CULTURE OF FRUIT TREES. TRAINING. 33 



surrounding garden-ground unshaded and available for 

 other crops. It will do for pears on quince stocks, 

 apples on paradise stocks, cherries on Mahaleb stocks, 

 and for plums, and it will produce finer fruit on a 

 smaller area of ground than any other mode of culture. 



To produce a perfect pyramid, the little tree should 

 be taken in training the year after it is grafted, and it 

 should be one of a nice straight growth, with a fair 

 supply of buds, from the insertion of the graft upwards. 

 As in the quenouille training, head it down to fifteen 

 inches high, or rather taller, let it branch at the sides, 

 and train the top shoot into a leader, as upright as 

 possible. "When this leading shoot is ten inches long, 

 nip off the top ; it will produce side-shoots, which must 

 be a little trained into form if necessary, and the top 

 bud (if there are two or more, rub off all but one) may 

 again be trained straight up for a leader. Early in 

 September shorten all the shoots to six or seven buds, 

 and take care to lead them out from the main stem by 

 a little judicious training, that the young tree may not 

 acquire too thick and cluttered a growth. The second 

 year of training, the topped side-shoots will put forth 

 plentifully ; when all these young shoots have put forth 

 several leaves, their tops must be nipped off. This will 

 be about June or July, according to the season and 

 locality, and if these spurs shoot, the young shoots must 

 be nipped back to one leaf, but the leading shoot of each 

 side branch must be left to grow until August, to draw 

 up the sap, and to prevent the tree's exhausting itself 

 by a too abundant side growth. In August these may 

 also be cut back. 



If the buds so tend to one side as to leave the pyramid 

 irregular in growth, buds may be budded into the bare 

 places, but only bad culture can render this necessary. 



The shoots left by the June nipping back will be pro- 

 ductive fruit-spurs the following year, and the pruning 

 can best be done with a pair of rose scissors. As the 

 tree grows older the same system of pruning is followed. 

 The leading shoots left intact until August prevents 

 too thick a growth of shoots, and the shoots nipped 



