THE CORDON SYSTEM OF FRUIT GROWING. 341 



should always be allowed to grow somewhat erect, so that the 

 sap will flow equably through the plant, drawn on by the 

 rising shoot at its end. To allow gross shoots to rise at any 

 other parts of the tree is to spoil all prospect of success. 

 If the tree does not break regularly into buds, it must 

 be forced to improve by making incisions before dormant 

 eyes. 



A chief point is not to pinch too closely or too soon. 

 The first stopping of the year is the most important one, 

 and the first shoots should not be pinched in too soon; 

 but when the wood at their base is a little firm, so that the 



Fig. 147. 



Edging of Simple Cordons three years old in French fruit garden'. 



lower eyes at the bases of the leaves may not break soon after 

 the operation. Stop the shoot at five or six leaves, as the 

 object is not to have a mere stick for the cordon, but a dense 

 bushy array of fruit spurs quite a foot or more in diameter, 

 when the leaves are on in summer. All the after pinching 

 of the year may be shorter, and as the object is to regularly 

 furnish the line, the observant trainer will vary his tactics 

 to secure that end — in one place he will have to repress 

 vigour, in another encourage it. About three general 

 stoppings during the summer will suffice, but at all times 

 when a strong soft " water shoot" shows itself well above 

 the mass of fruitful ones, it should be pinched in, though 



