88 THE MINIATUEE FEUIT GAEDEN 



ported nine inclies from the ground, at intervals of six 

 feet, by iron pins eighteen inches long, the size of a 

 small curtain rod, or smaller, flattened at top, and 

 pierced with a hole to allow the wire to pass through ; 

 these should he stuck into the ground, so as to stand on 

 a level with the straining posts. The trees should be 

 planted six feet apart, and when the top of one tree 

 reaches to another the young shoot may be grafted on 

 to the base of the next, so as to form a continuous 

 cordon. This is best done by merely taking off a slip 

 of bark, two inches long, from the under part of the 

 young shoot, and a corresponding piece of bark from 

 the upper part of the stem of the tree to which it is to 

 be united, so that they fit tolerably well. They should 

 then be firmly bound with bast, and a bunch of moss 

 • — a handful — as firmly bound over the union; the 

 binding as well as the moss may remain on till the 

 autumn. The trees do not grow so rapidly as common 

 grafts, so that the ligatures will not cut into the bark. 



The terminals of every side shoot of these cordons 

 should be pinched when five leaves have been made. It 

 will of course occur to the reader that the spurs would 

 soon make the tree a thick and clumsy cordon ; to pre- 

 vent this, every shoot should be reduced in winter 

 to three eyes. The fruit, from being near the earth, 

 and thus profiting largely by radiation, will be very 

 fine. 



As these low cordons are very apt to be injured in 

 winter by severe frost, if snow is suffered to' lie under 



