CHAP. XLII. ROSA CER. PY‘RUS. 923 
He gives directions for preserving the fruit in two different ways; and says 
that its medicinal qualities are the same as those of the medlar. Gerard 
evidently confounds the true service with P. torminalis ; as does Phillips, in 
his Pomarium Britannicum, when he says that the tree is to be met with in the 
hedgerows of Kent and the Weald of Sussex, as also in other parts of 
England, and in Wales. 
Properties and Uses. The wood of the true service is the hardest and the 
heaviest of all the indigenous woods of Europe. It weighs, when dry, no 
less than 72 lb. 20z. per cubic foot. It has a compact fine grain, a reddish 
tinge, and takes a very high polish; but it must not be employed until it is 
thoroughly seasoned, as otherwise it is apt to twist and split. It is much 
sought after, in France, by millwrights, for making cogs to wheels, rollers, 
cylinders, blocks and pulleys, spindles and axles; and for all those parts of 
machines which are subject to much friction, and require great strength and 
durability. In France, it is preferred to all other kinds of wood for making 
the screws to wine-presses. It is employed for a variety of other purposes 
in countries where it can be procured. In Britain, the wood is almost un- 
known; though, if it were to be imported, it might probably be used as a 
substitute for box. In France, the fruit, when beginning to decay, is brought 
to table; though it is not highly prized, and is more frequently eaten by the 
poor than the rich. That it is not much esteemed by the peasants, in the 
parts of France where the tree abounds, is evident from the expression of 
“ Ils ne mangent que des cormes” being used to designate persons in the last 
state of destitution and misery. A very good cider, or rather perry, is made 
from the fruit of the true service, particularly in Brittany, which, however, 
has a most unpleasant smell. (See Gard. Mag., vol. xi. p. 537.) Medicinally, 
the fruit is very astringent, and it is used in a state of powder, in wine, to stop 
fluxes of blood. In Britain, the tree is chiefly to be recommended as one 
of ornament and rarity; for, though its fruit is, perhaps, not much inferior in 
taste to that of the medlar, yet it is found to be much more difficult of di- 
gestion; hence the French writers say that it is only fit for the most robust 
stomachs. 
Soil and Situation. A good, free, deep, dry soil, and a sheltered situation, 
are essential, wherever it is attempted to grow this tree in Britain. From 
the specimens in the neighbourhood of London, it does not appear to suffer 
from the climate after it has been five or six years planted ; but it is rather 
difficult to establish young plants. 
Propagation and Culture. Seeds may be procured in abundance from 
France ; and from them stocks may be raised on which the best fruit-bearing 
varieties may be grafted. The true service may also be grafted on the pear, the 
mountain ash, the hawthorn, and other allied species. The graft should be 
made close to the ground, or even under it, on the root; and care should betaken 
to retard the scion previously to grafting it, in order that the stock may be some- 
what in advance of it. On the whole, the operation requires to be performed 
with the greatest care; because this is one of the most difficult of all non- 
resinous trees to graft successfully. We have only seen stools of it in two 
or three British nurseries; and there the attempts made to raise it from 
layers, or by inarching, were attended with little or no success. The plants 
procurable at Messrs. Loddiges afford no exception to this statement, they 
being almost entirely imported from France. In raising the true service from 
seed, the French writers direct the plants to be kept in pots for one or two 
years, and to be put in frames during winter, and not to be planted in their 
final situation till they are three or four years old. If this is a necessary 
precaution in France, it must be still more so in England. When the seeds 
are sown in the autumn, they come up the following spring. The first year 
they do not grow above 3in. in height; and at the end of four years 
they will not have attained a greater height than 1 ft.; but in eight or 
ten years they will, probably, if they have been carefully treated, be 8 ft. 
or 10 ft high, 
