Cappers Pyramidal Pear Tree. 



THE PYRAMIDAL PEAR TREES. 



stand the pear trees — about ten feet distant from each other. And such pear trees: so 

 symmetrically shaped, forming perfect pyramids of foliage in the finest tapering lines from 

 top to bottom; so healthy and luxuriant, with not a leaf nor branch wanting, and with 

 the utmost possible vigor and beauty of growth, as if not " nice art" had educated them 

 into this shape, but rather they had grown so because it was 

 their nature, and the}^ could not help it; and so laden all over 

 with the finest and fairest fruit — golden, orange, dark bronze 

 red, or tinted with the ruddiest tints of autumn; in short, so 

 altogther the complete and perfect thing as garden pear 

 trees, that we strongly suspect that good Monsieur Cappb 

 has a better understanding with mistress Pomona, than any 

 of us, her Anglo devotees. 



We had a very interesting chat with M. Cappe about the 

 management of his trees, which we shall give the substance 

 of for the benefit of our readers. We ras^j say, in the first 

 place, that the climate of Paris is so much like our own, that 

 any lesson in open air culture learned there, is worth twice 

 as much as if learned in England. In fact, the pear tree 

 grows but indifferently as an open standard in many parts of 

 England — while M. Cappe's trees, almost all of them, had 

 made shoots at the ends of the branches, on all sides, about 

 two feet in length. They had been planted from 10 to 18 

 years, and were from a dozen to eighteen feet high. None of them were on quince stocks — 

 though Mr. C. admitted the value of the stocks for particular varieties. Neither does he 

 practice root-pruning, but rather smiled at our account of the importance attached to it 

 in England by some of the best cultivators — saying " it is all very well for a cold, moist 

 country — but neither you nor us need it." His pear trees are all worked on pear stocks. 

 They are planted in a good mellow loam — simply trenched two and a half feet deep, and 

 Avell manured. The trees, as Ave have said, are planted in borders. These borders are 

 about eight feet wide, and when they are loosened in the spring, the whole top of the bor- 

 der is formed into a hollow, shaped like a shallow pan, two or three inches deep. Over 

 the surface of this is spread a mulching, an inch deep, of decomposed barn-yard manure — 

 which not only shades and keeps the soil cool, but every time the rain falls and fills the 

 basin containing this dressing or mulching of manure, it carries down to the roots their 

 best food. It will be remembered that the soil of Paris is calcareous, and there is, proba- 

 bly, no lack of lime for the growth of the pear. 



So much for general culture. Now a Avord as to pruning, which is the great point in 

 which the French excel us — it being in short, the education of the tree. " Just as the 

 tAvig is bent the tree's inclined." 



M. Cappe's method of pruning, which he was good enough to explain to us very clear- 

 1}^, is simple, and easily understood. Perhaps we should say it is easily explained Avith 

 the knife in hand, and the tree before one. But as our thousands of readers are notAvith- 

 in such convenient reach of the eye, we must do the best we can to make it clear by 

 Avords. 



M. Cappe confines his pruning to three seasons of the year. In the month of March, or 

 befoie the buds start, he shortens back with the knife all the leading .shoots, fig. 2, a. a. 

 the terminal shoots at the end of each side branch. Of course, this forces out 

 new leading shoot at the end of the branch, but side shoots, h, b, at various plac 



