TRAINING. 



43 



to the tree. After it has acquired the vigour 

 I wish for, I bring the branches to their 

 usual horizontal direction. If they have 

 been elevated a great deal, I only bring them 

 down the first season, half way ; and the re- 

 mainder the season following. When this 

 removal of branches from one direction to 

 another is required, I always have it done 

 very early in the autumn, as they will at 

 that season more readily comply with it, 

 than if deferred till near the winter; they 

 will also bear it equally as well in spring 

 when the sap is in motion ; but the buds are 

 then very brittle, and are in greater danger 

 of being rubbed off, which makes it decidedly 

 more advantageous to perform this process 

 in autumn. Although I find this method of 

 training peculiarly suited to the kinds of fruit 

 trees enumerated, I do not deem it necessary 

 to be practised upon the Peach, Nectarine, 

 or Apricot, with one exception, that is the 

 Moor Park Apricot; to which I have some- 

 times found it requisite to apply an horizontal 

 training. All the other kinds of Apricots if 

 planted in a suitable soil, will do the best 

 when trained half fan, and half horizontally. 

 In this case I let the branches rise to about 

 half their length, which applies to fan train- 

 ing, and the remaining part of the branch in 

 an horizontal direction; a few branches at 

 the top of the tree must be trained wholly 

 horizontal, so as to fill up every part of the 



