January 19, 18J8. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
37 
I N these days of high pressure and keen competition, when much 
besides gardening is often expected from the gardener, it is of 
the greatest importance that the various departments of labour for 
which he is responsible should be reduced to a system, and also that 
that system be of the simplest nature possible consistent with 
Temunerative returns. There are few gardens of any extent where 
it is not found necessary to leave many important operations to 
•subordinates, and sometimes even to labourers of no gardening 
experience ; and what aggravates the evil, these gardens are often 
expected to compete with those where nothing but sldlled labour is 
employed and gardening exclusively pursued. Under such circum¬ 
stances a simple method, which may be easily explained, and as 
«asily comprehended by the inexperienced, is imperative, not only 
€or securing the best results, but for diminishing the risk of bad 
workmanship. 
Does it not often occur that much important work is left 
^lndone, which of course will tell its own tale, because the head 
gardener has not time to do it himself, neither has he those about 
him whom he can trust to do it for him ? Disadvantages, how¬ 
ever, there always will be more or less in gardens, and it is not 
these that I wish to make prominent, but only to point them out 
to show the importance of having easy-to-be-understood rules for 
the guidance of assistants ; not that it is possible to unswervingly 
follow hard-and-fast lines in gardening, for with the best of rules 
■very much must be left to the discretion of the operator. Much 
more might be said on this point, but my purpose is rather to give 
a practical example of the benefits arising from a simple system 
when applied to the training and pruning of fruit trees, more 
•especially to pyramid, bush, and standard Pear and Apple trees, as 
these are the forms of trees most frequently treated in a hap¬ 
hazard way. 
I am well aware that in most gardens fruit trees of all forms 
are trained on some system, and beautiful they are in many places, 
even when void of leaves ; but this does not alter the fact that in 
many gardens, if there be a system, it would defy description, and 
that the trees would be far more remunerative if left entirely to 
Nature. What a beautiful object is a well-trained pyramid Pear 
or Apple tree, either in bloom or laden with fruit; and yet how 
seldom, except in first-class gardens, do we meet with a fair 
sample from which one could expect to gather well-flavoured 
fruit ? 
Not long since it was my lot to take in hand some so-caUed 
pyramid Pear trees. They were pyramids with a vengeance, 
especially after they were pruned, which had been done for more 
than ten years every autumn with Box-shears, and consisted in 
cutting off all summer growths as close to the old spurs as possible, 
all of which were clustered at the top of the branches, for the 
inside spurs had died years ago from want of light and air. Now 
here is a case to the point where every possible chance of fruit was 
sacrificed to mere shape of tree, and how a gardener could expect 
to supply his master’s table with good fruit whilst pursuing such a 
system is a problem I could never solve. How these trees were 
brought into a fruitful condition, and our simple method of keeping 
them so, may be worth relating, especially as the principle may 
be applied to all fruit trees that bear their fruit on spurs. 
They were allowed their own way until August, by which time 
they had thrown out a mass of strong shoots from 1 to 2 yards 
No. 395.—VoL. XVI., Third Series. 
long. As is often the case with pyramids, the main branches had 
been left much too close, and they had been allowed to branch 
several times, until they had become a tangled mass of main 
branches. Our first pruning operation consisted in sawing off about 
half of the branches close to the main stem, so that those remaining 
should be from 9 inches to 12 inches apart. We next cut off fur¬ 
cations close to the remaining branches, for we wished to have 
undivided branches, which with judicious management should be 
clothed with fruit spurs throughout their length. Cordon training 
and pruning is simplicity itself, and we aimed at treating each 
branch as a simple cordon, so that our pyramids should really be 
compound cordons, and we are well pleased with the result, for 
each branch being well away from its neighbour the sun and air 
act equally on their entire length, ripening the spurs and fruit 
which cluster round them so that they resemble ropes of Onions. 
It must not be fancied, however, that this desirable condition can 
be brought about in one season ; it will take two or three years of 
careful treatment both of root and branch. Besides thinning the 
branches and cutting off all furcations, the current year’s side shoots 
were cut back to about 4 inches if they exceeded 6 inches in 
length, if not they yere left alone. Nothing more was done to them 
until early in October, when they were carefully root-pruned in the 
following manner :— 
As these trees ha'i been severely pruned and produced little but 
strong shoots for the past ten years, and as we also had so severely 
thinned their branches, root pruning was of the greatest import¬ 
ance to bring them into a fruitful condition. They had sent strong 
wood-producing roots far into the subsoil, so that unless these had 
been severed the trees would have produced a mass of strong un¬ 
manageable shoots. A trench was opened 18 inches wide and 
3 feet from the bole of the trees. All fibrous roots, which were 
very scarce, were carefully preserved, but all strong roots were cut 
back as close as possible without redncing the ball of earth too 
much, not merely round the sides, but they were thoroughly under¬ 
mined, and many of the trees replanted. After thoroughly 
mixing four wheelbarrows full of fine ballast and two pecks of half¬ 
inch bones with the soil which came from each tree it was well 
rammed back round them. Four inches depth of half-decayed stable 
manure was then laid on the surface over their roots, and they were 
securely tied to strong stakes driven into the ground in a slanting 
direction, so as not to pass through their roots. The leaves flagged 
very much on some of the trees, but they were supplied with warm 
water and syringed on dry days, which caused them to stiffen, and 
with few exceptions they fell off in a natural manner. This 
operation had the desired effect—viz., preventing wood growth, and 
clothing the strong shoots made the previous summer with spurs 
from top to bottom. If the few small shoots along the old branches 
do not exceed 4 inches in length they are let alone, for being low 
down they will not develope into strong shoots, but gradually turn 
into fruit spurs—that is, so long as the main branches be not cut 
back ; but if, as is often the case, they are cut back, what would have 
been fruit spurs will be converted into wood growth, strong or 
weak in proportion as the main branches be shortened. The 
second spring afcer root pruning the trees formed one of the finest 
sights I ever saw, for with few exceptions they were covered with 
flowers nearly the entire length of the branches. They ripened 
good crops of fruit, but owing to sharp frost and cold winds whilst 
in flower more than three parts of the flowers never set, which, of 
course, saved us the trouble of thinning the fruit. The trees have 
since been lifted and planted in another part of the garden, when it 
was found that the roots had become a perfect mass of fibres. 
The same simple system is adhered to not only with these, but 
with bush and standard Apples and many other fruit trees—viz., of 
treating each branch as a simple cordon, allowing them to extend 
unchecked, which acts as a safety valve by carrying off surplus sap 
in the right direction. It will be found, however, that if they can 
be trained into a fruitful state very little dangerous growth will be 
No, 2051,—VOE, LXXVIII,, Old Sf.rjes, 
