PEARS. 373 



them ; by this method, many of the most vigorous will at- 

 tain a height of six or seven feet the first year of their 

 growth, and make fine standards the second, whilst those 

 sorts possessing less vigour will come in the year following. 



For Dwarfs, those which have been grafted are the best, 

 as the plant divides itself into branches the first year, and 

 more regularly so than those which have been obtained from 

 buds will in the second. 



Those for training en quenouille, as just stated, must be 

 propagated upon the Quince, this stock having a similar 

 effect upon the Pear to that of the Apple by the Doucin 

 stock, diminishing its vigour and increasing its fertility. 



PRUNING AND TRAINING. 



SECT. I. Open Standards 



There is not any particular management required for 

 standard Pears that is not applicable to the Apple, as de- 

 tailed under that head. The principal thing to be attended 

 to at first is to have the tree with a straight healthy stem, 

 and a head composed of four equally strong well-placed 

 shoots. 



All open standards should be taken as soon as planted, to 

 keep their stems straight, perfectly upright, and to secure 

 them against high winds. 



If the branches in the head are equal in strength, and well 

 placed, they will not require to be pruned back, but must be 

 allowed to grow at their full length, unless the sort be one 

 of a pendent growth ; in this case, more than four shoots 

 will be required, as this number generally bends downwards, 

 and must be augmented by others to form the upper part of 

 the head. This is to be effected by heading down the four 

 shoots to six inches at the end of the second year after the 

 tree has been planted, and when it has got a firm hold of the 

 soil ; for the greater its vigour at this time, the more up- 

 right will its young shoots be directed ; and on the contrary, 

 young shoots from weak trees -of this description are chiefly 

 pendent. 



As the heads become enlarged from year to year, they 

 must be looked over, to keep them thin of wood, and to re- 

 move any branch which is likely, by its further progress, to 

 injure any of the others : the pendent growers will require 

 more attention paid to them in this respect than the upright, 

 32 



