TRAINING. 810 



cypress, and the upright variety of arbor vitse, are apt to have the 



side-shoots displaced by high winds or heavy snows, for which reason 



these branches are frequently tied loosely 



to, or rather connected by tarred twine with 



the main stem. If, however, the side branches 



are carefully cut-in as the tree increases 



in growth, no such tying will be needed. 



When evergreen shrubs are to be shorn into 



common shapes, such as cones, pyramids, 



piers, pilasters, &c., little or no training is 



required ; but when they are to be grown 



into more artificial shapes, such as those of 



men or animals, the figure required is con- ^/^"////^///rf^^^ 



structed of wire or trellis-work, and being Section of a laburnum trellis 



placed over the plant, the shoots are confined "* a walk > wi . tfi table trd ' 



within it; and if the plants are healthy, and 



in a good soil and situation, the figure is speedily formed. The best shrubs 



for this kind of ornament are those which have narrow leaves, such as 



the yew, the juniper, the arbor vitse, and the spruce-fir. One of the 



figures, the most readily formed by any of these plants, is a hollow 



vase, which only requires a series of hoops tied to ribs, and the latter 



attached to a stake placed close by the main stem of the plant. In 



selecting plants for being trained into figures of men and women, it was 



usual to use variegated varieties to represent the female forms. The 



best examples of this kind of training are to be found at Elvaston, 



near Derby. It is now considered old-fashioned and barbarous. 



Training Fruit Trees. By far the most important application of 

 training is to fruit trees, whether for the purpose of rendering them 

 more prolific, improving the quality of the fruit, growing fruit in the 

 open air which could not otherwise be grown except under glass, or 

 confining the trees within a limited space. Fruit trees are trained 

 either as ordinary bushes or trees in the open garden, or spread 

 out on flat surfaces against walls or espaliers, or trained to single 

 branches on walls, espaliers, or within a few inches of the ground as 

 cordons. In either case the operation is founded on the principle 

 already mentioned that of suppressing the direct flow of the sap, by 

 which it is more equally distributed over the tree, the tendency to 

 produce over-vigorous shoots from the highest part is diminished, and 

 the production of flowers from every part increased. We find that 

 trees in a state of nature always produce their first flowers from lateral 

 branches, to which the sap flows less abundantly than to those which 

 are vertical ; and the object of training may be said to be, to give all 

 the parts of a tree the character of lateral branches. With a view to 

 this, certain rules have been derived from the principle of the suppres- 

 sion of the sap, which it may be useful to notice as of general applica- 

 tion to every mode of training : 



1. Branches left loose, and capable of being put in motion by the 

 wind, grow more vigorously than those which are attached ; and hence 

 the rule to nail or tie-in the strongest shoots first, and to leave the 



