THE APPLE TREE ] 261 



where brackish water is used the land should be drained 

 thoroughly, to avoid the accumulation of chlorine in 

 the soil which will soon cause the trees to develop 

 chlorosis, with disastrous results. If water of better 

 quality is not available it is advisable to commence 

 irrigation as late as possible and to discontinue it 

 after the first good shower of rain, and in the mean- 

 time to till the soil carefully as above mentioned, for 

 dry land fruit-culture. 



TRAINING. The apple tree can be trained into the 

 same forms as the pear, and perhaps with greater 

 facility. Certain varieties of English and French origin 

 which refuse to stand the ordinary orchard treatment 

 will give good results if trained as espalliers or contre- 

 espalliers along a shaded wall or close to it; but as 

 a rule it is better to grow them either as cordons 

 budded on paradise stock or grown on own roots from 

 cuttings or layers and trained as bushes or small 

 pyramids. These same sorts of apples which will die 

 off if planted in the red soils in open situations, will 

 do very well and fruit abundantly if grown in large 

 pots, and trained either as cordons or palmettes, or 

 more simply as bushes or small pyramids, but of 

 course this system appeals only to the amateur. The 

 most convenient form to give to the apple tree for 

 the open orchard is that of a pyramid or of a vase- 

 shaped bush, and for exposed situation even the 

 pyramidal form is not always desirable. The bush form 

 when kept well open within is more productive and 

 yields finer fruit, as the several branches rising from 

 the ground or close to it behave as so many cordons 

 or palmettes. The vase-shape is roughly but readily 

 obtained in the nursery by cutting down the young 

 sucker or the young plant to within 20 c.m. from the 

 ground, and of the side branches which develop 3 to 

 5 are selected late in spring or in summer and trained 

 round a hoop of willow or other cheap material, which 



