TRAINING. 



357 



ance, as we witnessed some years ago at a country seat, where the trellis of 

 which fig. 271 is a section was covered with laburnum ; the low table trellis 

 a, a, being clothed with ivy. The contrast be- 

 tween the dark green ivy and the yellow blos- 

 soms would have been effective, had the latter 

 enjoyed the benefit of light. 



790. Evergreeu shrubs require very little 

 training, excepting in the case of fastigiate- 

 growing species in situations exposed to high 

 winds, or shrubs that are to be shorn into arti- 

 ficial shapes. The evergreen cypress, and the 

 ^. „ ... ^ ' upright variety of arbor vitse, are apt to have 



Fig. 271. Section of a laburnum tr el- / °, , T i i i i . -i, . i 



Us over a walk, with table trellises, the sidc-shoots displaced by high winds or heavy 

 a, a, for ivy. snows, for which reason these branches are fre- 



quently tied loosely to, or rather connected by tarred twine with, the main stem. 

 When evergreen shrubs are to be shorn into common shapes, such as cones, 

 pyramids, piers, pilasters, &c., little or no training is required ; but when they 

 are to be grown into more artificial shapes, such as those of men or animals, 

 the figure required is constructed of wire or trellis work, and being placed 

 over the plant, the shoots are confined within it ; and if the plants are healthy, 

 and in a good soil and situation, the figure is speedily formed. The best 

 shrubs for this kind of ornament are those which have narrow leaves, such 

 as the yew, the juniper, the arbor vitse, and the spruce fir. One of the 

 figures, the most readily formed by any of these plants, is a hollow vase, 

 which only requires a series of hoops tied to ribs, and the latter attached to 

 a stake placed close by the main stem of the plant. In selecting plants for 

 being trained into figures of men and women, it is usual to use variegated 

 varieties to represent the female forms. 



791. Training fruit-trees. — By far the most important application of 

 training is to fruit-trees, whether for the purpose of rendering them more 

 prolific, improving the quality of the fruit, growing fruit in the open air 

 which could not otherwise be grown, except under glass, or confining the 

 trees within a limited space. Fruit-trees are trained either as protuberant 

 bushes or trees in the open garden, or spread out on flat surfaces against 

 walls or espaliers. In either case the operation is founded on the principle 

 already mentioned — that of suppressing the direct channel of the sap, by 

 which it is more equally distributed over the tree, the tendency to produce 

 over-vigorous shoots from the highest part is diminished, and the produc- 

 tion of flowers from every part increased. We find that trees in a state of 

 nature always produce their first flowers from lateral branches, to which the 

 sap flows less abundantly than to those which are vertical ; and the object 

 of training may be said to be, to give all the parts of a tree the character 

 of lateral branches. With a view to this, certain rules have been derived 

 from the principle of the suppression of the sap, which it may be useful to 

 notice as of general application to every mode of training : — 



1. Branches left loose, and capable of being put in motion by the wind, 

 grow more vigorously than those which are attached ; and hence the rule 

 to nail or tie in the stronger shoots first, and to leave the weaker shoots to 

 acquire more vigour. Hence also the advantage of training with fixed 

 branches against walls, as compared with training with loose branches in 

 tlie oj en garden, when greater fruitfulness is the object. 



