244 



PRUNING. 



a wall to be covered much sooner, and brings the trees 

 into full bearing at a much earlier period, without abridg- 

 ing their duration. We have given to this new method, 

 invented by us, for the pear, in 1852, the name of ' Cordon 

 Oblique Simple.' Its application is made as follows : 



" Take young trees, one year from the graft or bud, 

 healthy and vigorous, having single stems ; plant about 

 eighteen inches apart, and incline one from the other, 

 at an angle of about 60. 



"Each one is cut back one-third its length, above a 

 bud, in front, as at A, fig. 117. During the summer fol- 

 lowing, the development of 

 the terminal shoot is favored 

 as much as possible, and all 

 the others are transformed 

 into fruit branches or spurs by 

 the aid of these operations, 

 recommended for the same 

 purpose, in training the pear 

 as a pyramid. In the spring 

 following, each of these young 

 trees presents the aspect of 

 fig. 118. 



" The second pruning con- 

 sists in applying to each of 

 the lateral branches the care 

 necessary to transform them 

 into fruit-spurs, and* to cut 

 back one-third the new terminal shoot. The summer 

 treatment will be like that of the preceding. 



" At the third pruning, the young stem should ordina- 

 rily attain two-thirds its entire length, when it should 

 be brought down to an angle of 45 with the surface of the 

 ground ; and the terminal shoot and laterals are subjected 

 to the same operations as in previous seasons. If these 

 trees had been brought down at first to an angle of 45, it 



Fig. 117. OBLIQUE CORDON 

 PEAK FIRST TEAR. 



