4 CORDON TRAINING. 



cautions must be observed, as in rough weather, or in periods 

 of frost. 



His own orchard house has been to him a source of untir- 

 ing pleasure, and he has learnt in it more of the habits of the 

 various trees than could ever have been expected under the 

 old systems. The variety of the trees is so great, their habits 

 and products are so different, that the attention is soon arrest- 

 ed, and the cultivator cannot avoid remarking all this. But 

 if, in addition, he has the patience to follow up the seasons, 

 note-book in hand, it is truly astonishing how much a mere 

 amateur may quickly and readily learn. Open-air culture 

 has, of course, its own peculiar charms, though not so fasci- 

 nating, and no doubt is preferable in very hot weather.* 



Another motive which presented itself, was the wish to 

 make known the decided success of a novel method of fruit 

 culture, called generally " Cordon Training." One form had 

 been found extremely adapted for the back wall of a lean-to 

 orchard house ; this was the Diagonal Cordon, with three lead- 

 ers, — a form which may be considered as the perfection of 

 the whole method. It has a certain resemblance to the 

 single oblique training practised so successfully at Montreuil, 

 near Paris ; very important modifications were required, how- 

 ever, before any practical result could be depended upon. 



The climate of France is so different from that of England, 

 that what is proper in the one case becomes almost useless in 

 the other ; and the whole system now presented to the public 

 is so' altered, so combined, and, in the case of orchard-house 

 culture, so fundamentally different from the French system, 

 that it may be considered as a separate method, originating 

 from several others. Examples of this will abundantly occur 

 as the various forms are entered into and described. It will 

 be sufficient here to state, that the repeated summer pincb- 



[* Our American climate fortunately is suflSciently warm and genial to remove 

 all the trees in orchard houses to the open air in June, or the sashes may be re- 

 moved with safety. If orchard houses are found less preferable for labor during 

 hot weather than the open air, in England, they would be far more oppressive 

 here. But this objection does not apply with us. — c. m. h.] 



