146 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



maimrial dressing is repeated once or twice in the summer, and cleared off with all the 

 small roots in it in the autumn, a partial renewal of the soil, also clean drainage, being 

 given at the same time. By that practice a pear tree will bear well in a 10 -inch or 

 12-inch pot for many years. During the winter the trees are quite safe outdoors, plunged 

 over the rims of the pots in ashes, placing them in an unheated glasshouse before the 

 flowers expand in the spring. The house cannot be too freely ventilated, except when 

 frost prevails, and in June the trees are placed outside as above stated. In addition to 

 the surface dressings of manure, the trees should be supplied with liquid manure twice 

 or thrice a week, and have a sprinkling of chemical manure occasionally, superphos- 

 phate of lime, soot, and guano being useful ; also the mixtures given on page 141. They 

 must be kept free from red spider and other insect pests. 



In cold districts and near large towns, where dust and sooty deposits interfere with 

 the production of clear-skinned fruit, pear growing is easy under glass. A lean-to house 

 facing south-east to south-west, sufficiently high and wide to .admit of a pathway at the 

 back, and provided with a trellis 1 foot from the glass, is suitable. By employing 

 cordon trees planted 15 inches apart inside the house a great variety and long succession 

 of fruit can be had from a small house, the trees being trained up the trellises like vines. 

 Lean-to houses 12 feet or more in width may have trees planted at the front, training them 

 if desired to a curved trellis, so as to favour trees on the back wall, which may be occupied 

 with either pears, peaches, or nectarines as shown in the illustration (Fig. 29, page 99). 

 Strawberries in pots may also be well grown on a shelf near the roof in the same house. 



The pear house (Fig. 39), facing south-east, is 324 feet in length, but only about 

 125 feet are shown. Mr. Hunter, the grower of the pears, writes: "No fire heat 

 is employed, nor is it necessary for pears under glass, as closing the house in the 

 afternoon is sufficient to get them large enough for all purposes. The bulk of the pears 

 are from 15 to 30 ounces in weight, and the flavour is much improved by giving plenty 

 of time and air in ripening. I find all the gritty section of pears, such as Beurre Diel, 

 greatly improved by a little heat; they do well in a midseason peach house, and for 

 ten years I have a tree that has never missed its crop. . . . These last two years we have 

 gathered pears in June from trees in pots. These are started in February in one of 

 our vineries, and allowed to remain there until the foliage of the vines deprives them 

 of the amount of light necessary for their well-being, when they are shifted into a cooler 

 house. Our first fruits are afforded by Blanche Claude, Citron des Cannes, Summer 

 Doyenne, Dr. Delafosse, and Dr. Jules Guyot ; earliness is the principal consideration. 



