506 General Notices. 



The management these trees require is evident and easily performed ; 

 undoubtedly they must be watched, but who can possess these beautiful 

 trees and deny himself the pleasure of watching them? When we have a 

 full grown pear tree of the height, perhaps, of 30 feet, and in full bearing, 

 it may be said there is a balance between the roots and the leaves ; in other 

 words, the roots are only strong and numerous enough to produce leaves 

 and blossom-buds and fruit, but no additional shoots; on the other hand, 

 every young tree has a tendency to produce more roots than are sufficient 

 to maintain it in a dwarfish form and fruitful state, and if these roots remain 

 undisturbed, the shoots will grow vigorously, and require severe pruning, 

 and the fruit-buds will of course proportionately decrease ; and as the 

 growth depends entirely upon the quantity of matured leaves, it follows, if 

 we want a dwarf tree, we must, as soon as it has reached the required size, 

 limit the number of leaves to that point at which roots will not stimu- 

 late the tree to produce injurious growth. 



On the above principle, remove every leaf on every shoot, down to the 

 point to which you propose to prune, and as soon as it can be done without 

 danger to the blossom-buds, cut these shoots all away, and in winter root- 

 prune ; but if you have had no occasion to leaf-prune, you will also have 

 no occasion to root-prune in the winter ; and if the tree is as large as you 

 wish it to be, well shaped, and has fine leaves and good fruit, it is perfect. 

 On the other hand, if you have neglected root-pruning where it was needed 

 in the winter, and have permitted, by way of safety to the blossom-buda, 

 the terminal shoots to grow all through the summer, the tree will become 

 so vigorous, and a habit of rank growth will have been so thoroughly estab- 

 lished, that the tree must be half killed by excessive root-pruning, to re- 

 duce it to a disposition to produce spurs instead of shoots, and then disease, 

 small leaves, and bad fruit, as named by the writer alluded to, may very 

 likely follow. If leaf-pruning is not liked, nip off every shoot as soon as 

 it reaches the allotted limit; if it shoots again, nip it off one leaf beyond 

 this point, and repeat this until it ceases to grow ; this will not injure the 

 blossom buds, provided the tree has been duly root-pruned ; in the winter 

 cut the shoot back just beyond the point at which it was first nipped. Let 

 the trees be well mulched, and also well watered through the spring, and 

 the fruit will set well and grow large ; towards autumn, draw away the 

 mulching and withhold water, and the fruit will ripen perfectly on the 

 latest sorts and be good flavored, and the buds will be plump and bold for 

 the next season. As soon as a tree has acquired the size determined upon, 

 if root- pruning be properly performed, it will require scarcely any leaf- 

 pruning, or nipping, or winter-pruning. 



In the early management of these trees, I prefer constantly taking off the 

 leaves to shortening the shoots ; I have this year brought a Crassane pear 

 of 30 years' growth, and which never produced a tenth part of a crop, into 

 the most promising state as respects blossom-buds, merely by leaving all 

 the spring-produced foreright shoots, and taking all the leaves from them ; 

 the leaves on the spurs are unusually large, but not a single summer shoot 

 has been produced. I should also state that this tree has been pruned in 

 various ways, sometimes by removing all the foreright shoots, sometimes 



