HARDY ON PALMETTES 361 



zontal leaders are shortened in August, and then left six 

 or eight inches in length; but if the trees are to be kept 

 to six or seven feet in height under root-pruning, this 

 leading shoot may be shortened to two inches, or even 

 cut close down to its base. For tall pyramids of ten, 

 twelve, or fifteen feet, it may be left from eight to ten 

 inches in length till the required height be attained; it 

 may then be cut to within two inches of its base every 

 season." 



The methods to be pursued in the training of 

 trees on espaliers may be explained by a concrete 

 example. I choose an extract from Hardy* re- 

 specting the training of a palmette on an espa- 

 lier. A simple palmette is a plant with a single 

 erect stem and a number of side branches, as in 

 Fig. 235 ; a vertical -branched palmette or can- 

 delabrum is shown in Fig. 237. 



"We endeavor to obtain three branches, one to continue 

 the growth of the trunk, the two others to furnish two 

 lowest lateral branches. To secure this result, we will 

 choose a bud [head -in the shoot] about thirty centimeters 

 [a centimeter is nearly two-fifths of an inch] from the 

 ground. The middle bud will push a shoot upwards and 

 the two others obliquely, but not too near the horizontal, 

 so that they can make a vigorous growth. There is nothing 

 else to do during the growing season, if the equilibrium 

 between them maintains itself. 



"The vertical -branched palmette does best in soils of 

 medium quality, as well as for high walls. In the first case, 

 the vertically of the main branches assures to the last a 



*J. A. Hardy, "Traite de la Taille des Arbres Fruitiers," Paris, 1865, 

 129, 1:J7. One of the best books on the subject. 



