HOW AEE WE TO IMPROVE? 



333 



gained if we could have dwarf productive trees without 

 having to go to expense for fixing or training them — if we 

 could make them self-supporting^ in fact. 



It is quite possible to train espaliers of the choicest 

 varieties of pears so that they shall be perfectly self- 

 supporting, as shown by the 

 figure, or in some like way. Fia. 139. 



Established trees that I saw 

 crosssed in this way were not 

 allowed to get into a rough 

 hedge-like condition, but, on 

 the contrary, trained as neatly 

 and perfectly as ever trees 

 were on trellis or wall. No 

 flaying of the branches re- Young line of self-supporting 

 suited from their being inter- 

 laced. A shoot was taken along the top so as to act as a 

 finish and tend to hold all tighter, and the whole looked 

 much firmer and neater than the ill-supported and ill-trained 

 espaliers that one too often sees at home. Other examples 

 of self-supporting espaliers are figured elsewhere in this 

 book. 



A mere line of trees, however, trained along a railway, 

 will not eflPect the improvement we require. Why not plant 

 pyramid or bush trees in such positions ? Why not the Fig 

 in the southern counties ? By covering nearly all the sur- 

 face of those sunny banks — in many cases of excellent soil — 

 there would be enough work to do to make it necessary 

 and profitable to have men in charge of comparatively short 

 lengths of the line, and these men wo aid be able to better 

 protect the fruit. On the French railway in question the 

 fence of fruit trees is carried along, no matter what the soil 

 or situation. A more rational system would be to adopt the 

 kind of tree to the soil, and simply take the more desirable 

 spots at first. 



