DWARFING. 149 



er, and be trained horizontally in two directions, with 

 successive stages to the top of the wall or trellis, or they 

 may be trained in a fan shape, with various modifications 

 of what M. Du Breuil calls the palmette form. And a 

 simple modification of this method of dwarfing may be 

 made with some varieties of fruit, by training a single 

 stem horizontally within a foot of the ground, as a border 

 or edging between the path-ways and the cultivated 

 ground. 



The favorite method of training in France, at the present 

 day, appears to be that called the cordon. This may be 

 either the vertical or inclined. In this kind of espalier, 

 the trees are dwarfed by crowding them closely together, 

 and by successive pinching and other mutilation, such as 

 bending and even breaking the shoots, which results in 

 early productiveness. The trees are planted sixteen inches 

 apart, and are trained to single stems, and so treated as 

 to be furnished with the requisite number of fruit-spurs on 

 their whole extent. This is quite a new application of 

 principles, and one which is rudely imitated by Mr. Field's 

 pear hedges, which, however, bear but little resemblance 

 to the elegant cordons of Du Breuil beyond that of dwarf- 

 ing by crowding and pinching. We are told that among 

 the many advantages of this method, are the diminished 

 time required to cover a wall or trellis with fruit, and the 

 greater facility of replacing a dead or defective tree, 

 which, in the usual espalier methods, is a very serious 

 matter, requiring several years for its restoration and the 

 production of a crop. 



We are so blessed, in most parts of this country, with 

 soil and climate that are well adapted to the production 



