134 NAT. ORDER. POMACEiE. 



the grafts or buds require to be inserted very low, that the moisture 

 of the earth may tend to favor the swelling or enlargement of the 

 diameter of the stock, which does not increase proportionably to, nor 

 ever attains, the same size as the stem of the Pear. The free and 

 wild Pear stocks are to be planted in nursery rows at the same dis- 

 tances as recommended for free or wild apples ; and the quinces and 

 thorn at the same distance as the Pai'adise stocks and creeper apples ; 

 ip other respects the management is the same as for the apple. 



Choice of plants. Our most experienced nurserymen take trees 

 at one year from the graft, and thence to the sixth year or older. — 

 Others recommend to those who intend to plant Pear trees, instead of 

 choosing young ones, to look out for the oldest that they can find in 

 the nursery and with strong stems. 



Soil and site. A dry deep loam is accounted the best soil for the 

 Pear-tree, when the stock is of its own species ; on a quince stock it 

 wants a moist soil, without which it will not prosper. Gravel is a 

 good sub-soil, where the incumbent mould is suitable. Cold clay is a 

 bad sub-soil ; to prevent fruit trees from striking into it, slates may be 

 laid just under the roots. For wall trees the soil should be made good 

 to the depth of two or three feet ; for orchard trees eighteen inches 

 may do. Pear-trees, on their own stocks, will thrive on land where 

 apples will not even live ; supposing the plants to be hardy varieties, 

 little removed from wild Pears, and to have room to grow freely as 

 standards. To the more choice of the early autumn and prime winter 

 Pears, assign south-east or west walls. Some recommend a strong, 

 deep, loamy soil, and a high wall, for training the better sorts. 



Final jilanting. This is performed any time in mild weather, 

 from October to March ; standards are placed from twenty-five to forty 

 feet apart every way ; half standards from twenty to thirty feet ; and 

 dwarf standards, in borders, from fifteen to twenty feet, from stem to 

 stem. Wall and espalier plants are placed from fifteen to thirty feet, 

 according as they may have been grafted or budded on Pear or quince 

 stocks. , 



