102 THE PEAR. 



check the extension of the shoot, and also to send the sap to 

 the buds below. If these buds do not break during the grow- 

 ing season, they will be considerably strengthened and in- 

 creased in size, and either form fruit buds or send out strong 

 shoots the next season. If the tree be growing rapidly, one or 

 more of the buds near the end of the shoot will probably break 

 and send out shoots the same season. Care must be taken not 

 to perform the pinching so late in summer as to induce the forma- 

 tion of these shoots at a time when they can not ripen their 

 growth before winter. 



If it be desu'able to check the growth of any branch that i» 

 absorbing too much of the strength of the tree and becoming too 

 large in proportion to the others, it can be easily done by pinch- 

 ing the end in summer and stripping off a part of the leaves 

 from that branch. If, on the contrary, you wish to induce a 

 branch to grow more vigorously, shorten it back severely in the 

 spring, and in summer pinch in the other branches and strip off" 

 some of their leaves, while you allow the shoots thrown out from 

 the branch that was cut back to grow undisturbed. 



In these suggestions mention has been made only of pruning 

 in the spring, for the reason that experience has taught us that it 

 is important that the wounds shoidd heal over quickly. On this 

 accoimt the pear should not be pruned when the sap is not in 

 active circulation, and should by no means be pruned in the faU. 

 Besides this, it is very desirable to avoid the making of large 

 wounds, as must be done in removing or cutting off large 

 branches, and therefore pruning should be done while the tree is 

 young, and systematically attended to every year. By doing this 

 it will never become necessary to cut off' large limbs, except in 

 case of accidental injury. 



Soil and exposure have a great influence on the quality 

 of pears, an influence that has not yet been adequately 

 accounted for or fully understood. This variation in quality 

 may often be seen in the fruit of trees of the same variety, 

 growing in soils apparently alike and but a mile or twa 



