PEARS. 13/ 



Of the Kitchen Sorts, or stewing pears, we may name 

 the Double-fleur, Orange d'Hiver, Catillac, Uvedale's St. 

 Germain or Belle de Jersey, and the Gros de Lyons. The 

 trees are placed against inferior walls, or trained to espalier 

 rails, or kept as dwarf standards. The Uvedale's St. Ger- 

 main fruit often attains a very large size, especially against, 

 a wall ; but the Double-fleur is equal in size, and superior 

 in quality. 



Pear trees are grafted either on what are called free- 

 stocks, or on dwarfing-stocks ; for the former, which are 

 intended for full-sized trees, the seeds of the wilding-pear 

 should be sown ; but frequently the pips of the perry-pears, 

 and sometimes of the common cultivated sorts are used. 

 For dwarfing the quince is preferred ; but the white thorn, 

 as already mentioned, is occasionally employed. Where 

 the space is limited, or the ground is damp, the dwarfing- 

 stocks are the more suitable. It is a favorite doctrine with 

 some, that by budding or grafting on quince or hawthorn, 

 pears of too melting and sugary a quality acquire firmness 

 and acidity. To what extent this holds good has not been 

 correctly ascertained, but that the stock exerts a certain 

 degree of influence on the fruit is beyond dispute. Some 

 of the finer pears do not take so readily on the quince : in 

 this case double working is resorted to. For example, the 

 Virgoleuse may be easily budded on the quince, and the 

 Beurre d'Aremberg will afterwards succeed freely only on the 

 Virgouleuse. It may be mentioned, in passing, that the 

 ancient horticulturists seem to have supposed that a fruit 

 was improved by double working ; and that the term 

 reinette, a name applied to a class of apples, is considered 

 as having been derived from the Latin ren.ata, that is, a 

 tree grafted upon itself. 



In selecting young pear trees, some prefer maiden plants^ 



