BUDDING, GEAPTINa, ETC. 



143 



offsets tlie temporary advantage of forming the head a year 

 • sooner. This holds good in all cases. The mode of form- 

 ing the heads of dwarf bushes is similar to that described 

 for standards. 



Espalier Trees. — ^These have a few advantages peculiar 

 to themselves, which will be explained under the head of 

 " the selection of trees for the garden." 



To form espaliers, yearling trees are usually chosen, 

 planted in the place where they are to remain and cut 

 back to within four or five buds of the stocks, as at 

 fig. 88 ; these buds break and produce shoots from which 

 the strongest are chosen to form the arms, and the others 

 are rubbed off. 



The peach grows so vigorously that, if the growing 

 bud be checked when a foot high, it wdll produce side 

 shoots, from which two may be selected from the main 

 branches of the espalier, and thus a year will be saved. 

 Another way is to insert two buds, one on each side of 

 the stock. Yery nice espalier trees may be grown in 

 the form of a pyramid with a main stem and lateral 

 branches, the lowest being the longest. Trees • for this 

 form require the same management as pyramids, except 

 that the branches should be placed opposite on two sides. 

 This brings us to the end of the third year, and the trees 

 are now two years old from the bud. At this age We 

 take it for granted that all trees on dwarf stocks for jpyror 

 mids^ dwarfs., and espaliers., and all standards even, of 

 the peach, apricot, and nectarine, and in most cases the 

 cherry and plum, will be finally planted out. Standard 

 pears and apples are almost the oiily trees that require to 

 be left longer in the nursery, and their management 

 during the third and fourth years of their growth, if 

 allowed to remain so long, will be similar to that de- 

 scribed for the second. In the spring, February or 

 March, the leading shoot is cut back in order to increase 



