Half-Hardy Annuals 



( 479 ) 



Trained Fruit Treeo 



TIME OF 

 FLOWKHIIXL 



! sum. and aut. 



* Some of the plants named in the foregoing list are not really annuals, but it is found convenient 

 to cultivate them as such, either because there is a difficulty in keeping them through the winter, or 

 because the best flowers are borne by young plants. The qualifying "half-hardy" means that some 

 artificial heat is necessary in the early stages of the plant's existence. Thus it is usual to sow the seed 

 in fairly brisk heat (about 60) under glass towards the end of February or the beginning of March, the 

 seedlings being pricked off into pans or boxes as they (the plants) become large enough to handle. 

 Hardening off is practised during May, and the end of that month or the beginning of the next finds 

 the plants consigned to their flowering quarters outdoors. 



TRAINED FRUIT TREES. 



FRTIT. 



METHOD OF BEARING. 



ASPECT OF WALL IF 

 GROWS OUTDOORS. 



* The systems of pruning are broadly two : (1) The " spar," which necessitates a summer pinching 

 of the young shoots, followed by a winter pruning; (2) the " extension," under which system new wood is 

 trained in annually to take the place of the old, and to bear fruit the following year. The old bearing 

 wood is usually cut out after the fruit has been gathered. Some trees may be trained upon either of 

 these methods. Again, as in the case of the Apric-nt, and to some extent of the Peach and the Nectarine, 

 a compromise between the two systems is eltected, shoots that cannot be trained in being pinched to 

 form spurs. 



