15 IsTov., 1919.] 



Peai- Growing in Victoria. 



659 



has at no time borne any profitable quantity of frnit, owing to the deple- 

 tion of the fruit buds, due to the suckering habit. In old-established 

 orchard districts, large numbers of similarly affected trees are usually 

 to be found. 



For the majority of troubles affecting pear trees a remedy may 

 usually be applied, but when trees are rendered barren, or practically 

 so, by this method of propagation, it is better not to waste valuable time 

 in trying to overcome the trouble by scientific means, but rather to 

 make room for trees worked in the proper way. Various other stocks 

 have been used from time to time on which to work the pear, including 

 the pear seedling, pear cutting, pear root-graft, whitethorn, and others. 



Plate No. 26 —Pear-tree -worked on suckers, -with consequent 

 suckering habit. 



Raising pears from cuttings is not a satisfactory commercial proposi- 

 tion, as they are not readily struck in this way, and even when struck, 

 the root system of the cutting does not make for free growth in the 

 tree like that of the seedling. It is found, however, that cuttings taken 

 from seedling trees strike more readily than those from trees of a 

 worked variety, and perhaps experiments conducted along this line may 

 produce a free-rooting stock worthy of being perpetuated. 



Some growers claim to have influenced shy-bearing varieties, such 

 as Winter Nelis, by striking cuttings from a Williams' Bon Chretien 



