APP 
APP 
Pruning and Training. Apple trees 
are distinguished, according to the mode 
of training, as standard trees, or those 
which have a stem of five feet or more, 
and dwarfs or espaliers, whose branches 
proceed from a stem of not more than a 
foot or so; an intermediate height 
is known as half standards : these sizes 
are adopted in accordance with the 
position the tree is intended to fill, 
for orchards or other places where space 
can be afforded, the standard is usually 
employed, while in the kitchen garden, 
where the culinary crops are the para¬ 
mount objects, espaliers are more suit¬ 
able because their dwarfness offers less 
obstruction to the admission of sun¬ 
light and air among the surrounding 
vegetation. The pruning and training 
of standards is confined to the removal 
of superfluous branches; crowded shoots 
or those Avhicli cross each other, to¬ 
gether with weak or unhealthy ones, 
should be taken out at each annual 
pruning, which may be done any time 
between the fall of the leaf and the 
middle of the following March; in cut¬ 
ting for this pur])ose, as the object is 
the entire removal of the branches, it is 
best to cut close to the origin, but it 
may happen with young trees, or recent 
grafts, that an increase of branches are 
desired; in this case, instead of cutting 
completely away as before recommended, 
about half the length of the shoot 
should be left, and from the greater 
number of its buds will proceed new 
branches in the succeeding season. The 
pruning of dwarf apples is, however, 
quite a different matter; the object is 
seldom an increase of wood, but rather 
the multiplication of very short branches 
terminating in a bloom-bud, and com¬ 
monly known as fruit-spurs. The prin¬ 
cipal pruning of such trees should be 
performed in July, at the time when 
the first growths of the currant season 
are just completed; on a vigorous speci¬ 
men they will then be from one to two 
feet in length. These should be cut 
back to within two or three joints of 
their base, leaving on each main branch 
a leading shoot untouched, and, indeed, 
wherever it is desirable to increase the 
principal branches; those which are 
pruned back, in the manner directed, 
will shortly protrude one, two, or three 
other shoots, but, being near the end of 
the plants’ seasonal action, their pro¬ 
gress is restricted, and, being unable 
to reassume their original character, the 
remaining energy appears to be turned 
to another channel, and the formation 
of floral organs ensue; such of them, 
however, as succeed in regaining their 
normal form, should again be cut back ; 
at the spring-pruning, when, also, the 
terminal or leading shoots should be 
shortened, according to their vigour, 
from a third to the half of their length. 
The training of espaliers is very much 
a matter of fancy or convenience, they 
may either be spread out in a lateral 
direction quite flat, which is called 
linear training, and is most suitable 
when the trees are intended to stand 
round the margins of compartments in 
the garden, or by the side of a path, it 
is the easiest and perhaps the best for 
all ordinary purposes; or the trees may 
be made to take an upright form by 
leading three or four shoots vertically 
from the main stem, and when they 
have attained a height of six or eight 
feet, by removing the leading shoots, 
and adopting the spur-system in the 
after-pruning, will, in the course of a 
few seasons, bear a full crop of fruit 
and occupy but a small space; this 
form is adapted for the angles of com¬ 
partments or corners of the garden, 
and is known as pyramid-training. The 
half standard, or common dwarf, is 
treated, so far as pruning and training- 
are concerned, in the manner oi the full 
standard, the only difference between 
them being that in the length of the 
stem. When apples are cultivated 
against a wall, which should be done 
wherever the fruit is esteemed, it is 
usual to plant a few of the earliest 
varieties in a southern aspect, in order 
to have early fruit, and for the sake of 
fine specimens of particularly good kinds, 
some others upon an eastern Avail; the 
training of these should be conducted 
on the “fan” system, that is, the branches 
should proceed equilaterally from all 
