102 TRAINING. [chap. V. 



them to cross each other, but letting each be as 

 much exposed to the influence of the air and 

 light as is consistent with a necessary quantity 

 of leaves ; and he bends them in different di- 

 rections to throw them into fruit. These general 

 principles are common to all fruit-trees, but of 

 course they must be modified to suit the habits 

 of the different kinds. Thus, for example, some 

 trees, such as the fig and the pomegranate, only 

 bear on the extremities of their shoots ; and, 

 consequently, if their shoots were continually 

 shortened, these trees would never bear at all ; 

 other trees, such as the apple and the pear, bear 

 their fruit on short projecting branches, called 

 spurs ; and others at intervals on nearly all the 

 branches, and close to the wall. All these 

 habits should be known to the gardener, and 

 the modes of training adopted which will be 

 suitable to each. Training flowers should also 

 be regulated by a knowledge of the habits of 

 the plants ; but it consists principally in check- 

 ing their over-luxuriance of growth, and tying 

 them to stakes or wooden frames. In all kinds 

 of training, neatness is essentially requisite, and 

 any departure from it is exceedingly offensive. 

 Where the hand of art is so evident as it is in 

 training, we require excessive neatness to make 

 us amends for the loss of the graceful luxuriance 

 of nature. 



Tlie operation of training against a wall is 

 performed by the aid of nails and shreds ; the 

 shreds beino- narrow oblong pieces of list or 

 cloth, put round the branches, and attached to 

 the wall by nails driven in with a hammer. 

 Care should be taken that the pieces of list are 



