148 
TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 11. 1860. 
will tell us what these two things will be next year? and 
yet it would be easy from calculations of the past to show 
in a specious manner what may be expected, the axiom being 
based on facts, so called ; but I confess to not being able to see 
the utility of such things, even when the writer puts them forth 
without any attempt at “cooking”—the parlour phrase fora 
deceitful balance account—so that I fear our complainant must 
complain still, for to comply with his wishes would be to com¬ 
pile a mass of matter, which, however accurately given as pertain¬ 
ing to the past, would have very little weight with the future. 
Can any one tell what kind of a season that of 1861 will be, 
or even the state of the weather a -week hence ? To those I 
leave the task of supplying information—such information as 
is applicable to all the cases coming under our complainant’s 
catalogue—satisfied that they only are capable of giving it. 
—J. Robson. 
NEW BOOKS. 
Cordon Training. *—The object of this little book is to in¬ 
troduce to this country a system of training which has for 
several years been practised in France with some measure of 
success, under ihe name of “Cordon,” from the branches having 
the appearance of a cord or rope, by the laterals being kept, 
closely pinched in. The work is written in a clear and practical 
style, and the author evidently knows what he is writing about. 
To those who are curious in this matter we can confidently 
recommend this treatise. To give an idea of what the author 
means, we shall give the following in his own words 
“Cordon Training— ns Advantages and Uses. —Cordon 
training derives its name from its fanciful resemblance to a cord 
or chaiu. A certain number of leading branches are carried out, 
and on them spurs are developed, so that the branches look 
somewhat like twisted cables or chains. It is not an entirely 
new plan, but has the advantage of being based on well-known 
and valuable methods long in use. In the present case its value 
chiefly consists in its combinations and modifications required 
by the peculiar character of the climate of England. In the 
case of in-door culture much more novelty was admissible, 
because in this instance the dry and equable temperature aided 
powerfully in its success. Objections made to cordon training 
in the open air—which, however, arc not based on experience, 
being generally made by persons who have never even seen the 
trees during one season in orchard-houses—fall at once to the 
ground. 
“ But for an amateur to take up cordon training and to 
endeavour to practise it, irrespective of the exigencies of our 
rainy skies, and to expect results attainable in other dry and 
sunny localities, is simply absurd. 
“ I have myself carefully studied the system, and followed it 
out on a fair scale for some years, both in the open air and in the 
orchard-house. While, therefore, convinced of its value, I trust 
it will not be considered presumptuous in me to say, that I 
believe that an important portion of this peculiar system would 
prove a total failure unless it were carried out exactly as described 
in these pages. But as it is so simple that any one can under¬ 
stand its rules, there can be no reason why mistakes should 
occur, nor is the manual labour so great as to prevent even ladies 
from undertaking it. I offer my suggestions to amateurs with a 
certain confidence, since I have tried and rejected most of the 
systems which are, at this day , considered excellent in France. 
One form was quite unsuitable to the extreme dampness of our 
climate, which induces a too luxuriant growth in the autumn ; 
while the want of proportionate sun heat renders it impossible 
to have ivell-ripened wood, —and without this, what tree will 
ever bear ? 
“ Another form, more adapted to meet these difficulties, was 
far too complicated in its system of disbudding,—which, by-the- 
by, is a plan requiring much caution in its adoption, and is not 
very necessary at any time. It is true this last system produced a 
fair crop of fruit, but it required too much attention to make it 
generally valuable. Proceeding, therefore, on a new mode, which 
arose out of the cordon system itself, I gradually adopted it, 
and, after two years’ trial of this new combination, I do not 
hesitate to recommend it as the best which exists at the present 
day. A large and important portion of this system—the manage¬ 
ment of the spurs and the growths on them—is very similar to 
* Cordon Training of Fruit Trees, Diagonal, Vertical, Spiral , Horizon, 
to,l, applied- to the Oii liard-house and Open-air Culture, By the Key. T. 
Collings Brfihaut. 12mo. London: Longmans. 1860. 
that recommended by Mr. Rivers in the chapter on ‘ Summer 
Pinching.’ Some of the terms used in horticulture are so droll 
as to excite wonder at their use, but it would cause confusion to 
endeavour to introduce any new ones. But certainly ‘ pinching 
spurs in the summer’ seems no particular recommendation in 
gardening. 
“ As was said before, cordon training has the immense advan¬ 
tage of being simple. There is no elaborate tying-in of summer 
shoots, as old as Shakspeare — ‘ Tie up those dangling Apri- 
cocks indeed, few ties are required even in the winter. The 
forerights are preserved, which are of much value in increasing 
the amount of fruit. The spurs are compactly and regularly 
distributed, and are thus more easily sheltered from the weather, 
and more readily examined and pruned. No long straggling shoots 
are ever seen. The supply of new wood of the proper bearing age, 
and the regular distribution of the leaves, insure a succession of 
crops. The fruit is all produced close to the main stems. All 
parts of the tree have a fair chance. The produce is doubled, 
since half of the intervals between the branches is only required. 
Twelve inches are sufficient for the parts where eighteen or 
twenty-four inches were formerly required. The trees are as 
readily detached from the walls to clean them as Yines arafrom 
the wires, and from their simple forms no injury can happen to 
any portion. The trees are only lightly secured to the rods 
(which are safer, after all, than galvanised wires), and it is easy 
to clear off cobwebs and insects from the back of the trees—an 
advantage of incalculable value, as the gardener well knows. All 
these, and others, are the results of cordon training. 
“But one of the chief recommendations of the system is the 
rapidity with which a high wall is clothed with productive spurs. 
In four years a wall, twelve to fifteen feet high, can be covered 
with fruit-bearing wood, all disposed in regular, beautiful, and 
harmonious succession. 
“ This will be obvious by a reference to the frontispiece, where 
the different years are indicated by their progress ; and as a tree, 
planted at the angles shown, must grow fast, and yet be fruitful, 
what can be desired more ? What is shown in the frontispiece 
is a representation of one kind of cordon, and that the very best, 
—the ‘ diagonal,’—with three leaders on each tree. The trees 
are planted in the ground at thirty-six inches from their neigh¬ 
bours to right and left, there being thus twelve inches of interval 
between each leader. In France the single cordon with laterals 
of fourteen inches succeeds well, but it would fail in England ; 
the double cordon is better adapted. These two forms clothe a 
wall with amazing rapidity, and if suited for our climate would 
supersede all others. The triple cordon I have never seen but 
in my own gardens; with laterals in the old system it would 
not advance fast enough, which is one important condition in its 
use. A quadruple cordon would take so much time to complete 
as to make it less desirable; it might, however, suit very moist 
localities better. With spurs, as now recommended, the triple 
cordon unites most of the conditions required for success. It 
covers the wall rapidly, and bears well and regularly : nothing 
better can be said in its favour. Its form is also so regularly 
beautiful, that even casual observers must be struck with the 
harmony and grace of the whole tree. No gentleman likes to 
have his valuable walls covered with trees as unproductive as 
they are ungainly; but any one who has seen a well-managed 
cordon on the diagonal plan will not fail to give it the palm as 
to beauty. 
“ By means of light guiding-rods the young wood creeps as 
straight as a walking stick, upwards, and on this depends much 
of the handsome appearance of the trees. So that, were a wall 
of these trees drawn, each of them ascending with mathematical 
regularity, it would not be exaggerated : a moderate amount of 
skill and patience would easily effect it. The various forms of 
cordon training remain to be noticed. They are—-diagonal, the 
best suited for a wall; for in-door or out-door culture it should 
always have three leaders. The vertical, useful for trees trained 
against the pillars of the orchard-house, where they bear ad¬ 
mirably ; they also answer well if planted in the borders—if 
for walls in the open air, then the number of leaders should not 
be less than five, or there would be danger of the trees producing 
too much wood. The spiral, round wires for trees in pots, or 
round the pillars of the orchard-house, where they have a pretty 
effect—it will also suit large Pear standards in the open ground, 
or in the borders of the house. Lastly, the horizontal— i.e., all 
fan-shaped ( pahnette of the French), or laterally developed trees ; 
all standard trees in the open ground or within the house, and 
planted in the open borders.” 
