36 TRAINING. 



once that three fourths of the great expense of a fruit garden 

 here is rendered entirely needless. 



Training fruit trees, in this country, is therefore confined to 

 the colder districts north of the 43 of latitude, and to the gar- 

 dens of amateurs. There can, however, scarcely be a more 

 heautiful display of the art of the horticulturist, than a fine row 

 of trained trees, their branches arranged with the utmost sym- 

 metry and regularity, and covered, in the fruit season, with large 

 and richly coloured fruit. 



North of the 43 latitude, (or south of the Mohawk,) the peach 

 does not ripen well, and this, as well as some other rather tender 

 trees, will, in such situations, generally yield abundant crops 

 when trained on a common upright trellis, or espalier rail, seven 

 or eight feet high.* Still farther north, as in Maine, or Canada, 

 a wall must be resorted to : but our own observation leads us to 

 believe that, generally, the espalier rail will be found not only 

 cheaper, and more easily managed in training, but really pre- 

 ferable to a wall, as full exposure to light is sufficient without 

 much additional heat. With regard to walls themselves, in the 

 middle portions of the Union, a southern aspect is almost always 

 the worst, being too hot in midsummer ; a wall running north 

 and south, and affording east and west aspects, is much the best. 

 The western aspect is indeed preferable for all tender fruits, as 

 the blossoms are not there liable to injury from early frosts. A 

 north wall is useful for producing a later crop. 



The objects of training are, by a more complete exposure of 

 the leaves and branches to the light and sun, to ripen fruits in 

 a naturally unfavourable climate ; to render them more fruit- 

 ful, lessening vigour and excessive growth by the lateral or 

 horizontal arrangement of the branches ; and lastly economy of 

 space, as trees when trained on a flat surface occupy much less 

 space in the fruit garden than standards, and leave the borders 

 more open for cropping with vegetables. 



Training conical standards. A very easy and simple mode of 

 training fruit trees, which has lately come into great favour with 

 amateurs, is the conical standard, or Quenoui/le, (pronounced ke- 

 nool) of the French. It is applied chiefly to pears, which, when 

 treated in this way, may be planted about eight feet apart, and 

 thus a great variety of sorts may be grown in a small garden. 

 The best example of this kind of training in this country, at 

 present, is in the garden of Mr. Johnson of Lynn, Mass. A 

 great number of the specimen trees in the London Horticultural 

 Society's garden are trained in this manner; and Loudon re- 

 marks, that in 1840 the Royal Kitchen garden of Versailles 



* Cellar or locust posts, set four or eight feet apart, with horizontal bars let in, 

 and crossed by light perpendicular strips of pine from six to twelve inches apart, 

 will form an excellent and durable trellis for espaliers. See Fig. 21. Indeed 

 many gardeners here prefer haying a light trellis a few inches from the wall, upon 

 which to train, instead of nailing directly on the wall. 



