SU THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



got a very different subject to treat than the Pear upon the Pear. 

 The latter is in its natural and most congenial position ; the former is, 

 as it were, a sojourner and a stranger in a foreign land. The former 

 is sure to succeed if the soil and climate suit, if root-pruning is at- 

 tended to regularly, and the tree kept free from its various and many 

 enemies. But then there are many soils and situations where the 

 Pear will not succeed upon the Pear unless deep artificial borders are 

 made. 



The west of Scotland, as I formerly said, is one of these, the 

 average depth of soil in many of its districts not being more than 12 

 to 15 inches, while close beneath this lies a stratum of gravel highly 

 impregnated with iron. Now, I will ask any reasonable man, will the 

 Pear stock succeed in such a position, seeing that it must be utterly 

 impossible to keep the roots from entering this bad substratum even 

 suppose we had the power of root-pruning once a-month ? It might 

 be possible for a few years, but only for a few. Almost as soon as 

 the tree began to bear, disease, canker, and death would be draining 

 its very life-blood out at every leaf. Another enemy we here have to 

 contend against is wet ; and I believe and know from experience that 

 the Quince is a better resister of damp than the Pear, where properly 

 managed. 



I have here about five dozen Pears on the Quince and five dozen on the 

 Pear. They are open for inspection to every inquirer. They are five 

 and six years of age, and I have no hesitation in decidedly affirming 

 that those upon the Quince are the best trees, produce the best wood 

 yearly, which ripens as hard and brown as a Vine, and, to add to all, 

 their appearance is much more handsome ; and from what I have seen 

 elsewhere, when they arrive at full bearing, the Quince will prove the 

 more profitable investment of the two. 



Those worked upon the Pear will be root-pruned this year in autumn, 

 which will be the second time during their five years' existence, and 

 in some cases it will have been oftener. 



Those upon the Quince we manage in quite a different way. Every 

 year, or at least every two years, we cut a trench round each plant, 

 being as careful as possible not to injure one of the roots. We often 

 remove the soil away from them to a little extent, to enable us to get 

 the fresh materials placed as near the body of the roots as possible. 

 This being done, we introduce a fresh mixture of richly-manured loam, 

 placing the roots which were laid bare into their position as we pro- 

 ceed. We also proceed to uncover the upper surface all over the 

 extent of the plant to the depth of 3 or 4 inches, or until we find that 

 we are coming into contact with the upper roots. Into this we place 

 3 inches of good rotten dung, covering the whole over with an inch 



