TRAINING. 55 



ball fashion, and after many other curious devices, have 

 never been relished in Britain. In this country they are 

 generally allowed to grow en buisson, that is, as bushes. 

 For Pears, the French forms, en pyramide, or pyramid 

 shape (Fig. 4), and en quenouille, or distaff shaped (Fig. 5), 

 are justly gaining ground. 



Training of Espalier Rail- Trees. — The usual form is 

 the horizontal ; that is, from an upright stem, branches 

 are led right and left along the rails. Some prefer having 

 two stems, thus diverting the upright current of the sap 

 into two channels, and producing a somewhat lower growth, 

 which is favorable to fruitfulness. Espalier rail-trees have 

 a uniform tendency to throw out a luxuriant crop of up- 

 right summer shoots ; and this is to be prevented by dis- 

 budding, or rubbing off numerous buds, as they appear 

 from April till June. Close well-placed spurs are encour- 

 aged, as from these the fruit is expected. 



Training of Wall- Trees. — A fruit-tree planted against 

 a wall is evidently in a constrained and artificial situation, 

 from which it makes continual efforts to escape. Much 

 attention is necessary to repress this tendency, which, were 

 it permitted to act, would disfigure the tree, and neutralize 

 the advantages of a wall, without imparting in their place 

 the freedom of a standard in the open ground. To be 

 successful, the operator should be acquainted with the 

 theory of vegetation, should study the mode of growth in 

 different trees, and, above all, remember the purpose of all 

 training, viz., the eliciting of bearing wood. 



One great difficulty is to preserve equilibrium in the 

 growth of the several parts of the same tree : for the at- 

 tainment of this object, excellent hints are to be found in 

 the Pornone Frangais : we shall mention only two or 

 three. A shoot will grow more vigorously whilst waving 



