426 



FRUIT-TREES FOR ESPALIERS AND DWARFS. 



stake can be spared also, after the leader has reached its destined height and 

 is of a sufficient substance to support itself erect. When such a form of 

 training is completed, and the branches of sufficient magnitude, about six, 

 eight, or twelve stakes will be sufficient for the support of the horizontal 

 branches, even when they have the burden of a full crop of fruit. At any 

 other time, about six stakes to each tree will be all that are necessary. 



897- A wooden espalier-rail, of great neatness and durability, is formed 

 of stakes of young larch-trees, or spruce firs, charred at the lower ends, driven 

 two feet into the ground so as to stand five feet high, and connected by a rail at 

 top, forming a cap to the uprights. The larch-trees should be girdled (777) 

 a year before being cut, and it has been found that they will last longer if 

 not deprived of their bark. There are many handsome espalier-rails of 

 this kind in Scotland ; for example, at Yester, in East- Lothian. When 

 the Scotch pine is used for stakes the bark should be removed, as it does not 

 adhere like that of the larch and the spruce fir. 



898. Espalier-rails of cast-iron consist of a top and bottom horizontal 

 rail, into which upright rails are fixed at from six inches to nine inches 

 apart, with standards at every ten feet or twelve feet, which are let into 

 blocks of stone, firmly fixed in the soil, as shown in fig. 333. Wrought 

 wooden espalier-rails are also formed in the same manner as cast-iron 

 rails, and the standards let into iron sockets, which are fixed in stone 

 posts. 



A 



i A 



Fig. 333. Cast-iron Espalier-rail. 



899. Espalier-rails of wrought-iron may be formed of hoop and wire 

 iron, either single or double, as shown in figs. t>7 to 69 in p. 231 and 232, of 

 the Sub. Arch, and Landscape Gardener ; or of strained iron- wire, as shown 

 in fig. 334. This forms by far the handsomest, cheapest, and if occasionally 

 painted, will doubtless also form one of the most durable of espalier rails. It 

 was first erected in the kitchen garden at Carclew, and a full account of the 

 manner of putting it up will be found in the Gardener's Magazine for 1839. 

 The total cost at Carclew was from Is. Gd. to 2s. per linear yard. Strained 

 wire may be put up in this manner, either for espaliers or pleasure-ground 

 fences, not only in straight lines, but in curves of every description. This 

 is effected by means of underground braces, or underground perpendicular 



