CHAP. XLII. /iOSA^CE^. 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 mecllar. 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. 2 oz. 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 

 " lis 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 Gnrd. 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 Sin. 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. 



