370 TRAINING. 



the upper part of the wall. There are two modes of effecting this : the one 

 to bend the leading branch in a serpentine form, as represented at fr, in fig. 301, 

 iind form the bends so that they may present a wood bud on the upper side of 

 each, at from four inches to nine inches apart, which will place the hori- 

 zontals from nine inches to eighteen inches apart on each side ; all other 

 buds but these being removed, they will be furnished with sufficient sap to 

 form horizontals of due length the following year, and also a centre shoot to 

 form the stem, to be managed in the same manner to produce horizontals 

 the following year ; and so on every year, until the tree has attained the 

 height of the wall. The other mode of proceeding with the stem is to train 

 it in an upright direction, and to cut it off, or shorten it, as at ", in the last 

 figure, from nine inches to eighteen inches every year; rubbing off all the buds, 

 except the three which are best placed at the end to furnish two horizontals 

 and a leader for the following year. This is not only the most simple, but 

 perhaps the most certain, mode of providing horizontals of due strength, and 

 at the distances wanted. Indeed this mode of shortening the centre branch 

 must be adopted with all fruit trees, except the peach. The peach tree, 

 with care and attention, may be trained on the serpentine plan, so as to place 

 the horizontals with great regularity. When it is thus trained, there is this 

 advantage, the current of the sap being checked in the buds, a larger 

 portion is sent into the horizontals, and the sap is more equally divided ; 

 they are thus sustained in greater luxuriance at the lower part of the tree, 

 and sometimes two tiers of horizontals may be obtained in one year. But 

 as almost all other trees are prone to form their shoots at the ends of 

 the last year's shoots, the bending will not always force out shoots where 

 wanted. In order to secure this, therefore, the leading shoots must be 

 shortened every year, down to the place where it is desired to form the 

 horizontals ; arid even by this mode of forcing out branches (by shortening), 

 the upright flow of the sap may be checked by bending the leader each year 

 from one side to another, on an inclination of about 45, as in fig. 302, 



which as indicated by the 

 numbers 1 to 5, is of five 

 years' growth. Proceed- 

 ing in this manner, a tree 

 will advance in height 

 only by a tier of horizon- 

 tals each year, and hence 

 it will appear to fill the 

 upper part of the wall but 



Fig. 302. Wavy-training, J(fth year , rr , r , , . 



slowly ; but it must be 



considered, that the time you lose in covering the upper part of the wall, 

 you gain in width on the lower part. It may also appear on a superficial 

 view, that by extending the branches so long, and rendering them so naked 

 of shoots, for the first year or two, you lose so much time ; but it is not so 

 in reality, for by this mode you lose no time in cutting back the stem, as by 

 the usual mode. By the common mode of training, two or more years are 

 lost before it is attempted to produce bearing wood. Moreover, by laying 

 down the first branches to such lengths, you obtain a space sufficient, the 

 second or third years, to dispose of every inch of wood the tree makes, 

 without crowding it too closely together ; and indeed the means of appro- 

 priating to a profitable purpose all the nutriment extracted from the soil by 



