CHAP. V.] TRAINING 101 



support. Whenever there is not a sufficient 

 quantity of leaves to elaborate the sap, the 

 fruit that ought to have been nourished by its 

 rich juices becomes flaccid and insipid; its 

 skin grows tough instead of crisp ; and, if the 

 deprivation of leaves has been carried to ex- 

 cess, the fruit never ripens, but withers prema- 

 turely, and falls off. Pruning, at the best, is a 

 violent remedy; and, like all other violent 

 remedies, if carried further than is absolutely 

 necessary, it generally ends by destroying. 



Training is intimately connected with pruning 

 and like it should always be used with caution. 

 A trained tree is a most unnatural object; and, 

 whatever care may be taken of it, there can be 

 no doubt that training shortens its life by many 

 years. The principal object of training is to 

 produce, from a certain number of branches, a 

 greater quantity of fruit or flowers than would 

 grow on them if the plant were left in its natural 

 state ; and this is effected by spreading and 

 bending the branches, so as to form numerous 

 depositions of the returning sap, aided, where 

 the plant is trained against a wall, bv the 

 shelter and reflected heat which the wall affords. 

 Thus the points to be attended to by the gar- 

 dener in training are, the covering: of the wall, 

 so that no part of it may be lost ; the bending 

 of the branches backwards and forwards, so 

 that they may form numerous deposits of the 

 returning sap ; and the full exposure of the 

 fruit-bearing branches to the sun and air. For 

 these purposes the gardener shortens the loncj 

 shoots, to make them throw out side branches, 

 with which he covers his walls, never suffering 



