Wherever there are walls over 12 feet high, trees grafted on the free stock should be chosen, for they will prove most satisfactory in the end. The best kind of trees to plant in such situations are those that have been partially trained for walls. Such trees are to be had at most nurseries. Failing these, young ones should be selected. They will require cutting back in spring, to induce as many shoots to push as will lay a proper foundation for the tree. Endeavours should be made to fill the lower part of the wall properly with healthy growth. Pruning, pinching, and training must be done on the very same principle as we have laid down for the trees in the open quarters. In shortening back leading shoots in winter, care should be taken that the cuts are made above buds pointing in the direction where the shoots are desired to be. Shoots which grow straight out from the wall should always be pinched or pruned back, and only those which grow from the sides of the branches encouraged to form the permanent branches. In laying in shoots, take care that they point straight outwards from the stem.

It is also always best to lay in supplementary shoots (when such are necessary) from the upper sides of the main branches, for then a regular placing of the branches is more easy and the ultimate appearance better. Branches should always be laid in so that, no matter how far they may be carried, they may never cross. Not only is a regularly trained tree more pleasing to the eye, but when the training is not regular, the branches are sometimes close together and sometimes widely apart; so some parts of the tree are overcrowded, and some parts of the wall are bare.

We think that, all things considered, fan-trained trees are best for everybody, but particularly so for amateurs. For dwarfs against low walls, trees vertically or obliquely trained may be better, but for medium or large sized ones fan-trained trees are best. For high walls, where the soil is deep and good, and healthily growing trees are chosen, horizontally trained trees are very good, and when the training is well done are very handsome. In training horizontal trees the leader must be cut back annually, so that their shoots may start - one for a fresh leader, and two for nailing straight outwards. It is well at first to allow the lower branches to rise towards their points at an angle of 45° for a time. If laid out horizontally they will grow very slowly, and ultimately fail to grow at all, for the upper half of the trees will naturally draw off the sap. This is one of the advantages of fan-training. However, if the lower branches are allowed to rise in the manner we have recommended, they will make a fair growth, and when they are grown enough to fill the space they are required to fill, they may be then depressed. It is a good rule to allow the lower branches to leave the main stem at an upward angle, although the side branches are to be finally fixed horizontally.

This angle should approach nearer and nearer a right angle, until the upper tier of branches strike straight out at right angles from the stem. This will do much to prevent the upper branches appropriating the lion's share of the sap, to the impoverishment of the lower ones.

In very favourable soils such trees, especially if they are ultimately to attain a large size, may be planted and the roots never disturbed more. In by far the greater number of cases it will be more satisfactory if the roots are looked after. One of the modern improvements in gardening is the looking after tree-roots as well as the tops; and, as a plain matter of fact, it is more important. Nice training, skilful pruning, and other above-ground operations, are well enough, but are only half the battle. Roots do mischief, and that continually, if they get away into bad soil. Where no bad soil is, they may be safely let alone; when it is all bad except a thin upper crust, measures must be taken to keep the roots out of it. The old plan was to concrete, pave, or cement the bottoms of the fruit-tree borders, but it cost a great deal of money and labour. Neither is it quite necessary, although certainly a good plan - let us give our forefathers justice; for the modern plan of lifting down-going roots and laying them near the surface is as good if not a better plan. We have advised the doing of this before, and need not repeat it; only, it is necessary to insure first-rate success, so we again draw attention to it.

A fairly vigorous growth must be kept up from first to last, by letting alone, - by careful lifting and raising of roots, - and by mulchings of manure and manure-water, if need be. Lifting and root-pruning - shortening back long naked roots - has one great thing to recommend it besides keeping the trees healthy, by only allowing the roots to eat healthy food, - and that is, it keeps the roots "near home," when one knows where they are and when to apply the food when they need it. The space thus occupied should never be dug for cropping purposes, for digging destroys the best roots, and they resist it by going deep down where they will not be disturbed, but where cold unfruitful sap will be sucked up. Where the roots are allowed to wander everywhere, cropping over their roots becomes necessary, for whole roods of ground can seldom be spared in any garden, far less small ones, for the roots of the wall-trees alone.

Large growing trees should be planted about 18 feet apart in a wall 12 feet high, and closer on walls that are higher, and wider on lower walls. If the soil is at all good, each tree should ultimately cover 240 square feet or thereabout, and something like this should be allowed for their development. For the sake of covering the walls from the first, riders (wall-trained standards on six feet stems) should be planted alternately with the others, and grubbed out when the others need the space. A. H. H.