PEARS SITUATION AND ASPECTS. 129 



of the roots perishing in winter, and the trees failing in consequence, the fruit being 

 scabbed, cracked, and worthless. The trees prefer a well-drained soil, and thrive only 

 in that which can be freely worked. The soil of well-tilled gardens answers to this 

 description, and the quince roots being fibry, concentrated, and situated near the 

 surface, any tendency to exuberance in growth is easily .checked, and fruitfulness 

 induced by judicious -lifting and root-pruning. Thus pear trees on the quince produce 

 fruit early and abundantly, in soils and positions where those on the pear stock would 

 grow too vigorously ; consequently a much longer time must elapse before these arrive 

 at a profitable bearing state. 



Situation. Success in growing pears largely depends on the adaptability of varieties 

 to localities. Only the hardiest sorts succeed as standards in orchards in northerly and 

 cold districts, and there they require shelter (Yol. I., page 65 70). In level and not 

 bleak lands in the north and midlands they produce fruit abundantly, and in the south 

 the hardiest varieties may be usefully employed on the outsides of fruit plantations as 

 shelter, for which their upright habit is peculiarly appropriate. Objection may be taken 

 to the hardier varieties on account of the smallness, but it should be remembered that 

 both the populace in town and country much prefer ten small juicy pears for a penny 

 to one showy fruit, and no pear is more refreshing in harvest time than Lammas, while 

 few surpass in richness, which means sugar (food) the luscious Hessle, Eyewood, 

 Aston Town, and Swan's Egg. There is no reason why pear trees should not be sub- 

 stituted for scrubby thorns and useless apologies for timber trees growing near home- 

 steads as shelter. Few objects are more beautiful than pear trees in blossom, and they 

 are not less admired when bearing good crops of fruit. 



The larger, but not always better, pears require sheltered, warm situations, and 

 some of them succeed in orchards (Vol. I., page 82), suitable varieties for which are 

 given in the selections, page 124. These, as a rule, are preferably grown in the fruit 

 garden on the quince or double-grafted, as dwarf standards, pyramids, bushes, espaliers, 

 and cordons, as standards on the pear in good situations only. (See " Fruit Garden and 

 Orchard," Yol. I., page 75.) 



Around most rural and suburban homes there are outbuildings and walls whereon 

 the choicest of pears may be grown. Stable and farm-building walls may be clothed 

 with pear trees having stems 6 to 8 feet in height, so that the foliage is beyond the 

 reach of animals, and the fruit not handy for pilfering. The trees attain to an enormous 

 size on the pear stock. A specimen will easily cover 500 superficial feet of wall space 



VOL. in, 9 



