32 THE FRUIT-TREE AND SHRUB TRUNER. 



Cornish Gillvfionxr may be almost taken as an excep- 

 tion. I find by experience that this Apple has a 

 tendency to make wood very freely with long flexible 

 shoots annually. I am of opinion that these might be 

 checked by root-pruning, and then the plant would be 

 more fruitful than it is at present ; but it is a very 

 tender variety, seldom perfecting the fruit out of Corn- 

 wall, or farther north than the south border of Devon- 

 shire. I have had this variety in my care for many 

 years, but never get one tithe of a crop. It is a most 

 delicious fruit. 



In my opinion great mistakes are made in Apple 

 culture. The choice of dwarf trees worked on the crab 

 stock is an error, for unless these are annually cut back 

 close, they soon get cumbersome and quite ugly, pos- 

 sessing a large head with a short stem. Again, stand- 

 ard Apples should possess clean straight stems not 

 less than six feet high up to the first branches from the 

 ground, and when it is intended to cultivate espaliers 

 (which I think are certainly the most convenient for an 

 economical and neat garden) the choice should be made 

 accordingly, with no deviation therefrom, as is the case 

 sometimes. 



If pyramids are preferred, then choice of sort and 

 plant should be determined upon beforehand, and no 

 change made thereafter, as I find is sometimes the case. 

 Here we have three classes of tree, each of which pos- 

 sesses a different character, and which should ever be 

 maintained after in its purity of form. Each and all 

 of these are commendable as such, in their respective 

 places, but I have seen a whole garden of trees actually 

 presenting a m ist unsightly appearance (and the garden 

 itself too) entirely because the person who planted them 

 did not predet armine what class of trees he would culti- 

 vate. It seems to me that no change of character can 

 be well made after the plantation is complete, say after 

 a few years. 



