TRAINING. 



365 



nailing, care must be taken not to bruise any part of the shoot ; the wounds 

 made by the knife heal quickly, but a bruise often proves incurable. 

 Never let a nail gall any part of the tree : it will endanger the life of the 

 branch. In nailing in the young shoots, dispose them as straight and as 

 regular as possible : it will look workmanlike. Whatever system of train- 

 ing is pursued, the leading branches should be laid in in the exact position 

 they are to remain ; for wherever a large branch is brought down to fill the 

 lower part of the wall, the free ascent of the sap is obstructed by the exten- 

 sion of the upper and contraction of the lower parts of the branch. It is 

 thus robbed of part of its former vigour, whilst it seldom fails to throw out 

 immediately behind the part most bent one or more vigorous shoots. To 

 assist the young practitioner in laying in the leading branches of the tree, 

 the following method may perhaps be acceptable. Drive a nail into the 

 wall, exactly where the centre of the tree is to be, then with a string and 

 chalk describe a semicircle of any diameter, divide the quadrant into 90 ; 

 the lower branch will then take an elevation of about 12, the second of 

 about 27^, the third about 43, the fourth 58^, and the fifth about 74^. 

 A nail should then be driven into each of these points, and the chalk rubbed 

 off. (G. M. ii. p. 144.) 



802. Fan-training according to Seymours mode. Head down the maiden 

 plant to three eyes, as shown in fig. 289, a. Three shoots being produced, the 



Fig. 29. Seymour's fan-training, progressive stages. 



second year head down the centre one to three eyes, and leave the two side 

 shoots at full length, as at b. Rub off all the buds on the lower side of the 

 two side-branches, and leave only on the upper side a series of buds from 

 nine inches to twelve inches apart. When these buds have grown five inches 



Fig. 290. Seymour's fan-training, third stage, in summer. 



or six inches, stop the shoots produced, but still allowing the leading shoot 



