THE HAEDY FETJIT GAEDEN. 



21 



already described in the moulding of pyramids (see 

 Fig. 25). There is this difference, of course, that 

 ■whereas the pyramid 

 needs branches all round 

 its stem to furnish and 

 complete its form, the 

 ■wall or espalier Apple O' 



only needs t-wo sets of 

 branches as nearly op- 

 posite to each other as 

 possible (see Figs. 28 

 and 29). Though they 

 are dra^wn opposite in 

 ■these figures, they are 

 seldom found just so in 

 nature, unless indeed 

 huds are inserted on 

 purpose, nature as a rule 

 seldom showing such 

 complete regularity of 

 development. A great 

 ■deal, however, depends 

 on the leader, and that 



is amenable to gentle 



compulsion as to the 



number and position of 

 its breaks. It is, how- 

 ever, the business of the 



■trainer to get the frame- 



•work of the tree — ^that 



is, its leader and diver- 

 gent branches — into as 



regular and orderly a 



form as practicable, and 



hence these two models 



(Figs. 28 and 29) are 



placed before him. 

 At first sight they 



seem so much alike that 



one might very well 



have been spared. A 



glance up the centre of 



"the two trees ■will show, 



however, wherein they 



differ, and the merits of 



29 over 28. 

 In Fig. 28 we have 



■the commonest mode of 



horizontal training, and 



the main stems in both 



these illustrations are 



left hare, the more clearly to exhibit the difference 



in the bases of the side branches in the two modes 



of training. The side shoots, starting directly at 



light-anglea, are apt to run off so freely at first and 



aiterwaids as to neither produce fruit-spurs nor 



Fig. 30.— Zig-zag Cordon for a Wall. 



break their wood-buds at the bases. The close cut- 

 ting back Of the Old cultivators to the lines on the 

 right of Fig. 28 reme- 

 died this evil. But 

 modem growers remedy 

 it in a much simpler 

 manner. Bj' curving 

 the side shoots at start- 

 ing, as in Fig. 29, though 

 that is a mild example 

 of the practice, the side 

 shoots break into wood 

 or fruit buds back to 

 their base. If in any 

 case, however, the 

 branch bending at the 

 line of divergence is not 

 sufficient, the branches 

 are brought do^wn to 

 the level of the dotted 

 lines on the left side of 

 Fig. 29. The curve at 

 a is thus made much 

 sharper, and the sap 

 having to travel down- 

 ■wards and against na- 

 ture along its entire 

 course (see dotted line), 

 the buds at «, and be- 

 yond, are more tho- 

 roughly matured, and 

 sooner converted into 

 fruitful ones. 



T-wisting the 

 Stem to Force Side 

 Shoots. — To give 

 greater ■('ariety of form 

 to espalier or wall 

 Apples and Pears, the 

 system illustrated in 

 Fig. 30 may be adopted 

 most successfully. The 

 buds of trees break ■with 

 most force where the 

 sap finds the greatest 

 resistance to overcome. 

 Without resistance it 

 rushes np^wards, and 

 finds its outlet at the 

 highest point of the 

 tree. But the highest art of the cultivator is to 

 force sap and vital force to distribute itseU equaUy all 

 over the tree. And as the sap approaches the curves, 

 as in Fig 30, a « a, it wiE burst the buds, and produce 

 shoots in the direction and at the spots indicated by 



Fig. 31.— Orchard Standard Tree. 



