PEARS STOCKS AND SOIL. 



127 



axiom that "he who plants pears, plants for his heirs," a fact well known to Virgil, 

 31 B.C. 2. The quince, unlike the pear, forms fibry roots near the surface ; therefore 

 pear trees established on quince stocks transplant readily and safely when several years 

 old ; they are appropriate for shallow soil, damp situations, and where the subsoil is 

 unfavourable. The quince, however, thrives best in a light, friable, rich, moist soil, but 

 free from stagnant water ; it does not answer in poor brashy soils without mulchings of 

 manure and copious supplies of liquid nourishment in dry weather ; nor in cold, wet, 

 close clay soils but these may be made free by a judicious admixture of calcareous 

 gravel, drift sand, burnt clay, or brick and old mortar rubbish. Pears on the quince are 

 dwarfer in growth, come earlier into bearing, and usually produce larger, better- 

 coloured, and more abundant crops of fruit than on the pear ; but there are exceptions. 

 The varieties, Marie Louise, Gansel's Bergamot, and some others do not, as a rule, 

 thrive satisfactorily when attached directly to the quince, but succeed admirably with 

 a connecting link as is afforded in double-grafting. This consists in establishing on 

 the quince, say Beurre' d'Amanlis, and on this, after a season of growth, the variety 

 desired to produce fruit, say Gansel's Bergamot, in the manner described in the illustra- 

 tion, page 129, Yol. I. It is remarkable that the intersection should exert such 

 potent influence, but the fact is established, and still more remarkable since the wood 

 of each retains its own characteristics, and is not changed by the union during any 

 period in the life of the tree. 



Soil. All loamy soils, of good depth, with subsoils free from stagnant water, will 

 grow useful pears. On the pear stock the pear tree thrives where the apple fails; 

 in fact, the pear is not fastidious as to soil, but has a decided preference for a porous 

 medium, such as alluvial and drift, provided water does not lodge within 6 feet of the 

 surface. It likes to stand high and dry, and push its long roots deep into the earth to 

 draw supplies of moisture, and this it does from a greater depth and distance than any 

 other fruit tree, except the cherry. Therefore, the pear flourishes in a calcareous loam 

 interspersed with gravel or flints over chalk ; towers and bears abundantly on light 

 oolitic soils underlaid by gravel or sand ; and in light alluvial soils above the level 

 of floods. This applies, however, to certain varieties of pear only, such as the Lammas, 

 Hessle, Aston Town, and Swan's Egg, for all our "great" pears require a holding 

 loam or its nearest equivalent rich surface dressings. Except in a mere crust of 

 ameliorated soil over stubborn clay, or where the ground is water-logged, the pear 

 succeeds in almost all the soils found in cottage, farm, and other gardens. A yard 



