METHODS OF TRAINING FRUIT-TREES. 
83 
ON THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF TRAINING FRUIT TREES ROUND 
THE QUARTERS OR COMPARTMENTS OF KITCHEN-GARDENS. 
Planting single fruit trees irregularly over the surface of a kitchen- 
garden, is an old but exploded custom. They proved injurious to the 
under crops, and, subjected to no order of training, always gave the 
garden a wild look instead of one of neatness and regularity. On the 
other hand a kitchen-garden entirely destitute of trees, has a bald 
unfinished appearance which is equally unpleasing. 
To have fruit trees symmetrically trained, and which do not usurp 
too much space, is what would occur to every one as most desirable, 
and accordingly the old French and Dutch fashion of espaliers was very 
early adopted in this country. And so indispensible w r ere espaliers 
considered formerly, that the most expensive rails, as they are called, 
were in many places erected for the trees. We have worked in a 
garden where the espalier rails were made by carpenters of the best 
yellow deal, with top and bottom rails, into both of which the uprights 
were all morticed, painted light blue, and fixed in stone pattens. 
Moreover, at each corner there w T ere lock-up gates, of no manner 
of use, but of much trouble to the foreman, who had to see all 
these gates were locked every evening. And, what was worst of all, 
the construction was bad ; the uprights being so large, that it was 
impossible to keep the trees in proper form, unless nails and shreds 
had been used. 
Many different forms of espalier rails have been invented, and of 
either wood or iron: but none answer the purpose better than rough 
six-feet stakes, pointed and charred at bottom, driven by line fourteen 
inches into the ground, and connected at top by a ledge of some kind 
of tough wood. The stakes are about ten inches from each other, and 
along them the lateral branches are trained. 
The most common form of training on espalier rails, is that called 
horizontal, that is, with an upright stem, and the branches led right 
and left in pairs therefrom. This is the most symmetrical and suitable 
for the purpose ; very little ground is occupied, and espaliers so trained 
are profitable and neat boundaries to the quarters of a garden. They 
are easy of access, either for pruning, training, or gathering the fruit; 
and the trees are perfectly safe from being damaged by wind. 
To form a tree intended to be trained in this manner, maiden plants 
one or two years from the graft are chosen ; and, the ground being well 
prepared for their reception by trenching, &c., are planted opposite a 
