50 THE MINIATUEE PRUIT GARDEN 



possible ; but as tlie graft is often too stiff to bend 

 readOy, the tree may be planted slopingly. 



Single diagonal apricot trees require a south or 

 south-west aspect, and should be planted eighteen to 

 twenty inches apart, and every shoot pinched in during 

 the summer, as directed for cordon pear trees (p. 48), 

 and the same directions as to reducing and thinning 

 out the fruit spurs in winter are necessary. The 

 leading shoot need not, as a general rule, be shortened 

 till it reaches the top of the wall, as the shoot of an 

 apricot tree is generally so robust and full of buds. A 

 single diagonal apricot tree, sloped to an angle of 45° 

 or so, will, when it reaches the top of a wall ten feet 

 in height, be a cordon fifteen feet in length. A wall 

 twenty feet long will thus give space enough for ten 

 or twelve trees, which in the course of two or three 

 years will bear large quantities of fruit. One most 

 important advantage, I repeat, is held out by this mode 

 of culture : no unseemly gaps need be seen, owing to 

 the death of branches, as in the present mode; for 

 whenever a tree dies — a very uncommon event — it may 

 be at once replaced. The expense of ten trees instead 

 of one maybe urged by the planter, costing 15s. instead 

 of 7s. 6d. for one well-trained tree. I have only to 

 remark that when the system is fully carried out the 

 demand will be met by a much cheaper supply, and it 

 must be recollected that it gives a tenfold advantage 

 over the old method of training. 



Above all, it does away with the tiresome annual 



