THE APPLE. 



65 



converting what would otherwise prove worse 

 than useless shoots into fruit-spurs, should there- 

 fore be employed. 



Fig. 861.— Three-year-old Apple with branches tied to ring to form a 

 bowl-shaped or open bush. 



Cordons. — This system of training is adapted 

 both for large and small gardens. The usual 

 forms are the simple lateral (fig. 862) and the 



*+ ^Lj^^t At 



Fig. 862.- Lateral Cordon. 



bi-lateral (fig. 863). The lateral consists of a 

 single shoot bent in a horizontal position, and 

 trained along a single wire fixed about a foot 



Fig. 863.— Bi-lateral Cordon. 



from the surface of the ground. This wire is 

 fixed at one end to a stout iron support, which 

 is best kept in position by being soldered into 

 a solid block of stone. This is rather expensive 

 at first, but when its durability is taken into 

 consideration, it is as cheap and far more satis- 

 factory than posts made of oak or other wood, 

 which in some soils soon decay. One of these 

 permanent iron supports may be placed at 

 each end of a very long border, and to keep 

 the wire steady, iron supports should be placed 

 at every 10 or 12 feet; these should have a 

 vol. ii. 



hole drilled near the top, and the wire be run 

 through these holes before it is permanently 

 fixed. 



For tightening the wires the useful little 

 appliance termed the raidisseur, which has been 

 in use for many years in French gardens, and is 

 now manufactured in England at a cheap rate, 

 is the best, as however tightly the wire may be 

 strained at first, in the course of a year or two 

 it will hang loosely, then by simply turning the 

 key of the raidisseur it can be made firm at 

 once. This little implement may be fixed on 

 any part of the wire between the two end- 

 posts. 



For training as cordons, plants one year from 

 the graft may be selected, or if required to 

 come into immediate bearing, trained trees can 

 be obtained. Beginning, then, with maiden 

 plants, we plant one in a sloping position, at 

 every 6 feet along the wire, and all that is 

 required is to bend down the shoot and fasten 

 it to the wire; being placed in such a position, 

 buds will start growing regularly along its 

 whole length, and the wire thus be furnished 

 in two or three years. Sometimes each tree is 

 inarched on the one next it, as represented in 

 fig. 862, so that the whole of the branches form 

 a continuous line. This is frequently practised 

 on the Continent. Persistent summer pinching 

 will soon throw the trees into bearing if the 

 same stocks are used as are recommended for 

 bushes. Double or bi-lateral cordons are formed 

 by heading down the young trees to within ten 

 inches of the ground, and two shoots of equal 

 strength are trained in opposite directions along 

 the wire. The general management is the same 

 as recommended for lateral cordons. 



In cold and unfavourable districts the finer 

 sorts of Apples may be grown as upright cor- 

 dons, and trained to walls. The leading shoot 

 requires to be stopped twice during the growing 

 season, in order that the spurs may form regu- 

 larly. Trees of this description are some- 

 times planted between the usual fan-trained 

 wall-trees, marking the division between them, 

 and from such trees very fine fruit may be 

 obtained. 



The best position for horizontal cordons is by 

 the side of walks in the kitchen-garden. Xo 

 doubt many other positions would suggest 

 themselves to the intelligent cultivator, such 

 as the front of a warm border for choice 

 varieties. By this method of culture fruit of 

 the highest quality is obtained, and at the same 



time an 

 garden. 



interesting feature is added to the 



46 



