234 GARDENING. 



shortening the upper and younger growths gradual- 

 ly to the top. But. against this practice we are ad- 

 monished by a British writer of considerable au- 

 thority,* who says that, " when applied to apple, or 

 pear, or other trees which produce their fruits at the 

 extremities of the last year's wood, the conical form 

 is both absurd and ruinous ; since, to produce or pre- 

 serve it, we must necessarily destroy a large pro- 

 portion of fruit-buds." The terms of this position 

 p. .re, however, too broad ; for, though the objection 

 be good against the old or ordinary method of pro- 

 ducing this shape, it fails altogether against the shape 

 itself, provided any mode of producing it be found 

 which shall leave the fruit-buds untouched ; and that 

 such mode does exist, we learn from another writer 

 of the same nation, and of equal, if not higher au- 

 thority.! " If," he says, " the graft you employ be 

 inserted with its point (or terminal) bud perfect, the 

 branches will range themselves horizontally and in 

 series, and, without violence, produce all the effects 

 (as to shape) which have hitherto been produced by 

 pruning and training." The espalier form, if that be 

 desired, is produced by selecting two healthy shoots 

 the second year after grafting, which, when spread 

 out, like the ribs of a fan, against an open frame, 

 and filled up within by lateral shoots, present two 

 surfaces, the one in front and the other in rear, for 

 the production of fruit. The knife in this case is 

 only used in keeping these surfaces clear of dead, 

 or unhealthy, or fractured wood, and in removing all 

 shoots other than those growing laterally. 

 With these several forms may be associated the 



* Nicol. 



t Hay ward's Principles of Gardening. An additional author- 

 ity in favour of the pyramidal form is the practice of those em- 

 inent botanists, Thouin and Bosc, in the national gardens at 

 Paris (the Jardin des Plantes and the Luxembourg). It is, be- 

 sides, the form generally adopted, if we mistake not, in the 

 schools of botany. 



