THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



PRUNING THE DWARF PEAR. 



VERY few of our Ontario fruit growers 

 give the least attention to the proper 

 training of their dwarf pear trees. Stan- 

 dards and dwarfs are all pruned after the 

 same manner, and usually that is by no 

 means the best. 



In our engraving we present to our read- 

 ers the proper form in which a dwarf pear 

 tree should be trained. It is called " pyra- 

 midal " because of its shape. The first year 

 a thrifty upright is encouraged ; the second 

 year the side branches are grown and cut 

 back to within a few inches of the upright 

 stem, taking a care to allow a somewhat 

 longer growth at the bottom than at the top. 

 The third or fourth pruning will bring the I 

 tree somewhat nearly into the form shown ^1 

 in Fig. 2552. 



The leading shoot is cut back in propor- 

 tion to its vigor at every annual pruning, 

 and the laterals shortened on the same prin- 

 ciple. The lowest branches are always kept 

 the longest by judicious treatment. 



After the dwarf pear has been set six or 

 eight years it will be about full size, and the 

 object will be simply to lessen the wood 

 growth and encourage fruitfulness. Should 

 there be too many fruit spurs produced it 

 will be necessary to thin them out more or 

 less. 



An orchard of dwarf pear trees so pruned 

 and loaded with fruit is an interesting sight, 

 and a source of pride to the owner. 



Fig. 2552. Properly Pruned Dwarf Pear Tree. 



SOME OLD APPLE TREES. 



Seymour Keyser, of Hanheim, Herkimer 

 County, N. Y., has two old apple trees on 

 his farm that are record breakers. One of 

 them is 12 feet in circumference. It is a 

 Holland Pippin, and was brought from Hol- 

 land in the latter part of the seventeenth 

 century. The tree is still bearing fruit. 

 Another tree fell to the ground over half a 

 century ago; the; the body of the original 



roots have long been decayed. The top of 

 this tree has taken root, and receives its 

 nourishment from the lower end of the top 

 of the original tree. The apples are of the 

 rustycoat variety. This tree was also 

 brought from Holland at the same time as 

 the first mentioned, and is also bearing fruit. 

 — Country Gentleman. 



