Chap. XVIII.] THE CORDON SYSTEM OF FRUIT-GROWING. 287 



soil, cannot be grown from seed, but must be propagated by means 

 of layers or cuttings, which are obtained in the following 

 manner : Having chosen soil of the proper description, it must 

 be well dug and manured. Trenches, six inches deep and a yard 

 apart, are then opened, and the stocks, which have been prepared 

 previously, planted in them. They should be pruned down to 

 twelve or fourteen inches in height, and placed in the trenches 

 at a distance of fourj inches apart, and in such a way that about 

 six inches of the top appears above the ground. The trenches 

 are then filled in and the ground levelled. 



" In the following spring, as soon as there is no longer any 

 danjrer from frost, the stocks are cut down level with the ground. 



Edging of Simple Cordons three years old in Frtiit-garJen at Brunoy. 



The object of this operation is to develop a number of shoots : 

 those are earthed up about June or July by covering them with 

 a small quantity of earth taken from the trench on each side of 

 the line of plants, so as to cover their bases to the depth of four 

 inches or so. 



" In the following November these buds will have taken root ; 

 the plants from which they take their origin will give every year 

 a certaiii number of young plants, and will be alluded to in future 

 as old stools. 



" Every year during the month of November the young plants 

 should be stripped from these old stools. It is necessary above 

 all during the first year to use a strong pair of pruuing-shears, 



