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or trunk, which conveys the nutritive juices from the 

 roots to the upper extremities. This tendency shews 

 itself even on walls, and hence apple and pear-trees 

 have been generally trained with central trunks. It 

 is also observable in the peach-tree, although in a less 

 degree ; and we consequently find Forsyth, and a few 

 of his followers, training it with the upright stem, 

 from which all the subordinate branches diverge at 

 right angles. This the French condemn, alleging 

 that the sap is wholly carried up to the superior 

 members. They also proscribe the fan-training with 

 a central limb (our common form), on the score of 

 its being destructive of equilibrium. They therefore 

 divide the tree into two equal portions, which they 

 spread out diagonally, leaving the centre completely 

 open. It does not seem very evident that this ar- 

 rangement is indispensable to maintain the equili- 

 brium ; but it certainly facilitates it greatly ; and, 

 besides, it enables the cultivator to accommodate the 

 tree to low walls, and, by preventing confusion and 

 irregularity, contributes much to ease and freedom in 

 the operations of pruning and training. 



1 . The form of training which is most generally 

 adopted in France, is that of Montreuil. It appears 

 to have been first invented about the beginning of 

 last century ; but it was scarcely known before 1755, 

 when it was brought into notice by the Abbe Roger 

 Schabol, the most eminent French horticulturist of 



