Feb. 

 I-14 



THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



exhibits fruit-tree stakes. In the country the village 

 haulier (who may also be your coal merchant) can 

 generally advise; and in 

 the suburbs a builder might 

 help, but it is just as well 

 to try the nurseryman from 

 whom the trees are brought. 

 Ash stakes eight feet long, 

 sharpened and soaked in 

 creosote at the base, will 

 answer the purpose. They 

 should be driven well down 

 at the same time as the 

 trees are put in, and rammed 

 in with the trees, then they 

 will be quite tight. The 

 amateur should not forget 

 to put a pad at the top, 

 so that neither the edge of 

 the stake top, nor the tying 

 material, can injure the 

 bark. It is only standard 

 trees — that is, trees with long stems — which need 

 staking. 



Wall and Wire- Frame Trees, — I have already men- 

 tioned that flat, trained trees are very suitable for walls 

 and wire frameworks beside paths. I certainly think that 

 every amateur gardener who has a quarter of an acre of 

 ground should make a point of growing a selection of 

 Apples and Pears, if nothing else. My two points about 

 the upright cordon tree (see Chapter I.) : that it takes up 

 very little room, and that a number of varieties might be 

 planted in a very small area, may be supplemented by a 

 third : that it is cheap. These trees do quite well two 

 82 



Fig. 28.— Staking Fruit Trees. 



a. Stake driven in without damaging 



the roots. 



b. How to secure the stem to the 



stake. 



c. How to make the head of the 



tree fast to the stake. 



