THE TRIPLE SYSTEM. 2T 



to coVer the whole space. This filling up of corners cannot 

 be done so well with trees on the common method. 



Of course, in the first year, all the trees, if planted simul- 

 taneously, would all be alike, having one leader and blank 

 spaces for the two future ones, and in the second year the 

 whole wall would look like the tree of that year ; and so on. 

 But at one glance the different years can be seen and under- 

 stood. I must add, that if the trees shall be planted at 36 

 inches from each other, tlie intervals between the leaders will 

 of course be 12 inches, i. e. the shoots on each leader extend 

 6 inches either way. Forerights are also preserved (not rep- 

 resented, to avoid confusion) ; but this is a very important 

 part of the system, and adds much to the beauty of the whole, 

 making each leader like a green cable having blooming fruit 

 embedded in appropriate bowers of leaves; not buried, but 

 visible and well exposed to the sun's rays. 



I do not remember seeing any trees trained exactly in this 

 fashion, and as to the combination of culture, under glass, 

 with the great advantages to be gained by this particular 

 Cordon, it is tliis which has chiefly induced me to publish the 

 results at all. By this excellent, but too little known method, 

 the most splendid crops can be grown, and it is not too much 

 to anticipate the time when every back wall of an orchard- 

 house, or of a forcing nectarine-house, will have its Diagonal 

 Cordon on three leaders; One will not do; two are only 

 rather better, but with three success is certain. More than 

 three would take too long a period to cover the wall, by ex- 

 tending the four years necessary with three leaders, to five 

 or six years, in which case little time is saved. Neither can 

 a Cordon on other principles than closely spurring-in be very 

 successful. At any rate it is far inferior in every way, and 

 unworthy of competing with the one now described, especially 

 in the quantity of fruit obtained. 



I can cordially recommend this kind of Cordon to ama- 

 teurs, having had the greatest success with it of any. It will 

 not suit span-roofed houses, which have, of course, no back 

 walls. 



