Boon I. 



PEAR. 



ro9 



4454. Harrison, and various other gardeners, adopt the mode of keeping only short 

 spurs, by which much larger fruit is produced. According to this plan, each spur 

 (Jig. 487. a) bears only once, when it is cut out, and succeeded by an embryo-bud (rf) 

 at its base. This bud at the end of the first season, is no more than a leaf-bud (c) ; 

 but at the end of the se- 

 cond summer, it has be- C ao ^ t*^ 



come a blossom-bud (b), 

 and bears the third sum- 

 mer (a). Some useful ob- 

 servations on the manage- 

 ment of pear-trees, in 

 correspondence with Har- 

 rison's practice, will be 

 found in different parts of 

 the Caledonian Hort. Me- 

 moirs, vol. i. 



4455. Forsyth says, " The constant practice has been to leave great spurs as big as a man's arm, stand- 

 ing out from the walls, from one foot to eighteen inches and upwards. . The constant pruning of these 

 brings on the canker ; and by the spurs standing out so far from the wall, the blossom and fruit are 

 liable to be much injured by the frost and blighting winds, and thus the sap will not have a free circu- 

 lation all over the tree. The sap will always find its way first to the extremities of the shoots ; and the 

 spurs will only receive it in a small proportion, as it returns from the ends of the branches." (TV. on Fruit 

 Trees, 187.) 



4456. Setting the fruit. In a very curious paper on this subject, by the Rev. G. Swayne, he informs us of a 

 pear-tree, which had for twenty years never borne fruit, but which he induced to bear by cutting 

 off all the blossoms of each corymbus of flowers, excepting the lower three, on the same principle as 

 gardeners top beans. This succeeded to a certain extent on one tree, but not on another ; the selected blos- 

 soms of the other he rendered fruitful by cross-impregnation. He says, " I fancied likewise that the 

 pointal was fit for impregnation before the anthers were ripe, and even before the petals expanded ; and 

 from the peculiarly slender and delicate make of the latter, as it struck me, I supposed, that it ceased to 

 be in a proper state as soon as it became exposed to the sun and air; I therefore concluded, that there 

 might possibly be a chance of obtaining fruit, by depriving the blossoms of their petals before they ex- 

 panded, and enclosing with each floret in this state, within a paper envelope (as is my mode of effecting 

 artificial impregnation), a riper blossom, viz. one that had just began to diffuse its farina, either one of 

 its own, or, preferably, of some other variety of pear." (Hort. Trans, v. 210.) He tied up twenty-seven 

 envelopes on the 27th of March, and took off the papers on the 15th of April ; a number succeeded, and 

 produced ripe fruit, specimens of which were sent to the Horticultural Society, and found unusually 

 large and handsome. The Rev. Experimenter concludes his paper, by observing, " whether the result of 

 the above-detailed experiments be such as to authorise an expectation that artificial assistance in vegetable 

 fecundation, will hereafter become of so much importance to gardeners, in the instance just alluded to, 

 as in those at present recognised, of the cucumber, the melon, the early bean, and the hautbois straw- 

 berry, must be left to futurity to ascertain." (Hort. Trans, v. 212.) 



4457. Harrison appears to have adopted a similar practice, he says, " It is very general to see healthy 

 pear-trees, which produce an abundance of bloom but set a very small proportion of fruit ; this is more 

 particularly the case with the tenderest kinds. The reason of such barrenness is in some cases from 

 the stamina being destitute of farina, and in others from the farina having been dispersed before the pistil- 

 lum had arrived at a proper state for its reception. To remedy such defects, I adopt the following'prac- 

 tice. As soon as the florets have expanded and the pistillum is in a proper state of maturity, I impreg- 

 nate six upon each corymb of blossom. The florets which I choose for this operation are those situated 

 nearest the origin of the spur, for when pears set naturally, it is very generally such florets. The time 

 I choose for this operation is calm dry days, and if possible when the sun is not very hot upon the trees. 

 Immediately after performance, I give each tree about eighteen gallons of manure water, or soft pond 

 water, at the roots. The trees should never be washed over the tops for a considerable time after this 

 impregnation has been effected." (Tr. on Fruit Trees.) 



4455. Insects, diseases, &c. The pear-tree is liable to the attacks of the same insects 



Z z 3 



