52 



CORDON TRAINING. 



The next summer, these two buds, on each lateral, or spur 

 now, will develop themselves. As soon as these new shoots 

 have reached six inches in length, pinch them back to four 

 inches, or about eight or nine leaves. The next growths 

 pinch back to one inch more, and so on. Any short shoots 

 near the base which spring out, or any that make their termi- 

 nal buds under four inches in length, must not be touched, 

 as they are becoming fruitful of themselves from being near 

 the leaders, which shows how natural this system is. Pinch 

 so as to leave as much of wood above the last bud left as you 



7. FORMATION OF FRUITFUL SPURS ON THE PEAR. COMMENCEMENT. 



can, because this exhausts the sap, in drying it up, and the 

 buds below have a greater chance of being left dormant, that 

 is, not "stimulated to elongate," as Lindley says. The 

 young shoots must not be allowed to grow till they are, say, 

 ten inches long, instead of six inches. If they have been 

 thus unwisely neglected, then it is too late to pinch in. If 

 you did, some of the buds at the end would break out into 

 short laterals, just what is undesirable. If, however, they 

 have reached to ten or twelve inches unperceivcd, then bend 



