18 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



into this form so naturally as the Pear, and there is 



on© form of it, the semi-weeping conical, that very 



few apples are sufficiently slender, or semi-pendent, 



to he moulded into. Still, the Apple may readily be 



grown into a pyramid, albeit 



it has a tendency to become 



broad at base and upwards in 



proportion to its height. So 



much is this the case, that most 



pyramidal Apples are really of 



a sort of hybrid fonn between 



a bush and a cone. Nor are 



these at all objectionable, as 



they suit the idiosyncrasy of 



Apple habit, and continue 



healthy and fertile for years. 



It may seem to the amateur 

 a great leap, from the maiden 

 tree one year from the graft, to 

 the finished pyramidal Apple ; 

 but it is hoped that our 

 text and illustrations will 

 prevent its being a leap in the 

 dark. Starting with Eigs. 10 

 and 13 as a badis, it is obvious that if the 

 side shoots are stopped in year by year, 

 the leader is forced to advance very 

 slowly; and care is taken by means of 

 the summer pinching of the top (see Fig. 

 10) to insure a sufficient supply of 

 semi -horizontal shoots on the annual 

 vertical one ; all else is merely a matter 

 of shortening back and occasional tying 

 into exact position, in order to produce a 

 perfect pyramid or cone. To this end 

 vertical growths should proceed some- 

 what slowly — at, say, a mean rate of a foot 

 a year. But a yard may be made, pro- 

 vided that by twice stopping during the 

 Summer a sufficiency of side shoots are 

 formed at regular distances to furnish 

 th6 side of the pyramid with regularity. 

 Failing this, then the vertical shoot must 

 be cut back so severaly at the winter 

 pruning as to force most of its buds to 

 break right back to its base. Otherwise, 

 not only will gaps be made in the tree, 

 but its chief strength is likely to get into 

 its head instead of being diffused with 

 regularity through its base and sides. 

 Provide for the base and sides, and the crown of the 

 tree wiU take care of itself, is a wise saw in training 

 that should never be departed from. Other mistakes 

 may be rectified by care and skill, but once start a 

 jS^ramid with a weak basis or irregular sides, and 

 ike form of the tree is marred for life. 



rig. 21.— Bush Apple-tree, 



Fig. 25, with the lines across the central stem, 



shows the points of stoppages, and the results in 



furnishing it with a good supply of well-placed side 



branches, which after three or four years results in 



such a finished pyramid as 



Fig. 26. 



This is rather shorter and 

 wider than many pyramidal 

 trees, a form, however, which 

 the Apple and the Cherry are 

 far more prone to grow into 

 than the Pear or even the 

 Plum. 



There are silso many other 

 forms of the pyramidal type, 

 such as the Chandelier Pyra- 

 mid of the French, which con- 

 sists of a series of three, five, 

 or even more side branches, 

 being forced out and diverging 

 from the main stem almost 

 like the spokes of a wheel, at 

 regular intervals of two feet 

 or more from each other on the 

 main stem. When these cannot be pro- 

 duced near enough to each other for 

 symmetrical effect, then wood-buds are 

 inserted all round the stem to furnish the 

 necessary number of shoots on the same 

 plane. When the lower series of branches 

 are grown out considerably wider than 

 either of those above them, and the latter 

 become narrower, as they ascend, to a 

 mere point or small circle on the crown 

 of the tree, the effect is highly artistic. 

 The interstices between the flowering 

 and fruiting branches not only display 

 these to the best effect, but are also most 

 useful for the free admission of light and 

 air to all parts of the tree. It, how- 

 ever, needs a good deal of skill to form 

 and keep in good shape one of those so- 

 called Chandelier conical trees, which 

 are oftener seen in France than in 

 England. 



However, in small gardens where only 

 a very few trees can be grown, and the 

 fruit-trees may be almost the only orna- 

 ments, skilful training into artistic forms 

 is often an unfailing source of pleasure, 

 and fortunately it need not lessen the fertility of the 

 trees. 



In small gardens the interest and pleasure may 

 be greatly augmented if each ray of branches, or 

 each branch forming part of the ray, be formed of 

 a separate variety With a little Skilful manipu- 



25. — Pyramidal 

 Pruuing. 



