SUMMER PINCHING. 31 



requiring much caution in its adoption, and 

 is not very necessary at any time. It is true 

 this last system produced a fair crop of fruit, 

 but it required too much attention to make it 

 generally valuable. Proceeding, therefore, on r 

 a new mode, which arose out of the cordon \ 

 system itself, I gradually adopted it, and, after 

 two years' trial of this new combination, I do 

 not hesitate to recommend it as the best which J 

 exists at the present day. A large and important 

 portion of this system the management of the \ 

 spurs and the growths on them is very similar / 

 to that recommended by Mr. Rivers, in the J 

 chapter on " Summer Pinching." Some of the ^ 

 terms .used in horticulture are so droll as to 

 excite wonder at their use, but it would cause 

 confusion to endeavour to introduce any new 

 ones. But certainly " pinching spurs in the 

 summer " seems no particular recommendation 

 in gardening. 



As was said before, cordon training has the 

 immense advantage of being simple. There is 

 no elaborate tying-in of summer shoots, as old as 

 Shakspeare : " Tie up those dangling apricocks ;" 

 indeed few ties are required even in the winter. 

 The forerights are preserved, which are of much 

 value in increasing the amount f fruit. The 

 spurs are compactly and regularly distributed, 

 and are thus more easily sheltered from the 

 weather, and more readily examined and pruned. 



