332 FRUIT CULTURE : 



true kind. The smaller fruits are so well known and abun- 

 dantly grown that it is needless to speak of them. 



Of the various waste spaces where good fruit might be 

 grown the most conspicuous are the railway embankments. 

 Here we have a space quite unused, and on which for hun- 

 dreds of miles fruit trees may be planted, that will after a 

 few years yield profit, and continue to do so for a long time 

 with but little attention. I am not aware that any attempt has 

 been made to cultivate fruit trees on these places in England ; 

 but learning that one had been instituted in France, I went 

 to see the experiment which has been made for a distance 

 of eight leagues or so along the line from Gretz to Colom- 

 miers — Chemin de Fer de l'Est. The French see the great 

 advantage of utilizing spots at present worthless in this way, 

 and are beginning to work at it; but to all intents and 

 purposes they are nearly as backward as ourselves. It is 

 true you now and then hear of somebody becoming a rentier 

 by planting a barren mountain side with Cherries, but on 

 the whole they have nearly as much to do as we have with 

 regard to fruit culture in waste and profitless places. How- 

 ever, they have commenced, and it is most likely the first trial 

 will be a profitable one, though by no means so inexpensive 

 as like ones might be made. 



A cheap fence of galvanized wire runs on each side of the 

 line, and on this Pear trees are trained so that their branches 

 cross each other ; and they are, though only in their fourth 

 year, at the top of the fence. In some parts they are trained 

 in like manner on the slender but very cheap and slight 

 kind of wooden fence, so common in France. By training 

 them in a way to cross and support each other, before the 

 time the fence decays the trees are perfectly self-supporting, 

 and form a very neat fence themselves. This is a plan well 

 worth adopting in many gardens where neat dividing lines 

 are desired. Judging from appearances, these trees will bear 

 abundantly for many years to come. But this, although 

 something in the right direction, does not occupy more than 

 a mere thread of the space on each side of the line, and I cannot 

 but think that much more might be done on the remaining 

 surface by planting small trees. It would be a great point 



