230 SOME SPECIFIC ADVICE 



plicit information on practices. A single typical 

 quotation is here inserted to show the general 

 nature of the advice. 



"Root-pruning of pyramidal pear trees on quince stocks.* 

 Before entering on the subject of root -pruning of pear 

 trees on quince stocks, I must premise that handsome and 

 fertile pyramids, more particularly of some free -bearing 

 varieties, may be reared without this annual or biennial 

 operation. If the annual shoots of the tree are not more 

 than eight or ten inches long, no root -pruning need be 

 done. I have a large plantation of pear trees on the 

 quince stock, which have been made very handsome and 

 fertile pyramids, yet they have not been root-pruned, 

 neither do I intend to root -prune them. But I wish to 

 impress upon my readers that my principal object is to 

 make trees fit for small gardens, and to instruct those 

 who are not blessed with a large garden how to keep the 

 trees perfectly under control : and this can best be done 

 by annual, or at least biennial attention to their roots ; 

 for if a tree be suffered to grow three or more years, and 

 then be root-pruned, it will receive a check if the spring 

 be dry, and the crop of fruit for one season will be jeop- 

 ardized. Therefore, those who are disinclined to the 

 annual operation, and yet wish to confine the growth of 

 their trees within limited bounds by root -pruning, say 

 once in two years, should only operate upon half of their 

 trees one season ; they will thus have the remaining half 

 in an unchecked bearing state ; and those who have ample 

 room and space may pinch their pyramids in summer, and 

 suffer them to grow to a height of fifteen or twenty feet 

 without pruning their roots. I have seen avenues of such 

 trees in Belgium, really quite imposing. In rich soils, 

 where the trees grow so freely as to make shoots eighteen 



*Thomas Rivers, "The Miniature Fruit Garden." 



