DUKATION OF THE PEACH AND PEAR. 27 



Another radical defect in fruit culture is the ^ 

 vicious custom of too rapidly inclining the bear- / 

 ing branches toward the horizontal line. By J 

 this plan the lowest stage must inevitably be- 

 come the shortest and the most feeble, while, by 

 all the rules of harmony, it should be the longest. 

 This defect once commenced is fatal and irre- 

 mediable, and some of the best portions of the 

 wall and tree are lost for ever. 



Many trees are trained fan- wise, and this, with 

 proper precautions, is suitable only for strong 

 growing varieties, and for those which, like the 

 pear, are of long, duration. 



But, on the authority of M. jDubreuil, even\ 

 the pear requires about sixteen years to reach to ( 

 the_top of an ordinary wall, admitting the neces- / 

 sitjLof a proper lateral extension. On the same 

 authority, it is certain that the life of the peach 

 is not valuable after twenty years, and if half of 

 that period, at least, be spent in raising it to the 

 summit, it is evident that it only arrives there 

 when on the point of diminishing in production. 

 During the time, therefore, that these trees, and 

 others also, are reaching to the utmost limits 

 assigned to them, the valuable wall space is un- 

 occupied and useless. 



This very serious defect has led to the intro- \ 

 .duction of the "cordon system," by which the/ 

 space of time required to cover a given superficies / 

 is abridged by two-thirds. As life is too precious J 



