76 



THE MINIATURE ERUIT GARDEN 



feet, by iron pins eighteen inches long, the size of a 

 small curtain-rod, or smaller, flattened at the top and 

 pierced with a hole, to allow the wire to pass through ; 

 these should be stuck into the ground, so as to stand 

 on a level with the straining-posts. The trees should 

 be planted six feet apart, and when the top of one tree 

 reaches to another the young shoot may be grafted on to 

 the base of the next, so as to form a continuous cordon. 

 This is best done by merely taking off a slip of bark, 

 two inches long, from the under part of the young shoot, 

 and a corresponding piece of bark from the upper part 

 of the stem of the tree to which it is to be united, so 

 that they tit tolerably well. They should then be 

 firmly bound with bast, and a bunch of moss — a 

 handful — as firmly bound over the union ; the binding 

 as well as the moss may remain on till the autumn. 

 The trees do not grow so rapidly as common grafts, 

 so that the ligatures will not cut into the bark. 



Every side shoot of these cordons should be rigor- 

 ously pinched into three leaves all the summer, and 

 the fruit, from being near the earth, and thus profit- 

 ing largely by radiation, will be very fine. 



The double lateral cordon, see Fig. 14, which is a 

 great improvement on the Trench single cordon, 

 requires the same training, pinching-in, and manage- 

 ment. 



The great change in fruit culture that may be 

 brought about by training these double lateral cordons 

 under glass ridges is obvious enough. The figure (15) 

 will give some faint idea of the advantages of this new 

 system of culture — they are endless ; for not only can 

 peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, apples, and pears 



