352 THE CORDON SYSTEM OF FRUIT GROWING. 



trinities of studying fruit culture in the country round 

 Geneva. 



" M. Vaucher, the President of our Horticultural Society, began fruit growing 

 at Chatellaine, a mile from Geneva, three years ago. Knowing that he had made 

 large plantations of the horizontal cordons, I paid him a visit early in July with 

 a view of ascertaining their condition. The plantation is not more than three 

 years old, the garden having been a grass field three years ago. In entering the 

 garden the first things that catch the eye are the very neat lines of these little 

 trees running around the borders, and at about one foot from the margin of the 

 gravel walk. The space between the cordons and gravel is planted with the 

 finer kinds of Strawberries. The borders margining each square are cut off 

 from the body of the square by alleys, and these are also edged by cordons in 

 the same way. In most cases two lines of cordons are employed, one above the 

 other, — the fruit of the lower line sometimes coming within three and four inches 

 of the ground. The effect of the whole is neat, and such as would make a 

 tasteful gardener use them for edgings, even if the result they yield be ever so 

 problematical. But as regards the Apple, with ordinary care there is nothing 

 problematical about it, for the most dense crops already adorn these beautiful 

 little trees. Here are my notes and measurements of a few of them : — Calville 

 d'Hiver, eighteen inches from the ground, seven feet six inches long, thirty-seven 

 fine promising fruit ; the same kind, seven feet long, seven inches from the ground, 

 twenty-four fine fruit; Pepin d'Angleterre, six feet long, the fruit fifty-seven in 

 number, hanging at an average of fifteen inches from the ground ; Reinette 

 d'Espagne, three feet six inches long, twenty-fonr fruit ; the Lady Apple, six 

 feet long, 110 fruit. These were some of the best examples I saw ; and I need 

 not remind your readers that the fruit, instead of being too thin, is much too 

 thick. I may safely say that if properly thinned as fine fruit as ever grew will 

 be gathered from these young cordons — so neat to look at, and at the same time 

 such a luxury and profit. I particularly observed that the fruits on the lower 

 line of wire, at an average of about six inches from the ground, were quite as 

 good and fertile as those on the upper wire, at an average height of about 

 eighteen inches — although, perhaps, at some disadvantage from being exactly 

 under the higher line. To the above I may add, that there are many gardens 

 about Geneva in which these cordons ou the Paradise are a perfect success that 

 they give little trouble to the gardeners, who are always fond of them, be the 

 gardens or the ' help ' large or small."— J. A. Watson, Chateau Lammermoor, 

 Geneva, Switzerland, in a letter to the Gardener's Chronicle. 



It is not merely in the way it is at present practised in 

 France or elsewhere that the cordon system is interesting and 

 instructive to all taking an interest in the culture of hardy 

 fruits. To me it seems to offer a means of training trees so 

 that we may readily give them that protection in spring, 

 the want of which is in nine cases out of ten the cause of 

 all our failures in fruit crops. Hitherto the best course to 

 pursue with the borders along our fruit walls has always 

 been a disputed point : some contending that they ought 

 not to be cropped at all; others that salads and small 

 vegetables might be grown upon them. 



Let us crop the borders with trees trained on the hori- 

 zontal cordon principle as suggested in the accompanying 



