

PROPAGATION OF THE PEAR. 195 



cultivation previously mentioned. But in many localities, 

 pear seedlings, which are always remarkably free from 

 fibrous or lateral roots the first year, are drawn out by the 

 freezing of the soil, and either destroyed or greatly injured. 

 Several modes have been proposed to prevent this result, 

 and have been tried to a greater or less extent. One, is to 

 induce the emission of lateral roots, by taking up the young 

 seedlings from the thickly sown beds, early in the season 

 and as soon as four leaves have appeared, cut off their tap 

 roots, and reset them in the nursery rows. Robert Nelson, 

 of Newburyport, Mass., has pursued this course with great 

 success ; but its general utility may be questioned, except 

 during a rainy period or on favorable soils, unless abundant 

 watering is given. A more easy as well as safe mode would 

 perhaps be to cut off the tap roots, at the same age, by 

 means of a sharp spade thrust beneath the soil, and without 

 transplanting. Neither of these modes could be successfully 

 applied except to large, vigorous seedlings, growing in a 

 deep, rich soil. 



But where the growth of lateral roots has not been ef- 

 fected, and the consequent danger greater, of their being 

 drawn upwards by frost, much protection may be given 

 them by covering the whole ground with forest leaves to a 

 depth of several inches ; and if the rows are near each 

 other, and the trees several inches or a foot high, they will 

 prevent the leaves from being swept off by the winds. The 

 incursion of mice may be avoided by placing the seed-beds 

 as near as practicable to the middle of a clean plowed field, 

 and by encircling the ground with a bank or ridge of fresh 

 earth, thrown up for this purpose, about a foot high. Mice 

 will not pass such a boundary under the snow. 



Taking up the seedlings late in autumn, and burying 

 them in a cellar, or laying them in b)^ the roots and nearly 

 covering the whole stems, will preserve them safely ; but 

 this mode is liable to the objection of the check in growth 

 necessarily given in transplanting. 



Budding and Grafting may be performed the second 

 summer if the stocks have made a good growth. The ma- 

 nagement of the young trees is the same as with apples, by 

 grafting or budding near the surface of the ground, and 

 heading down trimming, and cultivation. But as peal 



