50 THE MINIATURE FRUIT GARDEN. 



plying their roots with a dressing of leaf-mold, sand, 

 and rotten manure, equal parts. Powdered charcoal, 

 or the ashes of burnt turf and rotten manure, also 

 make an excellent root-dressing for cold heavy soils ; 

 but if the soil be dry and poor, and unfavorable to 

 the peach and nectarine, loam and rotten manure is 

 the best dressing for the roots, and also for the surface. 



PLANTING AND AOTEK MANAGEMENT. 



Pyramidal pear trees of from three to five years old 

 on the quince stock, root-pruned, and full of blossom- 

 buds, may now be purchased. Trees of this descrip- 

 tion should,. if possible, be planted before Christmas; 

 but if the soil be very tenacious, the holes may be 

 opened in the autumn, and the trees planted in 

 February ; the soil will be mellowed and benefited 

 by the frosts of winter. 1 



Pear trees grafted on the quince stock offer a curi- 

 ous anomaly, for if they are removed quite late in 

 spring say toward the end of March, when their 

 blossom-buds are just on the point of bursting they 

 will bear a fine and often an abundant crop of fruit. 

 This is sometimes owing to the blossoms being re- 

 tarded, and thus escaping the spring frosts ; but it has 

 so often occurred here when no frosts have visited us 

 that I notice it in fact, no trees bear late removal so 

 well as pears on quince stocks. 



1 The roots of pear trees on the quince stock, and, indeed, of all root-pruned 

 trees are very fibrous. In planting, it is good practice to give each tree two 

 shovelfuls of fine earth or mold rather dry to place it on the roots and shake the 

 tree, so that the mold is well mixed with the mass of fibrous roots. Before the 

 soil is all filled in, three or four gallons of water should be poured in, so as to wash 

 the earth into every crevice. The roots should not be crammed into a small holo. 

 A tree, with its roots 18 inches in diameter, will require a hole 2 J feet in diameter, 

 and so on in proportion. 



