40 



TRAINING. 



cui-rent year's shoots tied down en qtienoiiiUe. " They had attained the 

 height of from sLx: to twelve feet before the branches were bent down ; 

 but the ettect of this was to cover the shoots with blossom-buds, and to 

 produce the most extraordinary crops." 



To produce Quenouille standards, plant a youn^f tree, three or four 

 feet high, and, after the fii-st summer's growth, head back the top and 

 cut-in the side branches, as represented by the dotted lines on a, Fig. 

 21. The next season the tree will shoot out three or four tiers of side 

 branches, according to its strength. The lowest should be left about 

 eighteen inches from the gi'ound, and, by pinching off superfluous shoots, 

 others may be made to gi-ow pretty regularly, so as not to crowd the 

 head. At the end of this season head back the leader as in b, to 

 strengthen the side shoots. Next season a fresh series of lateral shoots 

 will be produced, four or five of which may be kept every year ; and 

 the third or fou.rth year the lower branches may be bent doA\Ti in mid- 



Qneiionille or Conical Training, progressive stages. Conical or Qnenouille Training, complete. 



summer, c, and kept in a pendulous position for a year- or two. by tying 

 them to stakes driven in the ground, or to the main stem. This succes- 

 sive growth at the top, and arrangement of the limbs below, must be 

 contiiuied till the requisite height — say ten feet — is attained, when, all 

 the branches assuming their final form, the tree vnll resemble Fig. 22. 

 A moderate pruning to produce new wood, and the occasional tying in of 

 a rambling shoot, will be all that is requii*ed. The French quenouille 

 t:-aining is performed with dwarf stocks, bxit the trees are moi-e tlmfty 

 and durable when grafted on their OAvn stocks, and kept within proper 

 bounds by root-pruning after Mr. Kivei-s's method, explained in a 

 previous page. 



Pyramids and hushes are trees adapted for small gardens, and not 

 standards such as are planted in orchards. Mr. Rivers, whose success iu 

 training and fruiting dvrarf trees has hardly an equal, gives the following 

 dii'ecticns : — " If a yottng gardener intends to plant, and wishes to train 



