American Pomology. ApplesWarder, J. A. (John Aston)
Science
American Pomology. Apples
Warder, J. A. (John Aston)
Apples
A very successful method of obtaining the desired effect of dwarfing,
which is early and abundant fruiting, consists in transplanting the
trees in the autumn; this should be done very carefully, so as to
preserve the roots from mutilation as much as possible. The effect of
this will be to check the wood-growth the ensuing summer, and
fruit-buds will be formed, for it is well known that these two
opposite conditions of plant life are complementary the one to the
other, and while we always desire to see them both proceeding together
in a healthy tree, the wood-growth must have been moderated before we
can expect to receive any fruit.
The French and English excel us in training upon walls and espaliers,
and we may willingly yield them the palm; since, in this country, it
is rarely necessary to incur so great expense for the production of
good fruits, and as a means of dwarfing our trees, it is more
expensive and requires more skill, care, and watchfulness, than other
methods of producing this effect. Espalier training, however, affords
the most beautiful opportunity for the illustration of many of the
important principles of vegetable physiology, but it should never be
undertaken by any one who is not familiar with these, and at the same
time willing to exercise great patience and perseverance in their
application to the subjects under his control. No blind pursuance of
the abstract rules of the art can enable the mere routine gardener to
become a successful grower of espalier trees. The modes of training
are various, to suit the whims and necessities of the artist. Trees
are fastened directly to the walls, or to trellises of wood or of
iron, that are placed at a little distance from the masonry, or they
may be entirely independent of any such structures, and exposed to the
air and light freely on both sides. The trellises may be either
vertical, or inclined. The limbs may be made to issue nearly opposite
to one another, and be trained horizontally in two directions, with
successive stages to the top of the wall or trellis, or they may be
trained in a fan shape, with various modifications of what M. Du
Breuil calls the _palmette_ form. And a simple modification of this
method of dwarfing may be made with some varieties of fruit, by
training a single stem horizontally within a foot of the ground, as a
border or edging between the path-ways and the cultivated ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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