IVotcs and (j/cau/uoy. 



175 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS FROM FOREIGN EXCHANGES. 



The Cordon System of training Fruit Trees. — We take the follow- 

 ing remarks on this system from the Gardener's Magazine, and Robinson's 

 Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris. We do not anticipate that the sys- 

 tem, which has been chiefly apphed to the apple in France and England, will be 

 used for that fruit here, for we can grow the finest apples without it; but it is 

 equally applicable to the pear, and no doubt very superior specimens may be 

 produced on trees thus trained. For this purpose the pear should be dwarfed 

 by working on the quince stock, and should be of one or two years' growth from 

 the bud, and the largest and finest kinds that succeed on that stock should be 

 chosen, such as the Duchess d'Angouleme, -Beurre Superfin, Glout Morceau, 

 Vicar of Winkfield, Beurre Diel, Passe Colmar, Urbaniste, Louise Bonne of 

 Jersey, Doyenne Boussock, and Beurre d'Anjou. The system will probably 

 prove well adapted to such late pears as do not always ripen well, like the 

 Easter Beurre, and Chaumontelle, and for other kinds in extreme northern 

 climates. It cannot, however, be expected that it will come into general use 

 even for the pear ; but it is well adapted for the small gardens of amateurs, who 

 are willing to take extra care to produce fruit of extra quality, and especially 

 where economy of room is an object. 



" There is one form of cordon which merits favorable consideration, as being 

 admirably adapted for the largest and smallest gardens, and peculiarly well fitted 



>id^^^%^jf%^ t- 



SELF-SUPPORTING HORIZONTAL CORDON. 



to occupy spaces now vacant near the footings of front walls and other such 

 places, as well as for embellishing the boundary lines of the kitchen garden. The 

 form of tree to which we now refer is the single coi'don, which may be termed 

 the cordon, par excellence. A true cordon consists of a single branch, bearing 

 fruit spurs only, never being allowed to ramify, but increasing in length only in 

 one continuous line. A matter of the first importance is the stock, which should 

 be the true " Paradise " apple of the French, a very different thing from the so- 

 called Paradise commonly met with in English gardens. Since cordon apple 

 trees, grafted on the true Paradise stock, have been imported from France and 

 largely planted in English gardens, we have had many opportunities of inspect- 

 ing them, and can have no doubt at all as to their value. Trees planted last 

 winter have produced fair crops of the finest quality, and have made such a 

 moderate growth that very little pinching has been required, while there has 



