THE TRIPLE DIAGONAL CORDON. 5 



tone, and finds all suggestive in the highest degree. 

 The writer never suffered, as he feared, from 

 draughts of cold air ; though, of course, common 

 precautions must be observed, as in rough weather, 

 or in periods of frost. 



His own Orchard-house has been to him a source 

 of untiring pleasure, and he has learnt in it more 

 of the habits of the various trees than could ever 

 have been expected under the old systems. The 

 variety of the trees is so great, their habits and 

 products are so different, that the attention is soon 

 arrested, and the cultivator cannot avoid remarking 

 all this. But if, in addition, he has the patience 

 to follow up the seasons, note-book in hand, it is 

 truly astonishing how much a mere amateur may 

 quickly and readily learn. Open air culture has, 

 of course, its own peculiar charms, though not so 

 fascinating, and no doubt is preferable in very hot 

 weather. 



Another motive which presented itself, was 

 the wish to make known the decided success 

 of a novel method of fruit culture, called gene- 

 rally " Cordon Training." One form had been 

 found extremely adapted for the back wall of 

 a lean-to orchard-house; this was the Diagonal 

 Cordon, with three leaders, a form which 

 may be considered as the perfection of the 

 whole method. It has a certain resemblance to 

 the single oblique training practised so success- 

 fully at Montreuil, near Paris ; very important 



B 3 



