INJURY SUSTAINED BY WALL TREES. 
433 
ARTICLE IV. 
THE INJURY SUSTAINED BY WALL-TREES, 
From a course of Vegetable Culture , prevented by a mode of occupying the ground 
with Fruit-Trees. 
BY MR. MOSES BRISTOW, BURTON, LEICESTERSHIRE. 
It has, I think, been fully ascertained, by the united experience of 
many years, that the common practice of cropping the borders with 
vegetables, on which fruit trees are planted and trained against the 
walls, is very injurious to the well being of the trees; by withdraw¬ 
ing a very considerable portion of the nourishment from the soil, 
which ought to have supported the trees; and by the roots of the 
trees being from time to time impaired by having their fibres torn 
away, in digging the borders, which perhaps takes place two or three 
times in the year. These fine fibres are of essential importance to 
the tree, for it is only by them that a large portion of nutriment is 
imbibed for its support, and when they rise to within a few inches of 
the surface of the soil, a superior kind of nutriment is obtained, with¬ 
out which the fruit never attains its proper size or flavour. 
In order to remedy this evil: that of injuring the trees by crop¬ 
ping,—I have adopted a plan which I have now practised for three 
years, with the very best success, in reference to such trees as are 
situated on South-East, East, or South borders, which, whilst it occu¬ 
pies only the same space of ground, will produce fruit worth double or 
treble the value of the few early vegetables generally produced on it. 
29 
The plan is that of training a row of fruit trees over the borders 
on a trellis, made of either thin bars of iron or wood, as fig. 29. I 
find in this situation the crops are excellent, the fruit grows very fine, 
and ripens much sooner than either standards, dwarfs, or espaliers 
trained in the usual way, because of the large portion of heat received 
by the reflection of the sun from the ground. At present, I have 
onlv tried the experiment on the common borders of mould, yet I 
have no doubt great advantage might be derived, by a brick or tile 
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