THE CORDON SYSTEM OF FRUIT GROWING. 347 



half, they should be pinclied down to favour the growth of 

 the graft which will have grown as large as the other buds. 

 The bud which has not been pinched will naturally soon 

 surpass in size those which have been. From this time 

 it will attain sufficient strength to absorb the sap^ and 

 it will be necessary to destroy all useless shoots. This little 

 pruning operation requires considerable caution_, and is per- 

 formed by the aid of the knife. Care should be taken not 

 to confound the graft with the other shoots on the plant. 

 The stem of the stock above the bud being thus deprived of 

 its shoots, serves as a stake to which to tie the young growing 

 scion. Tied thus loosely, it is preserved from accident during 

 its growth. This natural stake having served its purpose is 

 cut away at the end of the year, and the graft having at- 

 tained its proper size is ready for sale as the scion or graft 

 of one year, and may be trained into any form the grower 

 may think desirable. 



The Apple thus grafted on the Paradise is, as is well 

 known, a great success throughout all parts of France and 

 the adjoining countries. In proportion to the space it 

 occupies, it furnishes a great quantity of the finest fruit. 

 It is not rare to count seventy or eighty apples upon a 

 little tree whose arms together are not more than seven feet 

 long. This form is due to M. J. L. Jamin, of Bourg-la- 

 Reine. This nurseryman used to sell dwarf fruit trees of all 

 kinds in pots in the Paris market, and amongst them the 

 now well known cordon. The form was much appreciated 

 and promptly spread abroad, and after having had some 

 success at a horticultural exhibition held at the Louvre, it 

 was definitely adopted in kitchen and fruit gardens under 

 the name of the cordon horizontale. 



"To establish the growth of cordons in the nursery a 

 line of galvanized iron wire is stretched along the ground 

 at fourteen inches from the surface, and firmly fixed at 

 each end. The young trees are then cut down nearly to 

 the level of the wire, and when they start in spring two 

 opposite buds are chosen for the formation of the two arms, 

 and allowed to grow during the summer, the buds on the 

 stem below these being pinched within an inch or so of 



