PEAR 



642 



PECTINARIA 



Exoascus deformans, which lives perennially in the young 

 wood, passing into the buds and the young leaves on the 

 resumption of growth. It also attacks the almond. The 

 young shoots are often swollen by the fungus. The 

 leaves, at first, become much curled, distorted, thickened, 

 and pale yellow-green, but, later on, rosy or purplish, 

 and often deep red on the Almond. The fungus spreads 

 inside the leaf, but breaks through when fruiting, and 

 the blistered surface then presents a velvety appearance, 

 due to the numerous cups or asci, containing eight 

 ascospores, which serve to spread the fungus. Shoots 

 bearing diseased leaves should be cut back beyond the 

 point of infection and burnt. All fallen leaves should 

 also be raked up and burnt. A sudden fall of the tem- 

 perature, after the trees are in leaf, is favourable to the 

 rapid spread of the fungus, while warm weather checks 

 it. Spraying with a dilute solution of Bordeaux mixture, 

 when the leaves commence to unfold, and again three 

 weeks afterwards, will prevent fresh attack from spores 

 brought by the wind. 



PEAR. Py'rus cotnmu'nis. 



Superior Dessert Kinds, arranged in the Order of Ripen- 

 ing. i, Citron des Cannes; 2, Beurre Giffard ; 3, Jar- 

 gonelle ; 4, Williams's Bon Chr6tien ; 5, Souvenir du 

 Congres; 6, Marguerite Marillat ; 7, Dr. Jules Guyot ; 

 8, Beurre d'Amanlis ; 9, Fondante d'Automne ; 10, 

 Louise Bonne of Jersey ; n, Marie Louise ; 12, Doyennd 

 du Cornice (the best flavoured Pear) ; 13, Hacon's In- 

 comparable ; 14, Thompson's ; 15, Knight's Monarch ; 

 16, Glou Morceau ; 17, Nouvelle Fulyie ; 18, Easter 

 Beurr6; 19, Winter Nelis; 20, Josephine de Malines; 



21, Olivier des Serres ; 22, Bergamote d'Esperen ; 23, 

 Nee plus Meuris ; 24, Beurr6 Ranee. 



Kitchen Pears in the Order of their Ripening. i, St. 

 Lezin ; 2, General Tottleben ; 3, Catillac ; 4, Bellissime 

 d'Hiver ; 5, Uvedale's St. Germain. 



Useful and Profitable Orchard Pears. i, Beurr6 de 

 Capiaumont; 2, Beurre Clairgeau ; 3, Louis Bonne of 

 Jersey, Williams's Bon Chr6tien ; 4, Jargonelle; 5, Pit- 

 maston Duchess ; 6, Josephine de Malines. Those living 

 north and south of the centre of England must make 

 allowance accordingly. 



Of Dessert Pears, Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, n, 12, 13, 

 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, will succeed well, if necessary, as 

 espaliers, pyramids, &c. ; that is to say, they will do 

 very well without a wall. Of course, the orchard pears 

 may be added to this section, if necessary. Nos. 5, 16, 



22, 23, 24, should have a wall, if possible. In cold nor- 

 thern districts they should have a south aspect wall. 



Propagation. Grafting is the usual mode ; and for 

 this purpose two distinct kinds of stocks are used the 

 one called the free stock, or wild seedlings, the other 

 the quince. The first is the most proper for the orchard 

 pear, as this produces much larger trees ; the latter is 

 best adapted, in general, for espaliers, walls, cordons, 

 and pyramidal trees in gardens. 



Budding is done precisely as for other fruits, and for 

 the same purposes as grafting. By this course, however, 

 one year, or nearly so, may be considered as lost, in point 

 of time. 



Seed is resorted to, either to produce stocks, or to raise 

 new kinds. The seeds should be washed from the pulp 

 when the fruit is fully ripe, dried and preserved as other 

 seeds, and sown in the February following. Care must 

 be taken to preserve the seed from mice whilst germinating. 

 Those who wish to expedite the process, for the sake of 

 gaining time, with fancy seedlings, may sow and rear the 

 young plants in a moderate bottom-warmth, sowing in 

 January or February, potting off the plants when up, 

 and hardening them off by the beginning of June, when 

 they may be planted out in a warm spot. The best way 

 to prove such seedlings is to graft them on a good bearing 

 old tree, on a quince stock, if possible ; they will thus 

 fruit in half the time. Our nurserymen, who rear 

 immense quantities for stocks, bury the pears in a pit 

 in autumn, and take them up in the February following 

 to sow, mixing abundance of sand with the mass, to 

 separate the seeds from the pulp ; the whole is then 

 sown together. 



Soil. The pear delights in a sound loam, rather in- 

 clining to clayey than sandy. It will, however, grow 

 freely in sandy loams ; but the fruit is very apt to crack, 

 or become otherwise disfigured, through their impatience 

 of drought. Any ordinary soil of a sound texture will 

 do for their culture ; and if what is termed " in good 



heart," no manures are necessary. For standard trees 

 in orchards, the soil should be at least 2 feet deep ; but 

 for espaliers, walls, pyramids, &c., half a yard may 

 suffice, if sound. A dry subsoil is particularly necessary, 

 especially for garden pears. 



Culture during the Growing Period. The chief point is 

 to keep down watery spray, which is generally produced 

 in abundance. Caution must be exercised in not doing 

 this too early, or the embryo blossom-buds may be 

 driven into growth. Our practice is to commence by 

 disbudding ; this is generally in the beginning of May. 

 All gross foreright shoots are stripped away, and several 

 of the more luxuriant shoots, where too thick. In a 

 few weeks the shoots begin to lengthen considerably, 

 and their character, as to fruitfulness, is in some degree 

 determinable. Very few of our pears bear on wood of 

 the previous year, but a great many shoots plainly show 

 betimes that their tendencies are towards fructification ; 

 such should, by all means, be encouraged. About Mid- 

 summer, a selection may be made ; most of those which 

 look browner than the rest, and are shorter jointed, must 

 be reserved ; and much of the paler, longer-jointed, and 

 more succulent-looking spray may be cut or pinched 

 back, leaving about 4 inches at the base. Those reserved 

 we tie down to the older branches, sometimes in a re- 

 verse position indeed, just as they happen to lay. In 

 about a month or so from this operation we pinch the 

 points from all growing shoots, or nearly so. This is 

 generally done about the middle of August, and has a 

 tendency to cause the wood to become highly solidified, 

 and thus induces fruitfulness. After this period, the 

 only care is to pinch the points of all succulent spray 

 which may arise. 



Culture' during the Rest Period. When the summer 

 culture of the pear is properly attended to, but little is 

 left for the winter pruner. Nevertheless, there is still 

 something to do. Some shoots will have escaped the 

 summer dresser, and many " snags " must be cut entirely 

 away. Most of those which had been pinched back to 

 3 inches at Midsummer, or after, must be pruned closely 

 off. No stump or spur must be left, unless a blank 

 space occur ; as these, by what used to be termed spurring 

 back, only produced their like again. These snags re- 

 moved, the young shoots tied or nailed down must be 

 examined, and all considered superfluous cut away. 

 Those reserved must be tied down on the old stems, or 

 nailed between them, and little more is necessary until 

 the growing period returns. 



Storing. The conditions requisite for keeping pears 

 are a rather cool room, and one that is dry. It is well 

 known, however, that several of our superior pears re- 

 quire a certain amount of warmth when near the period 

 of use, to give them their proper flavour. We, there- 

 fore, in advising a somewhat cool room, refer to one of 

 the most important objects connected with the dessert- 

 table the providing a long and continuous succession. 

 Still it has been generally found, that in proportion as 

 any given kind has been kept past its natural period, it 

 has, in like proportion, lost flavour, as, also, that buttery 

 texture for which a ripe pear is so much esteemed. What 

 is the best temperature is not quite certain ; it probably 

 differs somewhat in different kinds. We should say 

 55 to 60 ; not more than the latter ; probably, a con- 

 dition of air similar to a fine, mild, October day. 



Diseases. (See CANKER.) They are also liable to 

 decay at the points of the shoots in some soils, which, 

 we think, generally arises from the roots entering im- 

 proper subsoils. 



Insects. See ACARUS, ASPIDIOTUS, and SELANDRIA. 



PEA'RCEA HYPOCYRTIFLO'RA. See ISOLOMA HVPO- 



CYRTIFLORUM. 



PEAT EARTH. See BOG EARTH. 

 PEAT PLANTS. See AMERICAN PLANTS. 

 PECTIA'NTIA MITELLOI'DES. See MITELLA PEN- 



TANDRA. 



PECTINA'RIA. (From peclen, a comb ; in allusion to 

 the comb-like form of the plant with its short branches 

 radiating on the ground. Nat. ord. Asclepiadaceae.) 



Small, succulent plants for dry, greenhouse culture. 

 Seeds ; cuttings allowed to dry 'for some days before 

 insertion in sand. Loam, peat, finely broken bricks, 

 and sand. 



