98 RECOVERY OF ESPALIERS. 



a free circulation of sap, they too must be knocked 

 off in order to make way for the training of fresh 

 shoots along the old branches, as recommended in 

 the wall department. The scheme there laid down 

 is no uncertain theory, and the success will be as 

 certain here. 



In order, however, that you may ultimately have 

 a surer dependence than on trees verging towards 

 decay if the soil do not require a total renewal by 

 deeper trenching, and the extracting of old roots, 

 it may be expedient, in order not to be without 

 fruit for some years, to adopt a compromise; namely, 

 that of retaining for a time your old trees, and set- 

 ting young ones in the intervening spaces. When 

 no good comes by longer waiting on the aged, it 

 will be necessary to trench the ground to a consid- 

 erable depth where they stood; and before setting 

 young trees in their stead, to exchange a portion 

 of the soil for that of a plot used for the culture of 

 pot herbs, and which exchange, like free trade, will 

 prove a mutual benefit. 



In choosing the sorts of trees fit for your espa- 

 lier rail, let it be a general rule to adopt those that 

 are of a finer quality than can be advantageously 

 cultivated as standards; and at the same time not 



the wrist would ever need to be amputated at all; and, second, 

 with regard to firs, that if the broken, barkless stumps, when past 

 bleeding, were cut clean off with axe or saw, a great many deals of 

 the future growth would be free from the annoyance both of knots 

 and plugs. With regard to fruit trees, by all means prune early; 

 but if neglected, cut freely without fearing to spoil the timber. 

 Some ointment, howeA r er, is better than allowing the wound to fall 

 into chinks and furnish beds to fungi and moss. 



