TRAINING VARIOUS FORMS. 



149 



buds often fail. As between the renewal and 

 spur systems in all their various forms, the lat- 

 ter are much to be preferred, both on account 

 of their greater simplicity, and the better qual- 

 ity of the fruit. 



The Oblique System. The French are inge- 

 nious as well as prolific in the forms which they 

 give to fruit trees. The " cordon oblique " had 

 hardly been worked out on the peach and the 

 pear, when it was also applied to the grape, as 



Fig. 85. 



may be seen in Fig. 85, which is a copy from the 

 work of M. Forney, 1862. It has such a look of 

 the Frenchman about it that one would suspect 

 its origin at first sight. Our engraver has fol- 

 lowed the original literally, instead of making 

 grape wood of the stocks, as he knows how to do 



