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PEAR SEEDLINGS. 



As the great object is, to make them 

 branoh out tLeir roots as soon as possible, 

 several European nurserymen recommend 

 " tapping." This operation is to be done 

 when the seedlings have attained a height 

 of four or six inches, by two men with 

 sharp spades, put in at the same time on 

 both sides of the row, in a sloping direction, 

 in order to cut ofl' the tap root ; but as it 

 could not well be done before the summer 

 is rather advanced, and even then seldom 

 can be done properly, the season is too 

 short for the seedUngs to push out branch- 

 ing roots, strong enough to stand the follow- 

 ing winter. 



Having been a professional gardener and 

 nurseryman in the north of Europe for near- 

 ly thirty years, I hope that my experience 

 may be acceptable to many persons engaged 

 in this business. 



For several years, I succeeded in raising 

 pears in a very simple way. I sowed the 

 seed in the fall, as soon as gathered, in a 

 garden bed. distributing them pretty thick- 

 ly. The plants will easily come up in the 

 spring, and as soon as they get four leaves, 

 I take them up, cut ofl' the tap root, and 

 transplant them into beds or nursery rows 

 of good soil, where the yoimg plants soon 

 will make lateral roots, and start nicely. 

 1 am not very particular as to exact length 

 in cutting ofl' the tap root, as I commonly 

 take a dozen of plants or more in my hand, 

 and cut ofl" the roots at once at half leugth. 



Bv thus increasing the number of mouths 

 or feeders of the plants, they will grow ex- 

 cellently well. The branching roots now, 

 having the whole summer before them, will 

 be sufiiciently strong to stand the winter, 

 even tritkout protection^ and in the next 

 summer, the second, they will be fit for 

 budding. 



Although this summer was unfavorable 

 to the growth of pear seedUugs, still all 

 the neiirhboriug nurserymen, who have 



seen my seedlings, have declared, that they 

 " never saw siich branching roots on setdlings 

 from iast spring, even on the very best raised 

 apple seedlings, and that their being thrown 

 out by the frost irould be almost impossible J* 

 I have no doubt, that some old fashioned 

 nurserymen will object, ^that this treatment 

 is too violent for such feeble plants ; but 

 the result for several years has proved its 

 practical value. " It is too much trouble," 

 I hear some enemy of new inventions re- 

 ply. It is some labor undoubtedly, but 

 not hah" as much as to lift them out in the 

 fall, keep them in the cellar through the 

 winter, and plant them out again next 

 spring. That is certainly too much trou- 

 ble, and that will check the plants much 

 more than their being tapped and trans- 

 planted when ver}' young. In my method 

 ihey are left undisturbed after their first 

 transplanting, which is much easier per- 

 formed than most persons may think, and of 

 course they will continue their growth much 

 better. Eobekt Nelson. 



[Mr. Kelson's articles are always accep- 

 table, since they are the result of sound 

 theory and practice combined ; and we com- 

 mend the foregoing to those who have here- 

 tofore failed in rearing young pear stocks — 

 the most precarious and diliicult of all seed- 

 ling fruit trees. 



To grow them with success in the com- 

 mon mode, a very deep soil, inclining to 

 dampness rather than dryness, is indispen- 

 sable. ^Ve have no doubt that the mode of 

 forcing them to producejibrous roots in abutt- 

 dance thefrst season, which our correspon- 

 dent recommends, which is new to us, by 

 giving them greater firmness in the wood, 

 and making them more dependent on the 

 good surface soil than the tap-rooted seed- 

 lings are, will enable many cultivators to 

 do successfully, what they have hitherto 

 failed to do at all. — Ed.] 



