The Cordon System of Training Fruit Trees. 149 



much less trouble will suffice to keep all right. The shoots should 

 be pinched in when they are a few inches long, and to from three 

 to five leaves, according to the strength of the shoot. If very strong, 

 it is not desirable to pinch it in too closely j and although many 

 cultivators pinch in more closely than is here advised, I have cer- 

 tainly seen the best results attained where somewhat freer yet per- 

 fectly regular development was allowed to each cordon. And as we 

 confine the trees to one stem, it is the wisest plan not to pinch or 

 repress that too much. The whole is so well exposed to the sun 

 and air, that a dense array of spurs eight or nine inches in diameter 

 will not be too much. Some graft the point of one tree on to the 

 bend of another, and thus eventually make a continuous shoot of 

 each line. This is sometimes so neatly and well done, that the 

 wire may be withdrawn and the trees left to support themselves. 

 When well grafted, and united one to the other, every second stem, 

 maybe cut away in the event of the plantation becoming too vigorous. 

 Two or three general pinchings during the summer will suffice j 

 but at all- times when a "water shoot," or gourmand, shows itself 

 above the mass of fruitful little shoots, it should be pinched down. 

 Finally, in winter, the trees will be the better for being looked over 

 with a view to a little pruning here and there ; chiefly a thinning 

 and regulating of the spurs when the plantation is thoroughly estab- 

 lished, the cutting-in of objectionable stumps, and a firm tying of 

 the shoots along the wire. These should never be tied tightly, so as 

 to prevent their free expansion, but they may be tied firmly with- 

 out incurring any danger of that. One word more about the 

 pinching. Do not do it when the little shoots are too young ; by doing 

 so, a ceaseless pushing forth of soft shoots is the result. In cold and 

 northern parts, where the apple must be grown against walls, the 

 double oblique cordon (Fig. 30) and the double erect cordon (Fig. 31) 

 will be found suitable, especially if enough of fruit cannot be had 

 from the dwarf form which I have recommended for the bottoms 

 of walls, the fronts of pits, &rc. The double erect cordon would 

 do very well for running up projecting pillars, or any very narrow 

 space on a wall. However, I introduce them here more to show 



