APRIL. 
79 
trees planted obliquely, if 
the wall runs north and 
south, should be towards 
the south, otherwise their 
slope is immaterial, ex¬ 
cept that on a rising 
ground the direction 
should be against the 
slope upwards. 
A different mode of 
plantation is adopted for 
Apple trees. These are 
/JL 
planted generally in 
a horizontal line along 
the outer edges of the 
borders, small posts 
are fixed rising about 
,, 15 or 16 inches above 
/ the ground at 9 yards 
/ apart and connected 
by a strong wire 
stretched from one to 
the other and tight¬ 
ened. Young Apple 
trees of one year’s 
graft are planted a- 
long the wall at 5 to 
7 feet apart after sup¬ 
pressing about one- 
third of their stem. When planted they 
are allowed to follow their own natural 
development the first summer. At the 
following winter-pruning they are bent 
down and attached to the horizontal wire. 
. The following summer all the buds on 
the vertical portion of the stem are sup¬ 
pressed, as they will absorb too much of 
the sap, and to the other buds the same 
pruning process as that adopted for the 
Pear is applied. This pruning is continued 
until the stem of one Apple tree trained 
along the wire reaches its neighbour. When 
it has overshot this one about 12 inches, it 
is then grafted to the one it has reached in March, and when the graft has 
perfectly taken the following year, the extremity of the shoot beyond the graft 
is cut off. Thus the superabundance of sap in one tree goes to the profit of the 
other, all present the same degree of vigour, and a very superior fruit is thus 
attained. 
These Apple cordons are very easily formed. They utilise the borders to 
which they form a boundary not too high to step over, and produce excellent 
fruit the second year. Their direction should always be up the slope. 
By this system several advantages are gained:— 
1st, While sixteen or eighteen years are required to form a fan-shaped 
tree and to obtain from the greatest extent of wall set aside for it the maximum 
production of fruit, a tree subjected to the oblique or vertical cordon form 
furnishes fruit the fourth summer and attains its maximum of production the 
sixth summer without diminishing its vitality or length of existence. 
2nd, If a fan-shaped tree perish, fifteen or twenty years must elapse before 
the vacant wall is again covered, whereas, when a tree on this system perishes, 
the space demanded is very trifling, and can be speedily filled again by 
planting a new one, thus :—Reserve the old tree, dig a fresh hole in its place 
16 inches wide and 20 deep, insert against the sides of this hole up to the 
level of the ground to these, planks of wood 20 inches square. Then plant a 
young vigorous tree, in this kind of case employing fresh well-prepared earth. 
The planks prevent the earth of either side penetrating into the space reserved 
for the new tree and absorbing its nourishment. They root very soon, but by 
Fig. 4.—Pear on the oblique linear 
system. Third year. 
