THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



21 



already described in the moulding of pyramids (see 

 Fig. 25). There is this difference, of course, that 

 whereas the pyramid 

 needs branches all round 

 its stem to furnish and 

 complete its form, the 

 wall or espalier Apple 

 only needs two sets of 

 branches as nearly op- 

 posite to each other as 

 possible (see Figs. 28 

 and 29). Though they 

 are drawn opposite in 

 these figures, they are 

 seldom found just so in 

 nature, unless indeed 

 buds are inserted on 

 purpose, nature as a rule 

 seldom showing such 

 complete regularity of 

 development. A gi-eat 

 deal, however, depends 

 on the leader, and that 

 is amenable to gentle 

 compulsion as to the 

 number and position of 

 its breaks. It is, how- 

 ever, the business of the 

 trainer to get the frame- 

 work of the tree — that 

 is, its leader and diver- 

 gent branches — into as 

 regular and orderly a 

 form as practicable, and 

 hence these two models 

 (Figs. 28 and 29) are 

 placed before him. 



At first sight they 

 seem so much alike that 

 one might very well 

 have been spared. A 

 glance up the centre of 

 the two trees will show, 

 however, wherein they 

 difi ar, and the merits of 

 29 over 28. 



In Fig. 28 we have 

 the commonest mode of 

 horizontal training, and 

 the main stems in both 

 these illustrations are 



left bare, the more clearly to exhibit the difference 

 in the bases of the side branches in the two modes 

 of training. The side shoots, starting directly at 

 right-angles, are apt to run off so freely at first and 

 afterwards as to neither produce fniit-spnrs nor 



Fig. 30.— Zig-zag Cordon for a Wall, 



Fig. 31.— Orchard Standard Tree 



break their wood-buds at the bases. The close cut- 

 ting back of the old cultivators to the lines on the 

 right of Fig. 28 reme- 

 died this evil. But 

 modern growers remedy 

 it in a much simpler 

 manner. By curving 

 the side shoots at start- 

 ing, as in Fig. 29, though 

 that is a mild example 

 of the practice, the side 

 shoots break into wood 

 or fruit buds back to 

 their base. If in any 

 case, however, the 

 branch bending at the 

 line of divergence is not 

 sufificient, the branches 

 are brought do"^Ti to 

 the level of the dotted 

 lines on the left side of 

 Fig. 29. The curve at 

 a is thus made much 

 sharper, and the sap 

 having to travel down- 

 wards and against na- 

 ture along its entire 

 course (see dotted line), 

 the buds at a, and be- 

 yond, are more tho- 

 roughly matured, and 

 sooner converted into 

 fruitful ones. 



Twisting the 

 Stem to Force Side 

 Shoots. — To give 

 greater variety of form 

 to espalier or wall 

 Apples and Pears, the 

 system illustrated in 

 Fig. 30 may be adopted 

 most successfully. The 

 buds of trees break with 

 most force where the- 

 sap finds the greatest 

 resistance to overcome- 

 Without resistance it 

 rushes upwards, and-i 

 finds its outlet at the- 

 highest point of the* 

 tree. But the highest art of the cultivator is- to 

 force sap and vital force to distiibute itself equally all 

 over the tree. And as the sap approaches the curves, 

 as in Fig 30, aaa,\i will burst the buds, and produce- 

 shoots in the direction and at the spots indicated by 



