FRUIT-TREE CULTURE IN COGNAC. 909 



from the wall itself. The body of the wall protects against the wind 

 and driving cold, and the screens and sheds, which can be readily 

 adapted to the wall, against frost and snow. These screens are made 

 thus : The walls are almost invariably capped with a coping or fluted 

 tiles projecting several inches; under the little shed thus formed a 

 slanting frame of iron rods and wires is adapted, supported below by 

 braces of the same metal. Upon this frame and overhanging the trees 

 is placed a blanket of straw made by the gardener himself at a nominal 

 cost ; if this is not enough, it is very easy to hang similar mats of straw 

 or old rugs, etc., against the wall and in front of the trees. 



(3) For the facility of making medical applications to the tree when 

 it shows signs of disease. 



The trees here are subject to many ailments, some affecting the present 

 or prospective crop of fruit only, and others touching the life of the 

 tiv* itself. French horticultural therapeutics seems to limit itself to a 

 solution of sulphate of copper and quicklime (tbebouiUie bordelaise), or 

 a solution of sulphate of copper and aqua ammonia (the eau celeste). 

 The solutions are applied by means of a spray apparatus, or an atom- 

 izer, and when the tree is fairly spread out against the wall, as in the 

 methods of cultivation now under consideration, these applications are 

 a very simple matter. 



(4) The facility with which the ripening of the fruit may be acceler- 

 ated or forced. 



From what has been said under the second heading it needs no further 

 argument to show how the early heat of the sun may be utilized for the 

 ripening of the fruit and what measures should be taken to protect the 

 tree and its fruit against sudden loweriugs of the temperature in the 

 late spring. Suffice it to say that the thrifty gardener, by making use 

 of the means above indicated, can get his apricots early into market 

 when they bring him 5 to 6 cents apiece. 



Lastly, for ornament. All the gardens here are surrounded by high 

 stone walls, and, of course, no gardener of taste or feeling could permit 

 his wall to remain white, bare, and naked. Hence many of the designs 

 used are merely to hide the nakedness of the wall. They have but little 

 practical utility so far as bearing fruit is concerned, and are maintained 

 in the forms in which they are drawn with infinite difficulty. Some- 

 times, after several years of careful management, tbrtree is gotten into 

 the desired elaborate form, when suddenly, to the great disgust of all 

 concerned, half of it dies and its symmetrical beauty is gone. 



With this style of tree culture, however, I have but little sympathy, 

 since it is much easier to get vigorous, hardy trees, bearing fruit, whose 

 forms are more graceful to my eye than those intended merely for orna- 

 ment. 



So much, then, for the raison d?ttre of this method of tree culture. 

 Let us glance now at how the results are obtained. 



(1) The first requisite is, of course, the wall. This should be from 9 



