49 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. r845v 



About the commencement of the present century, 

 the most extensive catalogues published in France, 

 which then was foremost m the culture of the pear, 

 did not exceed 180 or 190 sorts, and msst of these 

 are now superseded by recent productions. The 

 world may now be said to be rick in this delicious 

 fruit, and'the great subject of inquiry and research 

 at present seems to be, what system of culture is the 

 best adapted to spread the benefita sf theso vast im- 

 provements- amongst the tillers of the soil, — to place 

 them within the reach of every man who owns a 

 square rod of earth, and ih.!i% in the shortest period of 

 time ? The importance of this question has, for se- 

 veral years past, been fully appreciated in Europe ; 

 and multitudes of experiments have been made by 

 practical fruit-growers, with a view to discover a 

 method of inducing early fruitfulness, and adapting 

 them to garden culture. 



We have felt a deep interest in this svibject. We 

 were aware that the great mass of the people of 

 this country were discouraged from attempting to 

 cultivate the }7ear ot> aecouat of the length of time 

 it requires, usually, to bring it into a bearing state ; 

 it being a very common sayirg. that if you do plant 

 a pear tree, you need not expect to live to see it 

 bear ; or, as il has been said poetically- — 



lie that plants pcnrs, 

 Plants lor his heirs. 



This obstacle in the way of tlie general culture 

 of the pear has, as vve have remarked, awakened a 

 spirit of investigation on the subject, that, so far, has 

 been attended with the most cheering success. 



B.ooi Pruning and Groicing 07i (Quince Stocks, 

 after being thoroughly tested by the most skilful 

 and practiced fruit-growers for eight or ten years,. 

 have been found eminently successful in obviating 

 the objections we have mentioned. A treatise on 

 the subject, the result of eight years' careful expe- 

 rience, by T. Rivers, of the Sawbridgeworth Nur- 



series, near London, was read before the London 

 Horticultural Society in 1840, and shortly after pub- 

 lished in Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture, in this 

 country. 



Mr. Rivers states, in his treatise, that he was fed 

 to the discovery of the benefits of this system in 

 the endeavor to test his specimen trees. His object 

 was to confine them to a small space, and promote 

 early fruitfulness. After resorting to several me- 

 thods, such as planting in brick pits, plunging in 

 large pots, fee, all of which were expensive and un- 

 satisfactory, the idea of" frequent transplanting oc- 

 curred to hiin, from observing that some apple trees 

 in his nursery, that bad been removed one or two 

 consecutive years, had " acquired a stunted and pro- 

 lific habit, making abundance of bloom-buds, and 

 bearing profusely." These trees, he found, had no 

 large feeding roots, but only a mass of fibres. " It 

 then occurred to me," he says, " if I coiild keep the 

 roots of my pear trees in a iibrous state, by frequent 

 removals, I should make them acquire the stunted 

 and prolific habit I had so long observed in the ap- 

 ples. In attempting to remove my pear trees, a se- 

 cond thought occurred, that it would be less trouble 

 to dig a trench round them, and cut all their roots at 

 a certain di.-3tance from the stem: and this complete- 

 ly ftdfilled my anticipations. I have pruned thus ra- 

 dically for five seasons, and with the most satisfac- 

 tory results." This is the basis of this new and im- 

 proved mfithod of fruiting the pear. At the tun 

 this treatise was publishe.^, it excited great interest, 



and since then it has been thoroughly put to the 

 test, and the results, as far as we have been able to- 

 learn, have been highly satisfactory. We are 

 familiar with numerous instances where the 

 pear is succes&fuily cultivated, aa dwarfs, on 

 quince stocks, standing 6 feet apart, and bearing 

 abundanlh% We cannot ssy that wc have seen root 

 pruning fairly tested. 



Mj". Rivers published last summer, (1844,) in a 

 supplfemenfrto his catalogue, some additional inform- 

 ation on this subiect, the result of still farther expe- 

 rience. ISs system is illustrated by engravings of 

 the trees,, roots, and tops, trained in the several me- 

 thods. We copy tiie anne:ied figure from " Hovey's 

 Magazine,'" which represents a pear tree trained ia 

 the pyramidical form, accompanied by the explana- 

 tory Remarks cf Mr. Rivers : 



Tlio adjoining' cut ia &-, 

 portiaitof a tree, of I>oii- 

 ise Bonne, of Jersey, ta- 

 lieti lierc in antiimn, 1843;h 

 t!ie tree four yenrs old, six 

 feet in heicht, grafted on. 

 a quince stoclt, and root - 

 j)rutied. This approaches 

 to Hic pyramidal shape, so 

 well adapted to i<raall gar- 

 dr^ns ; for trees of this- 

 form ma5' be jdantcd six 

 feet apart, citlicr in a> 

 fquare appropriated to 

 them, or in rows by fhn 

 fides of garden walks,. 

 The adjoining wa? one of 

 a group, all of which were 

 laden with fine frnit — EOi 

 much so, tljat they re- 

 quired to be fastened tc 

 stui;es. It will be scmi 

 that its roots an a mass of 

 fibres, showing the etiects. 

 of root - pruning. Thn- 

 tree was taken up, that 

 the artist n:ight give it, 

 with its roots, exactly af- 

 ter nature, or rather art.. 

 The pyramidal form, isv 

 perhaps, of ail shapes the 

 most eilgible for pears in 

 the open quarters, aa 

 scarcely any pruning or 

 their branches is required. 

 By merely going over the- 

 trees in June and July,, 

 and pinching off the enda- 

 of the side shoots to with- 

 in two or three buds nC 

 their base, they soon be- 

 come well furnished with 

 bearing shoots, and as- 

 sume a close pyramidal' 

 form. The height of the 

 trees may be regulated by 

 fancy : from six to eighS 

 feet seems the most eligi- 

 ble. Nothing can be more 

 interesting than these py- 

 ramidaV trees when in full 

 bearioff ; indeed, they are 

 perfectly beautiful, and 

 their fruit, from being ful- 

 ly c\pi«<ed to thn sun, aro- 

 ahvays fine and high fla- 

 vored. 



Pear Tree 

 trained in the rijrumidal form. 



We are anxious to turn public attention to this 

 subject, so that every family may enjoy, if possible, 

 an abundance of choice pears. Wc shall publish, in 

 a future number, the detailed method of root pruning 

 of Mr. Rivers. We woulil add, that trees propaga- 

 ted on quince stocks, intended for this mode of cul- 

 ture, are to be fovmd at the Mount Hope Nurseries, 

 as will be seen bv reference to the advertising col- 

 umns. They are'of large size, full of bearing-buds, 

 and will produce fruit the year after being trans- 

 planted. 



