312 THE NEW GARDENING 



course we must consider all its bearings. It is quite true 

 that the leaves of a fruit tree play an important part in 

 its economy. It is quite correct to say that if a tree has 

 not an adequate amount of healthy foliage it cannot 

 be strong and fruitful. Those who summer pinch and 

 summer prune must take due cognizance of these facts. 



The more systematically a fruit tree is pruned the 

 more clearly the grower must keep before his eyes the 

 necessity of giving the tree a counteracting influence. 

 In a cordon tree this is found in head-extension. The 

 tree, curbed as to its side growth, only finds a natural 

 outlet for its energies in extension of the leader. A tree 

 planted perpendicularly against a low support, and not 

 allowed to extend above it, could not remain healthy 

 and fruitful if treated as a cordon. It would give very little 

 fruit, and would fall into ill-health. If a person wishes 

 to cover a wall or fence which is low and cannot be 

 heightened he had better train his fruit trees as espaliers, 

 not as cordons, but he cannot then have nearly so many 

 varieties in a given space. 



It is prudent to consider what is the lowest height at 

 which a fruit tree trained as an upright cordon to a single 

 stem can be kept. The reply is seven feet. This does 

 not mean that a support seven feet high is necessary, 

 because the tree can be trained diagonally, and will 

 do just as well as if planted perpendicularly ; it means 

 that provision must be made for allowing a tree to grow 

 seven feet high. Whether a six-feet support will give 

 that length of stem or not turns on the angle at which 

 the trees are planted, but the grower can easily make 

 it do so. A further extension of a foot or so above the top 

 of the support will be no disadvantage. As a matter of 

 fact, the trees may be expected to grow two feet or more 

 above the top in summer, and the extension need not 



