April 27, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
337 
27th 
Tn 
28th 
P 
Quekett Club at 8 P.M. 
29th 
S 
30th 
SUN 
3rd Sunday after Easter. 
1st 
M 
2nd 
TU 
National Auricula Show (Northern Section), Manchester. 
3rd 
w 
Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
CORDON FRUIT TREES. 
HE fact that most sorts of Pears and Apples are 
(^TO-WCTT ^ influenced by the stock upon which they are 
j^JrvH^/rk ^ grafted is important in every method of culture, 
X jAw Nf' but i s ' es P ec i a iiy 60 i Q the cordon system, afford¬ 
ing the fruit-grower for market quick and sure 
pro tit for capital expended, and everybody 
abundance of fine fruit quickly—so quickly that 
opponents of the system have repeatedly de- 
clared^that this very precocity must lead to its down¬ 
fall, for trees bearing fruit so early could never become 
robust, healthy, and fully developed, but would soon deteriorate, 
and either remain sickly attenuated objects, quite useless for 
the production of fruit, or die. But they are wrong. The 
system is a triumphant success. Year by year the trees im¬ 
prove, the stem and spurs becoming larger, blossom and fruit 
more abundant. Why ? Simply because the fruit crop has 
always been kept within due bounds, and thinned in proportion 
to the strength of each tree. In 1879 it was said of the famous 
Holme Lacy cordons that they had been in bearing fourteen 
years without showing any signs of canker or decay, and were 
then as robust and healthy as when planted, and almost all of 
them had produced large crops of fruit every year. 
For Pear cordons preference is always given to the Quince 
stock. Some delicate sorts do not, however, answer when 
budded upon the Quince, and for such double grafting has 
been resorted to with complete success, the weaker kind being 
grafted upon a robust sort growing upon the Quince. Consider¬ 
able experience and sound judgment are requisite for this pro¬ 
cess. Burbidge says in his valuable book, “ The Propagation 
and Improvement of Cultivated Plants—“ It must not be 
concluded that to graft a free-growing sort of Pear on the 
Quince, and then to regraft it with the desired sort, will always 
answer. Some kinds require the stock belonging to their race, 
this can only be found out by the clever cultivator ; as, for 
instance, the Jargonelle on the Beurre d’Amanlis, the union of 
which is so perfect, and the trees thus formed so healthy, that 
an acre of double-grafted Jargonelle Pears would be a little 
fortune to a gardener. GansePs Bergamot double-grafted be¬ 
comes a marvel of fertility, and the sorts raised by the Rev. 
John Huyshe, all of which are of great excellence, become most 
fertile trees when double grafted on the proper kind of stock." 
I have cordons so grafted of Jargonelle, GansePs Bergamot, 
and Huyshe’s Victoria, and they certainly are wonderfully pro¬ 
lific, Victoria being especially remarkable for the abundance 
and excellence of its fruit. 
Apple cordons should be on Rivers’ Nonsuch Paradise stock, 
which is superior to the French Paradise for cordons, not only 
for its excellent dwarfing property, but also for the fertility 
and the late-blooming habit which it imparts to the scion. For 
example, I have that popular Apple Cox’s Orange Pippin on 
the free stock, the French Paradise, and Nonsuch Paradise. 
The first, though fourteen years old, has never had a full crop ; 
the second at first grew strongly, and came slowly into fruit¬ 
ing, but the dozen trees on the Sawbridgeworth stock are alike 
remarkable for dwarf growth and early fruitfulness. Planting 
them was quite an afterthought, but it has proved a most valu¬ 
able one, and I strongly advise fruit-growers who regard Cox’s 
Orange Pippin as a shy bearer to try it upon the Nonsuch 
Paradise. 
The earliness of the blossom of so many of our best varieties 
of Apples, and its consequent frequent destruction by frost and 
cold winds, should induce greater attention to the importance 
of securing late-flowering stocks calculated to retard the bloom 
as much as possible. It is surprising that more attention has 
not been given to a matter of such importance. I have known 
seed of many kinds sown indiscriminately for free stocks, and 
believe it is the common practice. The late blooming of Court 
Pendu Plat and its comparative immunity from frost is well 
known, and should be turned to account by using it as the 
stock for standards and large pyramids, or by a system of 
double grafting it might tend to correct the early-flowering 
tendency of the French Paradise. 
Single diagonal cordons have been strongly recommended 
for general culture, because trained as they are at an angle of 
45° a greater length of stem is gained than could be if they 
were trained vertically. The direction in which diagonal cor¬ 
dons are trained appears to me quite immaterial. Du Breuil 
says if the wall is from north to south the trees should incline 
to the south to afford as much light as possible to the under¬ 
side fruit branches. I have, on the contrary, found them 
answer admirably when inclined to the north. The upper 
spurs of an inclined tree are always strongest, whatever be the 
direction of the incline. Beurre de l’Assomption, Citron des 
Carmes, Beurre Superfin, Doyenne du Comice, Fondante d’Au- 
tomne, and Marechal de Cour are all bad in this respect, but 
they are, nevertheless, highly valued and bear plenty of fruit, 
which is far more important than mere appearance; and the 
wisdom of hard pinching of the upper growth to induce stronger 
under growth for the sake of symmetry is certainly question¬ 
able when done at the expense of fruit. Many of our best 
Pears, however, give very little trouble in this way. Some are 
perfectly symmetrical. A Knight’s Monarch now in full bloom 
is a striking example of this, and I question, if it were cut off 
a foot from its base and taken away from the wall now, if any¬ 
one could tell which way it had inclined. 
To vertical cordons no objection can be taken about lateral 
growth, and I strongly prefer them for walls and buildings 
over 10 feet high. Practically no building can be too lofty for 
them, and every nook and angle may be turned to account. 
This fact is of especial importance to the occupants of villas, 
farm houses, and cottages having no walled garden, for al¬ 
though cordons answer well trained to fences, yet walls of any 
kind are infinitely preferable for the greater certainty of a crop 
which they afford, as well as the superior flavour of the fruit. 
So far as was possible I have tried Pears of known excellence 
both as pyramids and against walls, and have found a marked 
superiority in the wall fruit generally. Madame Treyve from 
the wall has been delicious, while it has been uneatable from a 
No. 96,—Yol. IY., Third Series. 
No. 1752.— You LXYII.i Old Series. 
