practise of training them in special forms. It is true that this
practise looks childish to American eyes. It seems to be only a kind of
play, and a rather juvenile sport at that. Nevertheless we should
understand that in some parts of the world it is a real and profitable
commercial undertaking. We should consider also that in other places,
where fruit of very high quality is better appreciated, perhaps, than it
is in America, the extra trouble is thought to be worth while for the
superior quality which it gives the fruit. As this matter is coming to
be of more importance in America also, and as the interest in amateur
fruit growing is enormously increasing, we may fairly begin to talk
about these methods.
The formation of trees into bushes and pyramids, by means of systematic
pruning according to a definite plan, as explained in the succeeding
chapters, while apparently simpler and more reasonable to our American
eyes, it is still a method of training the tree. The fruiting branches
are placed at definite points and the fruit spurs are encouraged to grow
in regular succession. It is not a very great step from this to a
distribution of the branches into a more precise form.
The different forms which are used most commonly are named and
classified in the following outline:
_A._--_Forms of three dimensions_:
_a._ Vase or bush
_b._ Pyramid
_c._ Winged pyramid, etc.
_B._--_Forms of two dimensions_:
_a._ Various espaliers
_b._ Palmette-Verrier
_c._ Fans or Fan-espaliers
_d._ U-form and double U-form
_C._--_Trained to a single stem_:
_a._ Upright cordon
_b._ Oblique cordon
_c._ Horizontal cordon
(with one arm)
(with two arms)
_d._ Serpentine cordon, etc.
Among the forms of three dimensions none is of much practical importance
besides the pyramid and bush or vase form. These are sufficiently
explained in the chapters on pears and apples. Here we need only to
define them. The pyramid tree is one which has a straight central stem
with branches radiating therefrom. It is especially adapted to upright
growing varieties of pears. The bush or vase form has several main arms
or branches, all standing out from approximately the same point and
growing upward at a more or less acute angle, thus forming roughly a
vase. The secondary branches put out from these, bearing fruiting wood,
as the gardener may order.
[Illustration: FIG. 15--PEARS IN DOUBLE U-FORM
From Loebner's "Zwergobstbaeume"]
The flying pyramid or winged pyramid, described in all European books,
is considerably different from the ordinary pyramid and is more precise
in its design. Usually six arms are brought out at the base of the tree.
These are grown in a direction approximately horizontal until they reach
a convenient length,--say two to three feet. They are then suddenly bent
upward and inward and are conducted along wires set for this purpose
until they meet in a common point with the main stem of the tree some
four to eight feet above where the branches put out. There is thus
formed a precise mathematical pyramid. Along these main arms fruiting
spurs are allowed to grow, but no branches are expected to develop.
Sometimes the flying pyramid is made more elaborate by bending the arms
into a spiral form. Other more or less complex modifications are
practised to some extent. All of them are to be regarded merely as
curiosities and as of no practical value.
The various forms of espaliers and fan-shaped trees have their special
and legitimate uses. It may be said here that the Palmette-Verrier is
regarded generally as being the most successful for the largest number
of varieties of fruits. It is a safe rule also that the simpler forms
are generally the better. With rare exceptions a tree confined to a
moderately small space is more satisfactory than one trained over a
large space.
Great care must be exercised in forming these trees. If the geometrical
style of training is undertaken at all, it should be carried out with
considerable precision. If one arm happens to be placed a little higher,
or at a little more moderate angle, or otherwise more favorably than the
corresponding arm, it will very soon divert to its own use the major
portion of food supplied by the top. It will outgrow its mate and the
form which the gardener designed will eventually be lost. It will be
seen at once that this condition makes the same care and precision
necessary in all forms of training.
[Illustration: Fig. 16--PEARS IN U-FORM
Sometimes called two-arm upright cordons]
The U-form classifies somewhere between the cordon and the espalier. It
consists of two upright branches joined to a single trunk below by an
arc of a circle. The fruit is all borne on the two parallel stems
which are treated essentially the same as upright cordons. (Fig. 17.)
The double U-form is made by growing two U's from the same tree. The
stem is first divided near the ground into two branches and each of
these is immediately divided into two more. The tree thus provides four
parallel and equally spaced upright and fruiting stems equal to four
upright cordons, except that they are all supported from a single trunk.
The U- and double U-forms are employed mostly for plums, apricots,
peaches and nectarines.
One occasionally sees much more elaborate schemes of training than any
here mentioned. There are complex geometrical designs, even pictorial
figures--birds, dogs, and beer-steins--and sometimes the initials of the
gardener, or the name of his kingly and imperial majesty. In every case
the method of producing these forms is practically the same. A frame is
built of wood or wire in the form which it is desired to give the tree.
Branches are developed at suitable points on the tree and these are tied
out while they are growing to the wooden or metal form. It does not
require any special care or ingenuity to produce the most elaborate
designs in this method. It is essentially a job of carpentry.
[Illustration: FIG. 17--APRICOTS IN U-FORM]
We come now to the cordons. If we take the simplest form, namely the
upright cordon, we have what we may call a tree of one dimension only.
The upright cordon has nothing but height, eschewing both breadth and
thickness. A cordon is simply a tree trained to a single stem and this
stem may be placed in any position. The position or direction of the
stem classifies the cordon. There are, therefore, besides the upright
cordon, others which are oblique, that is, which make an angle with the
horizontal, those which are horizontal, and those which are bent into
various forms. The serpent form is one of the simplest of these. This
form of cordon is simply bent back and forth against a trellis forming a
series of S's one above another. The horizontal cordons are of two
varieties, namely one-arm and two-arm forms. It is altogether a matter
of convenience which one of these forms is chosen.
[Illustration: FIG. 18--PEAR IN ESPALIER
This tree is carrying over 200 fruits]
In conclusion it may be pointed out that the slower growing trees, pears
and apples, are the better suited to the more elaborate forms of
training. The more free and rapid growing species, such as peaches,
nectarines, cherries, and Japanese plums, are better managed in somewhat
simpler forms, preferably the fan. Such trees do well, however, in the
U-form or double U-form.
[Illustration: FIG. 19--OLD ESPALIER PEARS ON FARM HOUSE WALL]
VI
GENERAL MANAGEMENT
The general management of dwarf trees is naturally very much like the
management of ordinary standard trees. As dwarf trees are grown more
often in gardens rather than in orchards they will receive garden
treatment. Heavy tools and extensive methods of culture will hardly find
application.
Good soil culture may be regarded as essential. Whatever some American
fruit growers may be saying about the propriety of growing apple
orchards in sod, no one has yet undertaken to adapt the sod system into
the kitchen garden. The close planting which is customary with dwarf
trees makes culture comparatively difficult, yet not unreasonably so.
Apple and pear trees planted six feet apart each way can be worked for
several years with a single horse and cultivator. In fact if the trees
are kept carefully headed in, the time need never come when the
cultivator will have to be abandoned. When cordons or espaliers are
planted in a garden large enough to warrant horse cultivation under
ordinary circumstances then the rows of trained trees should be set six
feet apart, which will be enough to permit the continued use of the
horse and cultivator between the rows.
[Illustration: FIG. 20--HORIZONTAL CORDON APPLE AND OTHER DWARF TREES
With cover crop of hairy vetch]
However, the horse cultivator is certain to be definitely crowded out of
some dwarf fruit gardens. Many of the men who have greatest reason for
growing dwarf fruit trees are those whose backyard gardens were never
large enough to justify the presence of a horse or horse tools. In such
cases the spading fork and the hand cultivator are the ready and proper
substitutes. Our extensive methods of farming in America have bred a
strong prejudice against all sorts of hand labor like this, but
experience will show that under some conditions it is quite worth while.
A very common mistake in all kinds of agriculture is to allow prejudice
to rule experience.
[Illustration: FIG. 21--DESIGN FOR A BACK YARD FRUIT GARDEN 50 FT.
SQUARE
North fence (top of map), peach espalier (4); Row 1, bush apple (7); Row
2, pyramid pear (7); Row 3, currants and gooseberries (11); Row 4 and 5,
horizontal cordon apples, with grass walk between; Row 6, raspberry
bushes (7); Row 7, strawberries; Row 8, plums in bush form (7); Row 9,
apples in horizontal cordons (4); East fence, apples as upright cordons
(31); West fence, pears in espalier.]
Garden culture means not only good tillage of the soil, but good
treatment in other respects. It means good feeding and good spraying. As
for spraying we need make only two observations. First, the treatment to
be given is almost precisely the same as that which is given to standard
trees of the same species; second, the work is much more easily
performed because the trees are smaller. If one happens to have a
considerable block of dwarf trees closely planted. There may be
difficulty, it is true, in driving in with a spray pump. This difficulty
is overcome by having long runs of hose on the spray pump, so that the
cart may stand on the borders of the garden while the operator carries
the nozzle in among the trees. In case of large plantings of dwarf trees
alley-ways should be left every one hundred feet, or better, every
eighty feet, between the blocks. These alleys will be useful for other
purposes besides spraying.
[Illustration: FIG. 22--DWARF FRUIT GARDEN 111 BY 144 FEET
From Lucas' Handbuch des Obstbaues]
In the management of a small garden the gardener is expected to be
liberal in his allowance of fertilizers. While it is true that dwarf
fruit trees should be liberally fed there is a possibility of overdoing
it. It has already been explained that the dwarfing of the tree depends
in a certain way on its well-regulated starvation. If the tree top could
get all the food which its nature calls for it would not be dwarfed. The
rule in feeding dwarf fruit trees therefore should be to give enough
fertilizer to keep them in perfect health and in good growing condition,
but not enough to force unnecessary growth. Fertilizer rich in nitrogen
should be especially avoided, and, as the object in view is to secure an
early maturity of the tree and to produce fruit always in preference to
wood, a larger proportion of potash would naturally be substituted for
the diminished proportion of nitrogen. Of course the amounts and
proportions of the different elements (nitrogen, potash and phosphoric
acid) to be applied will vary greatly with different conditions,--with
the nature of the soil, the age of the trees, etc. As a sort of standard
we may say that under normal conditions of good soil with dwarf apple
and pear trees in bearing there should be given annually for each acre:
400 pounds ground bone
400 pounds muriate of potash
100 pounds Peruvian guano
Peaches and plums require more nitrogen during early growth, and more
potash when in full bearing. For a new plantation of these trees the
following amounts should be given annually for each acre:
300 pounds ground bone
400 pounds muriate of potash
150 pounds nitrate of soda
For peach and plum trees in bearing, the following formula may be
suggested:
400 pounds ground bone
500 pounds muriate of potash
100 pounds Peruvian guano
Inasmuch as many owners of dwarf fruit trees will have so much less
than an acre for treatment it will be best to repeat these formulas,
reducing them to a smaller unit. Making this reduction somewhat freely,
in order to avoid long and useless decimals, we may compute the quantity
needed annually for each one hundred square feet of land as follows:
FOR APPLES AND PEARS IN BEARING
1 pound ground bone
1 pound muriate of potash
1/4 pound Peruvian guano
FOR PEACHES AND PLUMS NEWLY PLANTED
3/4 pound ground bone
1 pound muriate of potash
3/8 pound nitrate of soda
FOR PEACHES AND PLUMS IN BEARING
1/4 pound Peruvian guano
1-1/4 pound muriate of potash
1 pound ground bone
Cherries should be treated like plums; gooseberries, currants, and most
other fruits, like apples.
In the home of dwarf tree culture, that is, in Europe, trained trees are
extensively grown upon walls. The gardeners utilize for this purpose not
only the walls of stables and outbuildings, and of the enclosed gardens,
but long ranges of brick are built for the special and exclusive purpose
of accommodating fruit trees. In southern Germany, in Switzerland, in
Belgium, in France, and especially in the neighborhood of Paris, there
are hundreds of miles of these walls. The walls may run north and south
or east and west. Both sides of the walls are used, even when one side
faces the north. Currants and gooseberries are expected to thrive on
north walls. West walls are considered especially favorable for pears
and plums. The walls are nearly always built of brick. They should have
a height of ten to fourteen feet. Each wall usually has a coping at the
top with a projection of ten to eighteen inches, which sheds the rain,
protecting both the wall and the fruit trees. Where extreme pains are
spent on the culture of fancy table fruits there are curtains hung from
rods along the outer edge of these copings, and the curtains are drawn
to protect ripening fruit from too hot sunshine, or to protect the
blossoms in the spring season from late frosts.
Brick walls, with all their appurtenances, are less important in America
than in Europe and the advantages to be expected from this particular
method of culture are decidedly less. Walls would more probably be
useful for peaches and nectarines in northern latitudes than for any
other fruits.
Cordons and espaliers require some sort of support, however, and where
walls are not used trellises are necessary. These may be of wood or
wire. There is a belief current that the wooden trellises are better
because they reflect less heat, but wire is so much cheaper and more
durable that it will usually be chosen.
Five or six wires are needed to make a good trellis for upright cordons.
These should be placed twelve to fourteen inches apart, with the lowest
wire thirty inches from the ground. All wires should be tight, and to
this end stout, well-set posts are necessary. The wires should be
loosened in the autumn, before freezing weather begins, and should be
tightened again in the spring.
[Illustration: FIG. 23--FRUIT GARDENING AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING COMBINED
From Lucas' Handbuch des Obstbaues
The entire planting, exclusive of the borders, is made up of fruit trees
and bushes. Dimensions, 752 x 1,362 feet.]
For espaliers the woven wire fences are better. In fact, the woven wire
fencing is excellent for all sorts of fruit trellises. Poultry netting
makes a cheap and convenient trellis, but it is neither so strong nor so
durable as the better grades of woven wire fencing. On the whole it is
very poor economy to buy a cheap trellis or to put it up on poor posts.
These trellises will need to be comparatively high. Nothing less than
eight feet will be satisfactory, and for upright cordons a trellis ten
to fifteen feet high will be much better. Of course, this entire height
is not needed the first year, but upright cordon apples will cover a
twelve foot trellis in five years. Peaches or Japanese plums will cover
the same trellis in three years.
In the selection of varieties for growing in a garden of dwarf fruit
trees the horticulturist will naturally be guided by principles
altogether different from those which control him in the selection of
varieties for a commercial orchard. He must, of course, consider which
varieties are best adapted to the special stocks on which they have to
be propagated. He must also bear in mind that certain varieties are
better adapted than others for the special forms in which he may wish to
train his dwarf trees. Beyond all this lies the great consideration that
in the very large majority of cases dwarf fruit trees are grown to
secure fancy fruit, not to produce a large quantity for a general
market. All varieties of inferior quality would therefore be eliminated
from consideration at the beginning, no matter how productive they might
be, nor how famous for other things.
[Illustration: FIG. 24--A FRUIT GARDEN CONTAINING MANY DWARF TREES
A is the entrance; B, well or cistern; C, space to turn a horse and
cart.
From P. Barry's "Fruit Garden"]
Varieties of specially good flavor would be given special thought, even
though they might lack in hardiness or productivity. The special
favorites of the man who owns the garden should be chosen, no matter
whether they are popular or not. Then for similar reasons a
comparatively long list of varieties will be chosen instead of the very
short list always held to by the commercial grower. From first to last
one should remember that the growing of dwarf fruit trees is essentially
the enterprise of an amateur, not of a man who grows fruit for money.
VII
DWARF APPLES
Dwarf apples are the most interesting and valuable of dwarf fruits. We
have become so thoroughly accustomed to the standard apple tree in this
country, however, and it so fully meets all the apparent requirements,
that there seems to be no call for dwarf apples. Nevertheless dwarf
trees have some real advantages under certain circumstances. Some of
these have already been pointed out in the general discussion in
previous chapters, and some of them will bear reiteration here. Where so
much interest is taken in apple culture as in America, the advantage
which dwarf trees offer for the rapid testing of new varieties cannot be
overlooked. Still more important is the value of the dwarf trees in
producing extra fancy specimens. Thus in growing very fine apples for
exhibition or for a particularly fastidious market, one would naturally
choose the dwarf trees.
Inasmuch as dwarf trees are recommended chiefly to the amateur and are
grown generally less for cash profit than for other considerations, the
great and obvious advantages of standard trees quickly disappear. For
men who like to play at fruit growing, nothing can equal a selection of
apple trees on Paradise stocks. They are the most engaging of all dwarf
trees, in fact of all fruit trees whatsoever.
The general matter of selecting stocks has been referred to under the
head of propagation, but the statement should be repeated here that the
French Paradise stock is preferable for very dwarf garden trees, and is
almost necessary for cordons and espaliers, while the Doucin (sometimes
called the English or broad-leaved Paradise) may be chosen where only a
moderate amount of dwarfing is desired. Some of the most expert apple
growers of North America are beginning to think that the Doucin may be
required for the commercial orchards in the future, when spraying for
the San Jose scale becomes an established routine and smaller trees are
an accepted necessity.
Dwarf apple trees may be cultivated in nearly all the artificial forms
ever given to fruit trees. Undoubtedly the simplest is the bush or vase
form. This requires less care and attention and probably gives as much
fruit to the same area as any other. The pyramid form is somewhat
difficult to produce. It can be secured successfully only with the
varieties which have a tendency to grow strong, straight branches, as
for instance Sutton, Gravenstein and Northern Spy. On the whole the
pyramid is not to be recommended for dwarf apples.
Apples succeed very well as upright cordons and in all the simpler
modifications of this form. As these trees can be planted very close
together--as close as fifteen inches certainly--thus occupying very
little room, a large number of them can be planted in very limited areas
of the city lot or backyard. They are especially adapted to stand on the
property line where they seem to use no space whatever, and where in
fact they do occupy space which otherwise would be lost. The upright
cordon can be bent into the form of an arch in order to make delightful
arbors along the walks. The illustration, Fig. 2, shows a good example
of this sort.
[Illustration: FIG. 25--DWARF APPLES ON PROF. L. H. BAILEY'S FARM, NEW
YORK]
Nearly all varieties of apples--indeed all as far as I know--succeed in
this form. The trees are not very long-lived, however. That is they
cannot be maintained in good presentable form and prolific bearing
indefinitely, because it is difficult to reproduce the fruit spurs on
the lower part of the stem. Nevertheless the trees are inexpensive and
can be cheaply replaced. As they come into bearing the first or second
year after planting, this task of replacing worn-out trees is a small
one. Very fine specimens of fruit can be produced on these upright
cordons. Indeed this form is superior to the bush form in this respect.
The apple is the best of all trees for horizontal cordons. In this form
it becomes the most entertaining plaything in the garden, as well as one
of the most rewarding trees in its product of fruit. Either the single
arm or the double arm cordon can be used with success. These horizontal
cordons are naturally used along the borders of walks, flower beds or
plots devoted to vegetables. They may sometimes be used along
foundations of buildings, where it is not desired to grow upright
cordons or espaliers against the walls. The fruit produced by horizontal
cordons is probably superior in size, color and finish to that produced
on any other form of tree. In climates where the summer's heat and
sunshine are apt to be meager, this advantage of the horizontal cordon
will be comparatively greater. Conversely it will be less in places
where sunshine and heat are very abundant during the summer. It is
probably true that on the plains of Arizona and Texas the horizontal
cordon will not be a brilliant success.
Dwarf apples need practically the same care and cultivation, aside from
pruning, as standard apples. The soil should be cultivated during the
early part of the summer and allowed to rest during the latter part of
the year. Cover crops may be sown during June or July, according to the
custom practised in the usual orchard management; but the advantages of
a cover crop in a small garden are less material than in a large
commercial orchard.
[Illustration: FIG. 26--UPRIGHT CORDON APPLES
18 inches apart; in author's garden]