53 



summers are rather short for ripening the fruit and wood of these 

 plants. 



There is a tendency in many varieties of trees to form strong central 

 growths at the expense of the side branches, more especially while the 

 plants are young. Pruning these strong shoots in winter only increases 

 the evil, unless summer pruning is attended to by pinching out the ends 

 of every shoot before it gains sufficient headway to injure the growth 

 of the lower branches. Strong growths should be pruned in summer 

 and weak ones in winter. In the management of hedges, where uni- 

 formity of growth is all important, this rule should constantly be kept 

 in view. 



When the size of a tree is the only object sought, summer pruning 

 should not be practiced. But it may be said that pruning of any kind 

 is a negative operation, and probably it is within the limits of possibility 

 that trees may be trained to any form and maintained in a fruitful con- 

 dition without any instrumental pruning whatever, unless to remedy 

 disease and casualties. It is much easier, for instance, to rub off a bud 

 in May than it is to cut out a branch in December; and if a judicious 

 system of disbudding and pinching was strictly followed there would 

 be no occasion for winter pruning ; or, were it possible to place a tree 

 in such a soil, and under such conditions that it would only make a 

 moderate growth of well-matured wood, little, if any, prunning would 

 be required. But as all of these conditions are difficult to realize in 

 in happy combination, we have to resort to pruning, and a knowledge 

 of the principles involved will materially assist the operator. 



EEMAEKS ON PEAR CULTUEE. 



The value of the pear as a domestic fruit is second only to that of 

 the apple. For culinary purposes the latter is probably more highly 

 esteemed, but for the dessert the pear is almost universally held as 

 much superior. The pear tree is hardy and attains to a great age, 

 greater, it is conceded, than the apple, notwithstanding the popular im- 

 pression that it is subject to more casualties and is not so enduring. 

 History proves that the pear is of very ancient cultivation, although 

 it has not been so largely or so generally planted as the apple ; various 

 reasons may have influenced this discrimination, the most prominent of 

 which are the greater care required in harvesting the crop, and the 

 difficulty of keeping and ripening the fruit to its highest degree of per- 

 fection. Even at the present time the management of the finest varie- 

 ties is far from being generally understood. The prevailing opinion 

 that the tree is constitutionally tender, and more subjected to diseases 

 and casualties than other fruit trees, has undoubtedly exerted a strong 

 influence against its extended culture ; but, however much these rea- 

 sons may have gained credence in the past, they have now lost their 

 efficacy, and many extensive pear orchards have been planted during 

 the past fifteen years, and their number is constantly increasing. 



