P YR 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



P YR 



431 



those which grew against walls, which is a very desirable 

 thing ; for to have plenty of this fruit at a season when it is 

 very rare to find any other, except Apples, is very desirable, 

 and may be accomplished by planting many of the late sorts 

 in espalier, where, although the fruit will not be so well 

 coloured as those from the walls, yet they will be found 

 exceedingly good. \Vherever a person has a warm situation 

 and u kindly soil, there is no need of building walls for Pear- 

 trees, which will ripen their fruit better upon espaliers, 

 especially if a sufficient quantity of reed-mats weie made to 

 fix up against the back of the espalier in the spring while 

 the trees are in blossom, which will screen them from cold 

 winds, and preserve the tender fruit until they are past danger. 

 The reeds may then be removed under a shed to preserve them 

 from the weather, and, if the autumn should prove bad, may 

 be fixed up again; which will forward the ripening of the 

 fruit, and also prevent the winds from blowing down and 

 bruising it. Nevertheless, after it is set and growing, further 

 care will be necessary to ensure its goodness ; for it is not 

 enough to have preserved a good crop of fruit on the trees, 

 and then leave them entirely to nature during the season of 

 their growth, but there will require some skill and attend- 

 ance on the trees, to help nature, or supply the deficiency of 

 seasons ; for besides the pruning and training trees in the 

 manner before directed, there will also be wanting some 

 management of their roots, according to the nature of the 

 soil and the difference of (he seasons. In all strong land, 

 where the ground is apt to bind very hard in dry weather, 

 the surface of the border should be now and then forked 

 over to loosen the earth, which will admit the showers and 

 dews to penetrate and moisten the ground, will destroy 

 the weeds, and also forward the growth of the trees and 

 fruit. If the soil be light and dry, in droughty seasons 

 large hollows should be made round the steins of the 

 trees to hold water; and into each of these there should be 

 poured eight or nine pots of water, which should be repeated 

 once in a week or ten clays, during the months of June and 

 July, in dry seasons. There should also be some mulch laid 

 over the surface of these hollows, to prevent the sun and air 

 from drying the ground. Where this is done, the fruit will 

 be kept constantly growing, and prove large and plump; 

 whereas if it be omitted, the fruit will often turn out small, 

 track, and even fall off from the trees ; for if the fruit be 

 once stinted in its gro\9th, and rain should fall plentifully 

 after, it will occasion a great quantity of fruit to fall off the 

 trees; and those which remain to ripen, will not keep so long 

 as those which never received any check in their growth: 

 and it is from this cause that some years the fruit in general 

 decays before the usual time; for after it has been some 

 time stinted in its growth, if the season prove favourable, it 

 receives a sudden supply of juice, a. id becomes so distended 

 that the vessels burst, and the fruit loses its firmness, and 

 decays. Some dressing should be laid on the ground near 

 these fruit-trees in autumn, after they are pruned. This 

 dressing should be different, according to the natuieof the 

 Boil. If the land be warm and dry, then the dressing should 

 be of very lotten dung, mixed with loam; and if this be 

 mixed six or eight months before it is laid upon the borders, 

 and thro? or four times turned over, it will be the better; and 

 so will the mixture, if it be cow's or hog's dung, both which 

 are colder than horse-dung, and therefore more proper for 

 hot land. But in cold stiff land, lotten horse-dung, mixed 

 with light sandy earth, or sea-coal ashes, will be most proper, 

 as it will loosen tiie ground and add a warmth to it. These 

 dressings should be repeated every other year, otherwise the 

 trees will not thrive so wdl, nor the fruit be so good, for the 

 VOL. u. 102. 



finest fruit in England is produced on land which is most 

 dunged and worked. Wherever the ground in the quarters is 

 well dressed and trenched, the fruit-trees will partake of the 

 benefit ; for as they advance in their growth, their roots 

 extend to a greater distance from each stem, and it is chiefly 

 from the distant roots that the trees are supplied with their 

 nourishment; and hence dressing the borders only will not be 

 sufficient for old fruit-trees. In gathering of Pears, great 

 regard should be had to the bud which is formed at the 

 bottom of the footstalk, for the next year's blossoms, which, 

 by forcing off the Pear before il. be mature, is many times 

 spoiled ; for while the fruit is growing, there is always a bud 

 formed by the side of the footstalk upon the same spur, for 

 the next year's fruit; but when the Pears are ripe, if they 

 be gently turned upward, the footstalk will readily part from 

 the spur, without injuring the bud. The season for gather- 

 ing all summer Pears is just as they are ripe, for none of 

 them will remain good above a day or two after they are 

 taken from the tree ; nor will many of the autumn Pears 

 keep good above ten days or a fortnight after they are 

 gathered. But the winter fruit should hang as long upon 

 the trees as the season will permit ; for they must not be 

 exposed to the frost, which will cause them to rot, and ren- 

 der their juices flat and ill-tasted; but if the weather continue 

 mild until the end of October, it will then be a good season 

 for gathering them in, which must always be done in dry 

 weather, and when the trees are perfectly dry. In doing 

 this, carefully avoid bruising them ; therefore you should 

 have a broad flat basket to lay them in as they are gathered ; 

 and when they are carried into the store- room, they should 

 be taken out singly, and each sort laid up in a close heap on 

 a dry place in order to sweat, where they may remain for 

 ten day_s or a fortnight, leaving the windows open to admit 

 the air, in order to carry off all the moisture perspired from 

 the fruit: after this the Pears should betaken singly, and 

 wiped dry with a woollen cloth, and then packed up in close 

 baskets, observing to put some wheat straw in the bottoms 

 and round the sides of the baskets, to prevent their bruising 

 against the baskets. And if some thick soft paper be laid 

 double or treble all round the basket, between the straw and 

 the Pears, it will prevent them from imbibing the musty 

 taste so often communicated to fruit when in contact with 

 straw ; which taste often penetrates so stronply through the 

 skin, that when the fruit is pared the taste will rem;iin. You 

 should also observe to put but one sort of fruit into a basket, 

 lest by their different fermentations they should rot each 

 other; but if you have enough of one sort to fill a basket 

 which holds two or three bushels, it will be still better. 

 After you have filled the baskets, yon must cover them over 

 with wheat-straw very close, first laying a covering of paper 

 two or three times double over the fruit, and fasten them 

 down ; then place these baskets in a close room, where they 

 may be kept dry, ad from frost; but the less air is let into 

 the room, the better the fruit will keep. It will be very 

 necessary to fix a label to each basket, denoting the sort of 

 fruit therein contained, which will save the trouble of opening: 

 them whenever you want to know the sorts of fruit ; for the 

 oftener they are opened before the season for eating, the 

 worse they will keep. Some imagine fruit cannot be laid too 

 thin ; for which reason they m-ake shelves to dispose them 

 singly upon, and are fond of admitting fresh air whenever 

 .;he weather is mild, supposing it necessary to preserve the 

 fruit ; but the reverse of this is found true, by those persona 

 who have large stocks of fruit laid up in their store-houses at 

 London, which remain closely shut up for several months, 

 in the manner before related ; and when these aie opened. 

 5R 



