32 



THE ORCHARD A^D FRIJIT GABDEJs'. 



habit depends on the stock used. Dwarf standards are 

 kept in form by judicious pruning, and can easily be 

 kept so open in the centre that the sun and air haye 

 full influence oyer the tree and its fruit. 



QuenouiUe training, or training with one centre stem in 

 such a manner that the whole tree has the shape of a 

 spindle, small at the stem (of course), bulging out in the 

 middle, and coming again to a point at the top, is good 

 for dwarf trees, and has been yery fashionable with 

 some Belgian and English pear-growers. The young 

 tree from the first is trained to one central stem, which 

 is shortened back to fifteen inches high for its winter 

 pruning; this will make it throw out laterally. 



The side-shoots are trained horizontally, and the shoot 

 produced from the highest bud is made to grow as 

 straight upright as possible, during the summer, and 

 then cut back so far as to make it shoot fifteen inches 

 above the first round of shoots. The same process is 

 continued until the tree is as high as it is wished to be. 

 To make the side-shoots take the horizontal growth 

 required for qiienoidlle training, fix little stakes round 

 the tree, tie the lowest range of shoots to them in a 

 horizontal direction, and then train each succeeding 

 range to the one below, to giye all the same horizontal 

 growth. The shoots thus arched downwards will soon 

 bear, and they must be pruned to produce fruit-spurs 

 like other trees ; but care must be taken in the pruning 

 not to cut the shoots so short as to induce them to 

 make a too crowded growth. Trees trained a Ja 

 quenoiiille require more constant care and watching 

 than usually trained dwarf trees, or they lose the 

 peculiar form and become too bushy. The pear must 

 be on the quince stock. 



Balloon training is curious, and peculiar. A standard 

 of slender growth is chosen, and all the branches are 

 trained OA^er downwards towards the ground. 



Pyramidal training is more popular than quenouille 

 training ; and it has the advantages of beauty of growth, 

 of keeping the trees within a manageable size, easy 

 of culture, and safe from storms, and of leaving the 



