HEIGHT FOR THE LIMBS. 279 



bud, would be like that of a man in his prime to a 

 tender infant. They will become less liable to 

 injury in winter, as their wood is more firm, or to 

 remain stunted for several seasons, as the former are 

 likely to do. 



The height from the ground at which the lower 

 limbs of the standard pear should grow is about 

 two and one-half to three feet, and with yarieties of 

 weeping habit, perhaps a little more. The old 

 method was to train them much lower ; but it was 

 found that these limbs trailed upon the ground, 

 and rendered their fruit almost worthless. Most 

 inexperienced persons ask for trees limbed so high 

 that a horse can cultivate under them. The admit- 

 tance of such cultivation into an orchard of pear 

 trees, planted as near together as we should advise, 

 is of very doubtful propriety. Even if the trees 

 were sufficiently far apart for such an operation, 

 the danger of scalding the trunk from the sun 

 should not be risked for a matter of so little con- 

 venience. 



The height is too often considered as a crite- 

 rion of the value ; so that, for a certain class of 

 purchasers, the strength must be sacrificed to satisfy 

 them : but the true value of a tree should be esti- 

 mated by the size of the butt, or trunk, at the ground. 

 To produce a stocky plant, the top is kept pruned 

 back, which makes the tree very sturdy ; while, for 



