soETS AND AGES.] PEACTICE OF HOETICTTLTURE. 



[distances. 



delicate fruits, a south-east and south-west are 

 the next best ; although some of the earlier 

 kinds of the apricot will attain to maturity on 

 an east or west wall. In so far as regards the 

 cherry, it may be placed in any situation, 

 except that which is directly exposed to the 

 north ; but the finest cherries will not arrive at 

 the height of perfection unless they have a south 

 border. The morello cherry, the plum, pear, 

 apple, and mulberry, will succeed on any wall: 

 •' but all late fruit is universally improved in 

 proportion to the goodness of the aspect 

 from the west to the east, through all the inter- 

 mediate points to the south ; and some of the 

 high-flavoured French pears require a high wall, 

 and a good aspect, to bring them to perfection." 

 For a free-growing pear tree, the end of a 

 building is a good situation ; for if the wall of 

 the garden be not higher than usual, it wiU 

 not have sufficient room. A long and high 

 wall is also required for fig trees. 



THE SORTS AND AGES OF PLANTS. 

 Standards planted against a wall are in the 

 form of dwarfs and riders, which may be one 

 year old from the graft, or they may be 

 several years trained. The permanent trees 

 are understood to be the dwarfs, the riders 

 being merely temporary plants, introduced to 

 give fulness to the upper portion of the wall. 

 In selecting from both kinds, it is the practice 

 to choose those trees which have passed 

 through the training of two or more years ; 

 or should they, every second year, have been 

 moved in the nursery, they may take five or 

 six years to train ; and in such case they will 

 bear immediately. Touug plants, however, 

 are preferred by some gardeners. Eegardiug 

 the age of the plants, it is observed by Nicol, 

 that the " maiden, or one-year-trained trees, 

 are to be preferred, especially if apples and 

 pears. Even of the stone fruits such will 

 succeed best; though two or three years' 

 trained are often planted. I here allude to 

 the dwarfs. Riders of greater age than 

 dwarla may be planted, in any case, with pro- 

 priety, they being considered temporary, and 

 it being desirable to obtain fruit from them as 

 soon as possible." It is recommended as a 

 Kul'e plan, to plant partly maiden and partly 

 trained plants ; by wliich mode, those which 

 fructify early, should they turn out of inferior 

 '950 



quality, may be replaced by others, or re- 

 grafted with improved species. Meanwhile, 

 the kinds to which approval has been given, 

 will afford a return sufficiently early to com- 

 pensate for any additional labour or expens? 

 they may have cost. 



DISTANCES IN PLANTING. 



The distances at which the permanent trees 

 are planted, are regulated by the known 

 growth of the different sorts selected to be 

 trained against the wall, as well as by the 

 height of that enclosure. It may be remarked, 

 too, that the distance of the stem of the tree 

 from the wall, on the surface of the ground, 

 should be about nine inches. In rearing nec- 

 tarines, peaches, and vines, this distance may 

 be somewhat diminished. In respect to the 

 height of the walls, there are some slight dif- 

 ferences of measurement given. Marshall 

 says, that for one nine or ten feet high, the 

 distances at which nectarines, peaches, and 

 apricots are planted from each other, should 

 be twenty feet. For a wall twelve feet 

 high, Nieol gives the following distances : — 

 apples, eighteen or twenty feet ; apricots, 

 from twenty to twenty-four feet ; figs, from 

 fifteen to eighteen feet ; nectarines and 

 peaches, twelve or fifteen feet ; pears, from 

 twenty-four to thirty feet ; and plums, eighteen 

 or twenty feet. For low walls, of no more 

 than five or six feet high, apple trees should 

 be planted at thirty feet apart, and plums from 

 twenty to twenty-four feet. " The distances 

 at which wall trees ought to be planted, ac- 

 cording to Abercronibie," says Mr. Loudon, 

 " depend on the general growth of the species, 

 connected with these other tilings — whether 

 the individual plant has been dwarfed by the 

 mode of propagation, or is a free grower ; 

 whether the species will bear to be kept 

 within bounds by the knife ; and, lastly, on 

 the height of the wall. Thus, a higlier wail 

 is a compensation for a reduced distance, and 

 a lower will make it necessary to increase the 

 intervals. Supposing the wall to be twelve 

 feet high, the following are gi)od avera!j;e dis- 

 tances for planting the kinds Jiamed : — Vines, 

 from ten to fifteen feet apart, or in vacant 

 spaces between other walls, where the distance 

 is less, because the vine bears pruning well, 

 and can always be reduced to the prescribed 



