NAT. ORDER. — POMACE^E. 135 



Mode of bearing. As in the apple-tree, the pear does not produce 

 blossoms on the former years' wood, as several other trees do. Its 

 blossom-buds are formed upon spurs growing out of wood not younger 

 Uum one year old, and, consequently, projecting- spvn-s all over the tree 

 must be left for that purpose. In some Peai-s, the fruit grows only on 

 riie inside of those branches which are exposed to the sun and air ; ini 

 otliers it occupies every part of the tree. 



Priming and training standards, Pemiit these to extend on all 

 sides freely. Several years may elapse before any cross-placed, very 

 irregular or crowded branches, dead or worn-out bearers, require 

 pmning, which give in winter or spring. Keep the head moderately 

 open in the middle. " Pruning," Knight observes, " is not often want- 

 ed in the culture of the Pear-tree, which is rarely much encumbered 

 with superfluous branches ; but in some kinds, whose form of growth 

 resembles the apple-tree, it will sometimes be found beneficial." 



Hcadaig duicn and Pruning old Pcar-trccs. The method of pru- 

 ning Pear-trees is veiy different from that practiced for apple-trees in 

 general. The constant practice has been to have great spurs, nearly 

 as large as a man's arm, standing out from the walls, from a foot to 

 eighteen inches upwards. The constant cutting of these spurs brings 

 on the canker, and the fruit produced is small, spotted and kernelly. 

 Some gardeners' practice with such trees is to cut them down, and' 

 renew the soil at their roots. C. Han-ison, and various other garden- 

 ers, adopt a mode of keeping only short spurs, by which much larger 

 fitiit is produced. According to this plan, each spur bears only once, 

 when it is cut out, and succeeded by an embryo bud at its base. — 

 Tliis bud at the end of the first season is no more dian a leaf-bud, but' 

 at die end of the second summer it becomes a blossom-bud, and bears 

 the third summer. Some useful observadons on the management of 

 Pear-trees, in coirespondence with the above, will be found in various 

 parts of the Caledonian Horticultural Society's Memoirs. 



Slimmer pruning. While die spray is young and soft, but not 

 until the wood-shoots can be distinguished from spurs, rub off the fore- 



