feet ; apricots, twenty to twenty-four ; figs, fifteen or eighteen ; cherries, twelve 

 or fifteen ; nectarines and peaches, twelve or fifteen ; pears, twenty-four to thirty ; and 

 plums, eighteen or twenty feet. For low walls, of five or six feet : — apples, thirty ; cherries, 

 pears, thirty to thirty-five ; and plums, twenty to twenty-four feet. The distances at 

 which wall-trees ought to be planted, according to Abercrombie, depend on the general 

 growth of the species, connected with these other things : — whether the individual plant 

 has been dwarfed by the mode of propagation, or is a free grower; whether the species 

 will bear to be kept in bounds by the knife ; and, lastly, on the height of the wall : thus, 

 a higher wall is a compensation for a reduced distance, and a lower will make it necessary 

 to increase the intervals. Supposing the wall to be twelve feet high, the following are 

 good average distances for planting the kinds named : — Vines, from ten to fifteen feet 

 asunder, or in vacant spaces between other walls where the distance is less, because the 

 vine bears pruning well, and can always be reduced to the prescribed limits. Peach- 

 trees and nectarines, from fifteen to twenty feet. Fig-trees, eighteen to twenty 

 feet, or more, as the bearers are not to be shortened. Apricot-trees, fifteen feet for the 

 dwarf early sorts, eighteen to twenty-four for the free-growers, as the plant does not 

 bear the knife well. Cherry-trees, from fifteen to twenty feet. Pear-trees, twenty- 

 feet, if on dwarf stocks ; thirty feet, if on free stocks. Plum-trees, from fifteen to 

 twenty-four feet. Apple-trees, if on dwarf stocks, fifteen feet ; if on free stocks, twenty- 

 five or thirty. Mulberry-trees, fifteen or twenty feet. Along the line of the walls only 

 nine feet high, increase the intervals to one fourth as much again ; and of walls six feet 

 high, to one half. 



2505. The distance of the stem of the tree from the wall at the ground's surface, should, 

 according to most authors, be nine inches ; cherries, apples, and pears may be somewhat 

 more ; and peaches, nectarines, and vines somewhat less. 



2506. The intermediate species between dwarf icall-trees are commonly filled up with 

 riders, or some other temporary fruit-bearing plant. According to Marshall, " the 

 intermediate spaces between peaches, nectarines, and apricots may have a vine, a dwarf- 

 cherry, or currant, or gooseberry tree, of the early sorts, as the smooth green and small 

 red gooseberry, to come in early, and improved in the beauty, size, and flavor of their 

 fruit, by the advantage of situation. But wheresoever grapes can be expected to ripen, 

 there let a young plant or cutting be set, though the space be confined ; for the vine, 

 freely as it shoots, bears the knife well to keep it within bounds. If the wall be high, 

 the cherry or plum may be half-standards or riders, which being after a while kept above, 

 will be more out of the way of the principal trees, though dwarfs may be trained so as 

 not to interfere. Some have planted half-standards of the same kind of fruit as the 

 dwarfs, but whichever way is used, let the intermediate trees be pruned away below in 

 good time, in order to accommodate the principals freely as they mount and extend. 

 The better way however is, when the wall is tolerably covered, to extirpate the inter- 

 mediate trees, as, when large, they impoverish the border, and too much rob the principals 



