HABDY FBUIT OABBEN 



1037 



When the bush-form is elevated on a 

 tall stem, it is called a standard, and when 

 on a shorter stem a half standard. Apples, 



FIG. 145. — STANDARD TREE. 



Pears, Plums, and Cherries are often 

 grown as standards or half standards, and 

 in these forms are suitable for orchards 

 and market gardens, where grass, bush, or 

 other crops can be grown beneath them 

 or between the rows. 



The disadvantages of standard trees 

 chiefly consist in the difficulty experienced 

 in cleansing and pruning them and in 

 gathering the fruit. Ladders have to be 

 used for the purpose, and unless carefully 

 handled the branches are apt to be broken 

 dovim and the tree otherwise spoiled in 

 appearance. The diagram at fig. 145 

 shows what a standard tree is like. 



5. BspaUers. — Fruit trees grown in 

 the open ground with the branches trained 

 horizontally or vertically, or both, are 

 called Espaliers. The branches may be 

 trained to trellises made from horizontal 

 and upright pieces of lattice wood, or to 

 wires strained tightly between two stout 

 poles or stakes. "Where there is a long 

 row, wires are better and neater than 

 trellises. Pears are often grown in this 

 way, and sometimes Apples. Espaliers 

 are formed in the first place from a young 

 tree with a single upright stem cut down 

 to about a foot from the surface of the 

 soil. Three buds are retained, one on each 

 side to grow horizontally, and one to form 

 a vertical leader, from which four or more 

 horizontal branches may afterwards be 



developed on each side, according to the 

 distance apart required. As a rule only 

 one pair of horizontal branches are 

 allowed to develop each year, the vertical 

 stem being cut back to the distance re- 



PIG. 146. — ESPALIER-TRAINED TREE. 



quired between the branches and three buds 

 trained as in the first place. For growing 

 parallel with the walks in the fruit garden 

 espaliers are very ornamental. Begular 

 pruning is required to keep them in order. 

 On walls trees may be trained espaUer 

 fashion as well as in the open. Fig. 146 

 shows an espalier in the open air trained 

 to upright stakes, the horizontal branches 

 being kept in position by means of Bamboo 

 canes to which they are tied. 



Sometimes only the first pair of hori- 

 zontal branches are allowed to develop, 

 and from each of these vertical shoots 

 at regular intervals apart are afterwards 

 trained, and pruned in the same way as 

 the horizontal ones. 



6. Fan-tramvng. — This method con- 

 sists in making the branches radiate regu- 

 larly from the top of a very short stem, 

 like the outstretched fingers of the hand. 

 Trees which have been grafted one year 

 and have made a single shoot are out 

 down almost to the point of union so as 

 to stimulate the production of several 

 shoots. Difficulty is sometimes found in 

 obtaining a sufficient number, and the 

 trees are cut back the following year with 

 the same object in view. Each branch is 

 trained as required, and the weak ones 

 are strengthened at the expense of the 

 strong, by intelligent pinching and 

 pruning. Fig. 147 shows a fan-trained 

 tree taken from an actual specimen. The 



