26 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
This is a subject which ought to receive much attention from the rising 
generation of gardeners. They must not permit themselves to be led away by the 
enthusiastic descriptions of those very successful cultivators, who would almost 
persuade us that in Pyramid, Bush, and Cordon culture out of doors, and 
Orchard-house culture under glass, we have all we can possibly want in fruit 
culture, and that walls are unnecessary. This is not so. Walls will hence always 
be of paramount importance in all the large garden establishments kept up by 
families of taste, from which fruit and vegetables are required in perfection and in 
abundance; and therefore the culture of Wall-fruits will always be an important 
part of the education of young gardeners who aspire to succeed in the future to 
the responsibilities attendant on the management of these large establishments. 
They will find that a thoroughly practical knowledge of Wall-fruit culture, and 
the routine of kitchen-garden management, will stand them in better stead than 
ever so good a knowledge of what has sometimes been called a toy gardening.” 
While thus writing, I would by no means decry the Orchard-house, as it has 
established itself on its own merits, and must be studied, and advantage taken of 
its undoubted utility, but I maintain that it will not supersede wall-culture. 
I purpose now to offer a few practical remarks, derived from long-continued 
experience, in order to draw the attention of the rising generation of gardeners 
to some of the most important of those principles which must guide their prac¬ 
tice. It is no chance work. It is quite possible, by bad management, to spoil 
the best educated tree ever grown ; but on the contrary, an apparently ruined 
tree may sometimes be restored by a skilful hand, well versed in first principles. 
The culture of Wall-fruits is essentially artificial, yet at the same time, in all 
the operations connected therewith, we must be guided by the above-mentioned 
first principles, which apparently influence the trees when placed in purely natural 
conditions. Let us suppose a tree planted in a congenial soil and subsoil, with 
plenty of room for development both upwards and outwards from the centre. 
The first effort will be, say, from a maiden tree cut back to the surface of 
the ground to induce it to throw up a strong central shoot; other shoots may 
break below, but as a rule, they will be quite subservient to the centre one. 
This shoot in the next season will again elongate itself vertically, and at the 
same time throw out a number of side-slioots, all of which will be covered with 
healthy foliage, and in the course of formation will assist greatly in the elabora¬ 
tion of those fluids by which the extension of the roots is very much accelerated, 
and the beautiful system of reciprocal action between the roots and branches 
established. This action not only contributes to fix the tree in the ground firmly 
by its roots, but at the same time to enlarge very much the central stem in order 
to enable it to carry a good head. So long as food is abundant, and there is 
ample room all around for the head, the tree will continue to develope itself by 
greatly enlarging the central stem and strengthening the roots, having apparently 
a twofold object in view, namely, that of fixing itself firmly by its roots, and of 
producing, by means of a stout central stem, a large development of head in order 
