214 THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. [chap. vn. 
wood, are fixed near the trees to tie them 
to. Espalier trees are seldom suffered to 
grow higher than five feet or six feet, on 
account of the trouble of training them 
when they are of a greater height; but to 
make amends for this loss of space, their 
branches are allowed to spread as widely as 
possible, according to the nature of the trees. 
Thus apples should be planted thirty feet 
apart, and cherries about the same distance; 
pears thirty-five feet, and plums twenty-five 
feet. The finer kinds of fruits are seldom 
planted as espaliers; and apples and pears 
are more commonly thus treated than cher¬ 
ries and plums. The continual cutting 
necessary to keep the trees in a proper shape 
for training, and the unnatural position of 
the roots, are indeed very unsuitable to trees 
so apt to gum and canker as the cherry and 
the plum. The width of the border destined 
for the roots of the espaliers is generally five 
feet; and it should only be cropped with a 
few herbaceous or annual flowers, that will 
not require the ground to be deeper stirred 
than can be done with a rake. Some persons 
suffer the roots of their espalier trees to 
