CHARVH.] ESPALIER FRUIT TREES. 183 



twenty-five feet. The finer kinds of fruits are 

 seldom planted as espaliers; and apples and 

 pears are more commonly thus treated than 

 cherries and plums. The continual cutting ne- 

 cessary to keep the trees in a proper shape for 

 training, and the unnatural position of the 

 roots, are, indeed, very unsuitable to trees so 

 apt to gum and canker as the cherrv and the 

 plum. The width of the border destined for 

 the roots of the espaliers is generally five feet ; 

 and it should only be cropped with a few 

 herbaceous or annual flowers, that will not 

 require the ground to be stirred deeper than 

 can be done with a rake. Some persons suffer 

 the roots of their espalier trees to extend under 

 the gravel walks, which are intentionallv left 

 hollow ; but this defeats the purpose for which 

 they are to be attracted to the surface, for the 

 spongioles will be as effectually excluded from 

 the air under a compact coating of gravel, as 

 if they were buried many feet deep in the soil. 

 If an underground wall is built along the inner 

 side of the espalier border to confine the roots 

 of the trees, stones should be fixed in it at in- 

 tervals, with holes made in them for the recep- 

 tion of the espalier rails, which should be run 

 in with pitch. These rails should be about 

 nine inches asunder, and they may be kept 

 together at the top with a transverse rail, to 

 which they should be nailed. The inconve- 

 niences of espaliers are, the very great trouble 

 of training them and keeping them within 

 bounds; the rough and untidy appearance 

 which their spurs assume when the trees beoin 

 to get old; and the numerous diseases to which 



