368 



THE PEACH AS A CORDON. 



" There are two modes of growing this form. One^ which 

 was recommended by a professor of arboriculture^ and 

 frequently put in practice by many amateurs^ but which 

 I consider faulty, consists in planting the trees just as they 

 come from the nursery^ and training them at once in the 

 oblique form. The inconvenience arising from this method 

 consists in being obliged to place the tree close to the wall, 

 which crowds the roots too much, preventing them from 

 affording sufficient nourishment to the tree. Besides this, 

 on account of the inclination of the tree, part of the roots 

 are directed towards the surface of the earth or placed in 

 an unnatural position, thereby preventing their full develop- 

 ment. By-and-by, the trees that have been planted thus 

 are cut to half the length that they were when they came 

 from the nursery, having a number of weak, useless branches 

 on the lower part, a condition which, as every one knows, 

 is always unfavourable. The second method differs from the 

 first, inasmuch as the plant from the nursery is cut down 

 instead of being planted in an oblique direction. To obtain 

 the oblique form without planting the tree in a crooked 

 position, the stem is cut at eight inches from the graft, and 

 placed in the hole in such a position that the base of the stem 

 is four inches from the wall, with its extremity just touching 

 it. The roots are well spread over the hole and drawn as 

 much as possible towards the border in which the tree is 

 planted. Care is taken to leave a well-placed bud on the 

 side where the oblique branch is to be formed, and its de- 

 velopment must be encouraged by ruthlessly pinching off 

 all useless shoots. Under these conditions, the tree grows 

 as long during the first year as the one planted obliquely 

 and allowed to be of its full length from the first. This 

 method is also to be preferred, because the shoot thus ob- 

 tained the first year can be left intact and allowed to attain 

 a development equal to that of the tree planted according 

 to the first method. Besides this, the shoot is calculated 

 to grow faster in consequence of its bark being less har- 

 dened, and each year the terminal point may be allowed 

 to grow without cutting back. Sometimes the terminal bud 

 does not develope owing to its having been killed with the 



