320 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



espaliers ; cherries from twelve to fifteen ; pears from twenty 

 to thirty ; and plums from fifteen to twenty ; planting the spaces 

 between each with currants, gooseberries, or raspberries, as a 

 temporary crop to be cut away as the trees extend their 

 branches. The same should be done between the standards, 

 if dwarf standards. In the rows should be planted, between 

 each tree intended permanently to remain, such sorts of fi'uits 

 as will come into bearing sooner than some of the more choice 

 kinds ; such apples as the white Hawthorndean, white cod- 

 lin ; and such pears as the Crawford or Lammas ; May-duke 

 cherries, Orleans plums, and such like, and if required, goose- 

 berries and currants, or raspberries. 



In planting espaliers in an orchard, choice should be made 

 of that part which is the most sheltered from cutting winds, 

 and most exposed to the rays of the sun, as espaliers are sub- 

 stitutes for walls, and which they so far resemble, that trees are 

 regularly trained upon them, and thereby fully exposed to the 

 light and heat of the sun, consequently are less liable to be 

 injured by winds than standards. The fruits ripened upon espa- 

 liers arc supposed to be intermediate in quality, between those 

 ripened upon walls and standards ; but to obtain this effect, 

 they should always run from east to west, and may be ex- 

 tended the whole length of the orchard or fruit-garden, or run 

 in lines parallel to each other at a distance of fifteen feet, so 

 that the shadow of the one may not fall on the surface of 

 another. Espalier-rails are either constructed of wood or iron, 

 and are of different forms. Those of wood are in most general 

 use, and so far as we know, are better than iron ones. The 

 simplest kind, and which is much used in Scotland, is merely 

 a straight row of stakes, driven into the ground at nine or 

 twelve inches asunder, and from four to five feet in height, and 

 joined and kept in a straight line at top by a rail of wood, or 

 thin plate of iron, through which a nail is driven into the centre 

 of each stake. If the wood used be larch, fi'om trees which are 

 cut out of the plantations in the process of thinning, the bark 

 scraped off, and the ends, being charred, sunk in the ground, 

 they will last for six or eight years, and often longer, and are 

 perhaps the best so-rt of espalier-rail used, as the expense is 

 trifling, and every purpose attained that can possibly be by 



