430 



THE IMPERIAL FRUIT AND 



inclies apart is considered mucli too close and very nnwise. 

 A white wall fourteen feet higli covered with Easter Beurre 

 Pears was very fine indeed. The trees were mostly on the 

 Quince stock, a few on the Pear, but all bore equally well. 

 They were all trained in the five-branched form usually 

 adopted here, and had almost covered the tall white wall. 

 The fruit-growing foreman insisted very strongly on the 

 necessity of having white walls for fruit trees, and stated 

 that dark ones injured both fruit and leaves, while white 

 ones benefited both. White walls, apparently well lime- 

 washed every year, are to be found in every good establish- 

 ment, whether for peach, grape, or other wall fruit 

 culture. The Easter Beurre may be seen here double-worked 

 on the Cure. On one wall the trees are established and in 

 good bearing; on another they had been budded last year 

 only. The Cure is first grafted on the Quince and allowed 

 to form five vertical branches before it is budded. The 

 Easter Beurre is found to do best when double-grafted, 

 though the trees directly on the Quince and Pear seemed to 

 do well. The naked parts of the stems of fruit trees in this 

 garden were in many cases protected from injury from a 

 strong sun by being neatly covered with straight straw, 

 tied with willow twigs. Neatly done, it seemed better 

 than the commoner plan of placing slates or boards before 

 them. Brackets to support straw mats in spring are placed 

 on every wall at a little more than a yard apart. 



There are a great many old and worn-out trees in the 

 garden which have a bad efiect on its appearance here and 

 there, but the gradual adoption of the new trellises will 

 much improve matters. The Pear makes as strong a growth 

 here as I have ever seen it make in Britain, though some 

 of our growers are continually saying that quite a different 

 and very much more fruitful kind of wood is formed in the 

 fine climate of France. There are a few specimens of 

 forming letters with trees to be seen here, as in many other 

 French gardens. 



When I last visited this garden M. Hardy had commenced 

 carrying out a system of protecting his espalier trees. The 

 plan is simply to strain lines of galvanized wire above the 



