TRAINING. 315 



mortar joints ; and if they do so when drawing them out, it is perhaps 

 cheaper to buy new cast-iron nails than to point and straighten 

 wrought-iron ones. Boiling nails in linseed-oil prevents, or, at all 

 events, greatly lessens their rusting. Nails should in general be 

 driven into the joints, and not into the bricks, because the joints are 

 easily repaired. They should* never be driven far in, and in summer 

 training a much slighter hold of the wall will suffice than in winter- 

 training, because in the latter case the shoots will not be moved for a 

 year ; for if they hold at the time of nailing, they become faster as 

 they begin to rust ; the oxide requiring an additional space to that 

 required by the metal on which it is formed. Before a nail which 

 has been some time in a wall is attempted to be drawn out, it should 

 receive a tap with the hammer, by which it will be loosened, and be 

 more likely to separate without breaking. Shreds of woollen are pre- 

 ferred to those of any other cloth or to leather, as being softer and 

 less influenced by the weather. Their length should be such as to 

 contain a shoot double the size of that for which they are intended, in 

 order that they may never compress the shoot so much as to impede 

 the returning sap, and their breadth may be from a quarter to three- 

 quarters of an inch. They should be folded up a little at each end, so 

 that in driving the nail through the shred it will pierce four times its 

 thickness, and be in no danger of tearing, as it often does when the nail 

 passes through only twice its thickness. Medicated insect-proof shreds 

 of various kinds of linen are now offered, which afford less harbour 

 for insects, and are altogether neater and cleaner than woollen lists. 

 When a shoot is merely to be nailed to the wall, without requiring 

 constraint on either side, then the nails are placed alternately ; but 

 when a crooked branch is to be nailed in, two or more nails in suc- 

 cession will frequently be required on the same side. In driving the 

 nails, they should incline with their heads downwards to prevent water 

 as much as possible from hanging on them, as the rust produced is 

 often injurious, especially to fruit. The branches should be 'fastened 

 quite close to the wall, in order not to lose the benefit of its heat. 

 Brown or grey lists are best, not being too conspicuous. Trained fruit 

 trees are generally loosened from the wall at the time of winter or 

 spring pruning, when the wall can be cleaned and coloured if necessary, 

 and the tree washed with a composition for the destruction of insects. 

 The re-nailing is in general performed immediately afterwards ; though 

 some, in order to retard the blossoming of the tree next spring, tie the 

 branches to stakes at some distance from the walls. This, however, 

 can only be safely performed with the very hardiest kinds of trees, and 

 even with them must be attended with danger during severe winters, 

 unless in very sheltered situations. In re-fixing a trained tree, place 

 all the leading branches in their proper positions first, beginning 

 at the lower part of the tree, so as to make sure of covering the 

 bottom of the wall. The main branches being placed, lay in 

 the young wood, beginning also at the bottom of the wall, and at the 

 further extremity of the branch, and working up to the main stem. 

 We shall now describe the different kinds of training, commencing 



