Chap. XXIV.] FRUIT CULTURE. 417 



trees, and at Thomery for their Vines, it having been frequently- 

 remarked that trees trained against white walls were healthier 

 than those nailed to more or less dark-coloured ones. This result 

 is easily explained, for not only does the lighter colour reflect 

 more heat back to the trees, but by this means they receive a 

 greater quantity of light ; and it is well known how greatly 

 vegetation is stimulated by these agencies. Walls of a light tint 

 are advantageous in another way, for they not only reflect light 

 and heat on the particular trees trained against them, but also on 

 the others in their immediate neighbourhood. By abundantly 

 planting the finer "Winter Pears against walls with a warm exposure 

 and whitewashed surface, we may within half-a-dozen years gather 

 such crops of the really valuable Winter Pears as have never before 

 been grown in this country. 



Another improvement must of necessity accompany this, and 

 that is, the French method of wiring garden-walls. We cannot 

 use nails with concrete and earth walls, and even if we could the 

 deliverance from nails would be a great point gained ; the French 

 mode of employing a little raidisseur or tightener on each wire, 

 and using very slender galvanised wire, is perfect in its way. It 

 will be found to save much time and greatly improve the appear- 

 ance of garden-walls. We must also adopt the improved kind of 

 espalier elsewhere described. 



The upright mode of training wall and espalier trees, of which 

 some of the best examples in France have been photographed and 

 engraved for this book, must also commend itself to anyone in- 

 terested in fruit-culture. 



The U form, or double cordon, is best suited for a very high 

 wall or fence, and if the trees are planted three feet apart, and 

 the side laterals regularly pinched in, the wall becomes quickly 

 furnished, which is the great merit of the system ; another also 

 being the large variety of fruit that can be had from a given 

 space, and the ease with which a failing plant or bad variety can 

 be replaced. The first cost for so many plants is necessarily great 

 if the grower does not graft his own trees ; but quicker returns 

 soon make up the deficiency in this respect. The same kind of 

 tree may also be trained obliquely, many preferring this to the 

 vertical mode, on the supposition that the flow of sap is less rapid, 

 and that, consequently, the trees are more disposed to form fruit- 



