March, 1917 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
101 
An Espalier is a dwarf tree which is trained 
on a lattice or wall. The trellis which sup- 
ports the tree is also spoken of as an espalier. 
Espalier trees have height and width but no 
thickness; but they have many forms. 1 here 
may be two U-shaped arms; they jnay be 
placed horizontally or obliquely. 
Dwarf trees may be grown as small stand- 
ards, bush-shaped and pyramids, and such 
trees have three dimensions — height, width 
and thickness. 
In some instances a lattice work fence is 
built of living trees; these may be used to 
emphasize the approach to a seat at the end 
of a garden. Trees may be shaped into all 
kinds of forms, but in such instances the pro- 
duction of fruit is usually sacrificed absolutely. 
Among the types of espalier a common 
form consists of a central trunk which runs 
upright as high as the wall or lattice work, 
and at intervals of 6 or 8 inches on each side 
branches are developed. For this purpose 
a beginner should secure one-year old trees 
or as the English term them “maidens,” 
which consist of a straight whip and all the 
buds should be left on the trunk for they are 
needed to form the head. The tree, after it 
is planted, is staked, or fastened to the wires, 
and the branches are allowed to develop at 
intervals and should a branch fail to form at 
the right point a bud is inserted there which is 
then trained on the horizontal wire. This 
form is frequently used for all kinds of fruits. 
In other instances the trunk varies in length 
according to requirements but is often I to 
2 feet long and from its apex branches are 
allowed to develop which are trained like a 
fan radiating in all directions. This method 
is frequently used in greenhouses where nec- 
tarines are grown, and the peach and nectarine 
lend themselves quite well to it. The U form 
and the UU are sometimes used for espaliers, 
and both apples and pears are frequently 
thus trained. 
The trellis used for dwarf fruit trees in this garden is an 
attractive feature in itself 
This wall is properly designed to accommodate supports for 
the dwarf pear tree which is kept clear from the wall itself 
For the lowest-growing dwarf trees a trunk 
a foot high is adequate. In some cases they 
are trained as pyramids and for such purposes 
four branches are allowed to start from 
the top of the trunk and are trained almost 
horizontally for a space of two feet. These 
are then staked in an upward direction pointed 
toward the centre of the tree and are held in 
this position until they have assumed the 
required shape. These four main branches 
are allowed to set fruit buds and fruit spurs 
but are not allowed to make secondary 
branches. In some cases 5, 6 or 8 branches 
are used instead of 4. It is, therefore, 
formality in outline which differentiates 
between a pyramid and small standards and 
bush shaped trees. The apple is the fruit 
commonly trained in this fashion. 
One of the interesting things to me in the 
garden already mentioned was a section of 
wall covered with pear trees planted 15 inches 
apart; they consisted of cordons with straight 
trunks which were allowed to grow to a height 
of 12 feet, and at intervals on this single trunk 
fruit spurs were allowed to develop, so that a 
tree carried from 15 to 30 fruits. In order 
that these might ripen in position or stay 
on long enough to reach a proper degree of 
size, it was sometimes necessary to tie raffia 
round the stem and support the pear. 
Apples are frequently trained in the same 
way for which purpose trees on the French 
Paradise root, not Doucin, are selected so that 
they will be dwarfed to the greatest extent. 
As a general rule it may be stated that rapid 
growing plants, such as peaches, nectarines, 
cherries and plums, are best handled as 
espaliers either fan shaped, or horizontal 
armed; and slower growing apples and pears 
as cordons, although the latter may in addi- 
tion be used in any other form. 
ADVANTAGES OF THE DWARF 
The dwarf tree is particularly well suited 
to the home garden where there is no horse 
tillage. It is suited to the backyard, for the 
reason that the highest quality fruit may be 
produced. The trees are in such a position 
that they can be easily sprayed and thinned 
and in addition there is a considerable amount 
of enjoyment derived from directing the ener- 
gies of a plant. Even an upright cordon apple 
tree will be 12 feet tall in five years; either 
peach or Japanese plums will reach the same 
height in three years. [The planting and 
further handling of dwarf fruit trees will be 
discussed next month. — Ed.] 
Peaches and pears on the wall of a Long Island garden 
where wires are used as a trellis 
