80 CORDON TRAINING. 



glected, then it is too late to pinch in. If you 

 did, some of the buds at the end would break out 

 into short laterals, just what is undesirable. If, 

 however, they have reached to ten or twelve 

 inches unperceived, then bend them backwards, 

 and twist them into a knot. This checks further 

 growth, and they can be cut back in the winter. 

 If they are very vigorous shoots, from the tree 

 being of a powerfully growing kind, or from the 

 shoots themselves being in a vertical (a most 

 dangerous) position, then the evil is much greater. 

 You must partially break them through, about 

 half way, and in addition pinch off the ends of 

 the rampant shoots, and let them hang thus, and 

 shrivel up, till the winter pruning ; and even 

 then, probably, a season will be lost before fruit 

 appears at that spot. In the case of Diagonal 

 Cordon training against walls, all forerights must 

 also be preserved. The leader will soon reach eight 

 or ten feet, and can, in the winter pruning, be 

 lowered to 45 degrees, there to remain in future. 

 As in peaches, a strong lateral shoot having been 

 reserved to form the second leader, which is also, 

 of course, twelve inches distant, it will be 

 shortened-in a little, and so ready to be bent 

 upwards as the second leader next summer. In 

 fact, the principles for forming a Diagonal Cor- 

 don, with triple leaders, are similar to those in 

 the peach, with the marked exception of the 

 treatment of the spurs. In the winter pruning 



