86 CORDON TRAINING. 



" We have described in the third edition of our Traite d^ Ar- 

 boriculture, under the name of " Cordon obHque double," a 

 mode of training, which, adopted against a wall of at least 

 eight feet high, answers completely for espaliers of pears, 

 apples, plums, cherries, and apricots, in the short space of six 

 or seven years. That which we now advise (fig. 9) and 

 which is only to be applied to these kinds, is called the Cordon 

 oblique simple, and was first adopted by us for the pear in 

 1843 ; it gives a still more prompt result, since we can attain 

 the same object at the end of the third or fourth year. The 

 following is the mode of planting an espalier for pears : — 



" Choose trees one year from the graft, healthy and vigorous, 

 worked upon the quince for strong-growing varieties, and 

 upon the pear for the others. Plant them along the wall, at 

 a distance from each other of about eighteen inches only. 

 Incline them in planting at an angle of G0°, and cut off one 

 third of the whole length of the stem to favor the development 

 of the terminal bud, and pinch off, during summer, all the 

 lateral shoots, in order to transform them into fruit spurs. 

 The following year, at the winter pruning, cut off a third of 

 the whole length of the new growth, and give the same atten- 

 tion to the lateral branches as before, in order to make fruit 

 buds. During summer the new shoots should be subjected 

 to the same operations as the preceding. Repeat them each 

 year, until the time when the stem has reached two thirds of 

 the space which separates it from the top of the wall ; then 

 incline the stem at an angle of 45° at the winter pruning, and 

 continue its length till it reaches the top. This object will be 

 attained towards the end of the fourth year, and the espalier 

 will be completed. It will be necessary that the first and last 

 tree should be trained in the form in our figure, so that no 

 vacant space will be left upon the espalier. 



" We can thus obtain by this new mode of training, towards 

 the fifth year, the greatest product, which with the old style 

 we could not do until the sixteenth or eighteenth year. It 

 is proper further to notice the simplicity of this form of train- 

 ing, which renders its execution easy even for amateurs, or 



