JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 7, 1881. ] 
1 
7 th 
Th 
Shrewsbury, Horsham, and Norwich Rose Shows. 
8 til 
F 
Twickenham and Tunbridge Wells Exhibitions. [Shows. 
3 th 
S 
Brockham, Brighton Aquarium, and Alexandra Palace Rose 
10th 
SDN 
4tu Sunday after Trinity. 
lltli 
M 
[11 AM, 
12th 
TU 
Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Committees at 
13 th 
W 
Kingston Horticultural Exhibition. 
CORDON FRUIT TREE TRAINING. 
/n^^T^^EPEATEDLY has the value, importance, and 
simplicity of cordon fruit tree training been 
set forth in the Journal, and very gratifying is 
it to know that many readers have been in¬ 
duced to adopt this system of fruit culture. It 
must, indeed, eventually become the most 
popular of all in gardens, for the simple but 
weighty reasons that it insures fruitfulness in the trees 
when very young, it usually affords a supply of fruit 
when most other systems fail, and it requires so little 
space that it is as applicable to small as to large gardens. 
What, then, is a cordon ? It is a small tree with a single 
stem and no branches, the stem being thickly set with closely 
pruned spurs upon which the fruit is borne. It is trained 
either against a wall or wire fence, erect, aslant, or bent down 
at right angles to the ground and trained along within a foot 
of its surface, the different methods being technically termed 
vertical, diagonal, and horizontal. Vertical cordons are some¬ 
times used for very lofty walls or buildings, and they are un¬ 
doubtedly useful for filling narrow spaces or nooks. But pre¬ 
ference is usually given to the diagonal form because of the 
greater length of stem which is trained to an angle of 45°. 
Du Breuil, the originator of this system, advises in his valuable 
book “ De la Conduite des Arbres Fruitiers,” that they should 
at first only be trained to an angle of 60°, and not brought so 
low down as an angle of 45° till the cordon has made two- 
thirds of its full growth. But they have been found to answer 
admirably when kept to the lower angle from the first, the 
plan followed here being to plant the trees 18 inches apart, 
as Du Breuil advises, to make a mark for each tree from top to 
bottom of the wall at an angle of 45° for the trainer's guidance. 
To insure uniformity horizontal cordons have been commended 
for the growth of such choice and tender sorts of Apples, 
as Calville Blanche, Newtown Pippin, and American Mother 
when trained to low walls, or upon wire along the margin of 
fruit borders. This they are certainly calculated to do, but I 
must confess that, judging from the poor crops upon those 
which I have seen, success is improbable without affording 
shelter to the blossom, which may easily be done from their 
closeness to the surface of the ground. 
Double cordons are occasional^ to be met with, but they are 
undesirable, the difficulty of keeping an equal distribution of 
vigour being altogether avoided by keeping to that best of all 
forms the single-stemmed diagonal. The famous diagonal 
cordon Pear trees at Holme Lacy, the seat of Sir Henry Scuda¬ 
more Stanhope, were planted, one half in 1861 and the other 
half four years later, and the trees were allowed to bear fruit in 
three years after the planting. Almost all the trees have con¬ 
tinued to yield large crops of fruit annually—fruit that is in¬ 
finitely superior to that grown on pyramids or espaliers, and 
the trees continue in full health and vigour. This wall is 
111 feet long and 11 feet high, it faces the south, and the 
trees incline to the west. 
In the winter of 1873 I planted an east wall 200 feet long 
and 10 feet high with single cordon Pears, which incline to 
the north. A few of them were allowed to bear some fruit in 
1875, to afford proof of how soon it might be had by this 
method. Very few of them fail to yield crops of excellent 
fruit now, but it cannot be said that any of the trees are yet 
in full bearing ; still it is surprising what a large number of 
dishes of fine fruit they afford for the dessert. My reason for 
saying they are not in full bearing is the small size of the 
spurs, they will bear more and more fruit as they increase in 
size, which they will continue to do for some years to come. 
Much difference was perceptible in the upward growth of the 
various sorts ; some, like Pitmaston Duchess, growing with a 
sturdy vigour that soon brought it to the top of the wall, while 
others, like Dana’s Hovey, have hardly yet attained the required 
length of stem. Many years are required to obtain perfect 
uniformity of appearance along the whole of the wall, and 
Du Breuil’s computation that a wall 12 feet high would be 
covered in five years only proves correct of some vigorous 
trees, and not of all. 
Much hesitation was shown by many good gardeners in the 
adoption of cordons, and it was by no means uncommon to 
hear such terms as “ toys ” and “ nurserymen’s puffs ” applied 
to them. It was also thought that the unusual suppression of 
vigour involved in confining the growth of a fruit tree to a 
stem some 10 or 12 feet long and to closely pruned spurs, 
would result in attempts to make fresh growth rather than a 
regular yield of really useful fruit. All such ideas have 
proved erroneous, and the only objection now raised is the 
small quantitj r of fruit that a cordon can possibly bear at best. 
This difficulty is, however, readily overcome by planting two 
or a dozen of any sort much in demand, and this must be re¬ 
garded as a decided advantage, for more or less variety may 
be had at will, and a much better succession of fruit main¬ 
tained than was possible before. Moreover, in the little gar¬ 
den where of yore a solitary Pear tree was all that wall space 
could be afforded for, a dozen or two of cordons may now be 
found, and the attendant advantages on this improved state of 
things are so apparent that I need not enlarge upon them. 
Regarded at first as specially suitable for Pears on the 
Quince, cordons have subsequently been utilised in the culture 
of Apples, Plums, Cherries, Damsons, Currants, and Goose¬ 
berries. Much has been done in this direction at Barham 
Court, the seat of Roger Leigh, Esq., under the superintendence 
of Mr. Haycock, and at The Mote, the residence of Lady 
Howard De Walden, by Mr. Peirce, both gardens being situated 
in the centre of the Kentish fruit-growing district, and in both 
are to be seen large numbers of diagonal cordons, not only on 
walls but on double and single trellises. The latter at The 
Mote are taken right across the squares of the kitchen garden 
at regular intervals, affording a remarkable contrast to the 
old espaliers which used to bear such wonderful crops of fruit, 
and about which aceiounts appeared in the Journal many years 
ago. This is an example of progress and not of mere change 
Ko. 54 .—'vol. III., Third Series, 
No. 1710.—Yol. LXYI, Old Series. 
