THE PEAR AS REGARDS ITS STOCK. 53 



I feel persuaded tliat, by a proper dwarfing system, tliere 

 Mould be little occasion for disbudding — indeed, I have proved 

 this to my entire satisfaction for years. There are three ways of 

 arriving at this end: the one by using the quince stock; the 

 next by the free stock in a limited amount of soil ; and a third 

 by root pruning. Now I have no particular objection to root 

 pruning, having practised it extensively for the last nineteen 

 years. It will, indeed, succeed on all gross subjects, if healthy ; 

 but if the soil has been prepared too deep, too wide, or too rich, 

 root pruning has to be repeated ; and even then, very moist 

 growing seasons will frequently carrj^ the tree beyond its 

 bounds. 



The free stock, with a very limited amount of soil, offers 

 another chance of striking at the root of tlie evil : if, however, 

 the limitation is vciy severe, and the soil too ligiit, there arises 

 another source of failure ; the fruit in a hot and dry summer 

 may become stanteti, and crack. To be sure, top-dressings will 

 obviate these tilings; but it would be preferable so to establish 

 pear trees as that they would require little or no assistance in 

 the way of labour. 



We come now to the quince stock ; and to this I would beg 

 to draw particular attention. I think that there can be no 

 doubt of the general success of the quince, providing those mIio 

 adopt it could be prevailed upon to prepare the stations for its 

 reception with some regard to the habits of the quince. 



It will be at once admitted that the great object here is to 

 provide a congenial soil for the stock ; this done, the success of 

 the graft will follow as a matter of course. 



One thing is of much import to the quince, viz., a permanency 

 of moisture in the soil. The finest, larg^est, and best bearing 

 quince trees I ever saw were growing in an unctuous, yet gra- 

 velly soil, of a dark colour. Holes opened in the neiglibour- 

 hood of these quinces would become half filled with water 

 during the night througii most of the year. I do not, however, 

 wish it to be supposed that it is desirable to go to this extreme. 

 The texture of the soil is perhaps the only thing requisite to 

 attend to in preparing stations, and this should be somewhat 

 tenacious and rich in humus. By the term tenacious, I 

 merely mean the power of retaining moisture sufficient to with- 

 stand a long dry period. The scourings of ditches on strong 

 loamy soils, especially if near trees, and possessing a consider- 

 able deposit of leaves, would be excellent dressing. In fact, the 

 alluvium found near tlie bed of pools or other waters, and of 

 which most persons could avail themselves, would no doubt 

 answer Avell as part compost. 



Some years since I commenced an attempt to form a soil arti- 



