82 CORDON TRAINING. 



but rather a luxury — a delightful species of culture — employ- 

 ing the leisure hours of the amateur fruit grower, and sup- 

 plying the wealthy with superior fruit a little in advance of 

 the natural season. 



Such being the case, we cannot expect to see orchard-houses 

 spring up as indispensable appendages to every garden, but 

 only introduced where fruit culture becomes a pleasant rec- 

 reation, when trees are valued for their ornamental aspect, 

 or as a means of supplying the table with the most beautiful 

 and tempting specimens. Viewed from either point, with the 

 abundance of wealth, and general love of superior fruits 

 yearly becoming more extended, orchard-houses must be re- 

 garded as a great source of extending and increasing our 

 enjoyment of rural pursuits. 



The peach, the nectarine, the apricot and the fig, may per- 

 haps, be made exceptions in the northern sections of the 

 country where the former occasionally suffer from the inten- 

 sity of the winter, and produce no fruit, and where the latter 

 is too tender to resist our frosts. For these fruits orchard- 

 houses are peculiarly adapted ; under the judicious treat- 

 ment so well detailed by Mr. Brehaut, whether in pots or 

 trained as cordons on the walls, they produce an annual 

 crop with as much certainty as the apple in the open air. To 

 all who esteem these fruits — and the number must be small 

 who do not — they can be obtained in abundance by a process 

 at once simple, economical and sure. 



But even with the hardier fruits, which as we have said are 

 known to flourish in perfection in the open garden, there is 

 no reason why tliey should not be cultivated and successfully 

 raised in pots, without stopping to make the common enquiry 

 whether it " will pay." Tliis utilitarian phrase, should not 

 be admitted into the vocabulary of the amateur cultivator. 

 In fact a genuine love of horticulture is not barred from the 

 enjoyment of its taste by any such ideas. The question is, 

 will these objects contribute to our gratification ? If so, that 

 is sufficient. That fine specimens of trees in pots loaded 

 with fruit must be attractive both from their beauty and their 



