CHAPTER VII 

 THE MAKING OF TREES 



FOR the cultivator, the actual making of trees begins with the end 

 of their maiden year. They have of their own volition more or less 

 declared their natural tendencies as to form, and if these agree 

 with the wants and wishes of the grower, his work is to encourage 

 them and to see if he can help them in their development. If, on 

 the other hand, his designs do not agree with what the trees are 

 doing of themselves, a judicious and wise use of the pruning knife 

 will turn their energies toward the desired end. 



Our illustrations of maiden trees (Figs. 12-15) show that each of 

 those figured has a distinct bias of which advantage may be taken, 

 or to which a different direction can be given. In Fig. 12, a maiden 

 apple, budded, on paradise stock, declares itself quite unmistakably 

 as preferring the pyramid form ; 13, a maiden pear on the quince, 

 is perhaps more emphatically inclined to become a cordon ; 14 is 

 a grafted tree, an apple on paradise, and, as is most usual with grafts, 

 wants to become an espalier ; while 15,3 budded apple on the crab, 

 runs aloft to become a standard. These particular specimens were 

 selected to illustrate the respective bias of each, and also because 

 it would be such a simple matter to give either of them a form differ- 

 ent to their chosen one : 12 could become a half-standard ; 13 a 

 pyramid ; 14 a bush ; 15 a half-standard or pyramid. A large 

 percentage of maidens give no indication as to their natural trend, 

 and the grower has to use considerable judgment as to his treatment, 

 for he wants, at the same time, to make them really good trees, and 

 to have them of a desired character. It is only so far as their 

 adaptability fits in with his requirements that he can rely upon it. 

 What he has to visualize as he deals with the individual tree is 

 what that tree will be in three years' time, and this is not difficult 

 to the man who understands trees and who knows their behaviour 

 under treatment. 



Our next illustrations (Figs. 16-19) show the same trees after 

 another season's growth ; also, for the sake of convenience, in faint 

 outline, that of the third season, excepting the standard, and this 



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