PLANTING AND AFTER MANAGEMENT. 



51 



In planting pear trees on the quince stock, it is 

 quite necessary that the stock should be covered up to 

 its junction with the graft. This joining of the graft 

 to the stock is generally very evident, even to the 

 most ignorant in gardening matters ; it usually as- 

 sumes the form as given in Fig. 11, a. 



If the soil be not excessively wet, 

 the tree may be placed in a hole, say 

 three feet in diameter and eighteen 

 inches deep, in the usual way, so that 

 the upper roots are slightly above the 

 level of the surface, as the tree will 

 always settle down two or three inches 

 the first season after planting. Some 

 of the light compost recommended in 

 page 19 should be filled in, and the 

 tree well shaken, so that it is thor- 

 oughly mingled with its roots. The 

 compost must then be trodden down ; 

 and so far the planting is finished. The earth should 

 then be placed round the stem, and formed into a 

 mound, which should cover the stock up to, but not 

 abow, the junction of the graft with the stock, in 

 order to encourage it to emit roots into the surface 

 soil, and to keep it (the stock) from becoming hard 

 and " bark-bound." 



To make this emission of roots more certain, the 

 stem may be tongued, as usual in layering i. e., the 

 bark must be cut through upward from the root, and 

 a slip about one inch in length raised (see Fig. 11, 5, 

 S, which are the raised pieces of bark) ; and these 

 raised pieces of bark must be kept open by inserting 



FlQ. 11. 



