PEAR. 211 







weak and cold. Take them out and rub the woolly down 

 off with a coarse crash towel. Have a rich clarified sirup 

 prepared, and pour it scalding hot over the peaches ; fill up 

 the jar with pure French brandy. When cool, cover closely. 

 If you use glass jars, pour the scalding sirup over the fruit 

 in a stone vessel. 



PEAR (Pyrus communis, L.). The pear-tree is not a 

 native of America, but has been introduced from Europe. 

 " The seeds," says Downing, " should be sown precisely like 

 those of the apple, in broad drills, and the treatment of the 

 stocks, when planted in the rows for budding, is quite simi- 

 lar. Budding is almost universally preferred by us for 

 propagating the pear, and this tree takes so readily that 

 very few failures can happen to an experienced hand." See 

 Budding. 



Seedlings are considered the best stocks for pears. Seed- 

 lings of plebeian birth, but strong and healthy, are to be pre- 

 ferred to a seedling from a pampered variety. To get seed- 

 ling stocks, clean the seed as soon as the fruit is matured, 

 and sow it in deep rich soil ; if you have no such soil, trench 

 about two feet deep, and fill up with compost corrected by 

 ashes. A healthy seedling of two years' growth is fit for 

 budding. 



The dwarf tree pear is the pear grafted on some slow- 

 growing hardy stock. The Quince is usually preferred ; some 

 large pears are said to be improved in habit and flavor by 

 being grafted on this stock ; Downing instances the Duchess 

 of Angouleme as so improved. The dwarf tree is generally 

 short-lived ; its advantages are in the brief time requisite to 

 bring fruit to the cultivator, and its economy and nattiness 

 for a small garden. Though we find the pear-tree in a great 

 variety of soils, yet a damp soil induces disease, and a soil 

 too rich and deep tends to create a rank, unripened luxuri- 



