P Y R 



P Y R 



icow-dungwitb wood-ashes, and with your fore- 

 tingt.'r rub in a little ot this Composition where 

 voii made the scarification; as the wound heal?, 

 the Composition will be discharged troni the 

 fruit ; this will prevent the pears trcnn cracking 

 and burstina:, which renders iliein good I'or no- 

 thing. Tl'.e sorts that are most liable to this dis- 

 order are, he observes, the Colmor, Virgou- 

 leuse, and Crasane. lie only, however, recom- 

 mends this operation for w all pears, as it may 

 be thou2;ht by some a troublesome operation, 

 and it will certainly take up some time." 



The maturity of the pear is generally known 

 by its changing from a green to a yellow or 

 reddish colour. Sec, and by the frequent falling 

 from the tree, and when with a gentle twist or 

 turn upwards, it easily quits its hold ; but these 

 sio'ns of ripeness are more particularly observable 

 in'Summer and Autmnn pears ; as Winter pears 

 not being maturely ripe when gathered, often re- 

 quire a good pull before they quit the branches. 

 The Sunnner pears ripen in succession in dif- 

 ferent sorts, from about the beginning or mid- 

 dle of July till the middle of September; many 

 of the earliest ripening all at once, as it were, 

 and continuing good but a few days, either on 

 the tree or when gathered, nor will any of the 

 sorts keep good long ; and none of these sorts 

 should hang on the tree till soft ripe, as in that 

 case most of them would be mealy and insipid. 

 These sorts should be gathered as soon as they 

 are arrived to full growth, and just begin to co- 

 lour and discover maturity, but before they be- 

 come soft and mellow. For family use, they 

 may be gathered from ihe tree according as they 

 attain perfection ; but the general crops of each 

 sort should be always taken down before they 

 ripen fully, and be laid in any dry room; none 

 of the kiiids will keep long, son)e only a few 

 days, and scarcelv any of them above a fortnight, 

 though from diflerent varieties ripening at dif- 

 ferent times, the succession is continued for 

 eight or ten weeks. 



The Autumn sorts ripen in diflerent varieties, 

 from about the middle of September till the end 

 of October ; some of the forwardcst become 

 eatable on the tree, others requiring to lie some 

 time after being gath.ered before they acquire 

 perfection. The different sorts of these pears 

 should be cathered according as they arrive to 

 maturity: "those designed to keep some time, 

 may be c^thercd in dry weather, just when they 

 have attained full growth, as shown by their 

 frequent dropping, and by their readily quitting 

 the trees on being handled, and laid in a dry 

 close room, or in baskets, each sort separately. 

 The Winter kinds attain their full growth on 

 the trees about the end of October or beginning 



of November; but the eatable kinds do not ac- 

 quire m.aturity for that purpose on the tree, or 

 for some considerable time after they are ga- 

 thered, some probably in a month, others two 

 or three, aird some more, and some sorts not 

 till the spring following. But the baking kinds 

 may be used any time from October or Novem- 

 ber during their continuance. 



All Wmtcr pears should be indulged with as 

 full growth on the tree as the weather will per- 

 mit, even until the end of October or first week 

 in November in the later kinds, if the season con- 

 tinues mild : be cautious, however, to get them 

 gathered before attacked bv much fros^ And 

 in gathering all the sorts for keeping, dry wea- 

 ther should be chosen, and uhen the fruit is 

 also quite dry, being careful not to bruise them. 

 See Fruit. 



Forcing of Pears. — These sorts of trees are 

 sometimes forced by artificial heat, in some 

 of the prime early sunnner kiiuls, to obtain 

 a portion of fruit as early in the season as 

 possible. This is effected by means of hot- 

 walls and forcing frames; having previously 

 some trees of the choicest early summer pears, 

 such as the Jargonelle, or any other early sort, 

 trained as wall-trees against a south wall, till 

 advanced to S(jme tolerable state of bearing ; be- 

 ing then inclosed with glass frames, in the man- 

 ner of forcing-frames or hot-walls, and having 

 internally either flues for fire heat, erected for- 

 ward and extending long-ways, or otherwise a 

 pit arranged in that direction, in the interval 

 space between the trees and the glass-work, for 

 a bark or dung hot-bed ; and by one or other of 

 these methods a proper degree of artificial heat 

 is produced internally to force an early growth 

 in the trees, and forward them to early flowering 

 and fruiting, managing them in the common 

 way, as other trees in foreinc-frames, so as 

 to have some ripe fruit early in June, or some 

 time in that month. 



Culture ill the Apple Kind. — The whole of the 

 varieties of the apple were first accidentally ob- 

 tained by raising them from the kernels of the 

 fruit ; but as these cannot be depended upon to 

 continue the same sort of fruit, grafting is the 

 mode made use of to increase and continue the 

 different varieties of them, which is perform- 

 ed upon Crab, or any kind of Apple stocks, 

 raised from the kernels, for dwarfs as well as 

 standards: and sometimes upoii Codlin and Pa- 

 radise Apple stocks raised from cuttings aini lay- 

 ers, when designed to have espaliers and other 

 dwarf trees, or for small standards, a^ low as 

 possible, to be confined within a moderate space: 

 some sorts may also be raised by layers and cut- 

 lings, as the common Codlin. 



