GENESEE FARMER. 



April. 



Quince Stecks for Pears. 



BV S. *i. PERKINS, KiQ., BOSION. 



Thkkk is a strong prejudice in this country against Quince 

 >s«ediings as stocks on which Pears should be grafted ; but 

 l think, if the question is properly considered, it may be re- 

 moved. Firtit, it is said that they are sliort lived, and that 

 they die of diseases to which ihc' free or ^far stocks are not 

 liable. That they are shorter lived than pear stocks, there 

 IS no doubt ; but when we consider tliat they are brought 

 into bearing in a year or two after they are grafted, and when 

 quite small, while the pear stocks require many years to 

 bring fhem to the same advanced and fruitful" slate, we 

 thinlt, it is undeniably a compensation. 



It is also true that a pear stock may produce ten times as 

 much fruit, when full-grown as a quince .stock, but the ad- 

 vaatages are perhaps fully balanced in other ways, as fol- 

 lows : Tear stocks must be planted at least thir/y feet apart, 

 and even at this distance, when grown to any size, they 

 will shade so much of your gronndias to interfere seriously 

 with its cultivation ; the roots also extend in proportion to 

 the he^ad, and exhaust of course, so much soil as they cov- 

 er. Now quince stocks may be planted within ten feet of 

 ^ach other, and have room enough for their heads ; while 

 iheir roots, being all fibrous, are circumscribed in their 

 growth, requiring very small space, and exhausting none of 

 the soil under cultivation, and their heads shade no sround 

 111 consequence of being limited by pr/inmg, to six-feet in 

 diameter, and not being allowed to extend upward more 

 than eight or ten feet. 



On an area sixty feet square, you may plant four pear 

 stocks ; these will shade with their branches, and exhaust 

 with their roots, at least one-half of this square. On such 

 a lot, you may place around its borders fire/if>j quince stocks, 

 which will neither shade the ground, nor exhaust its soil. 

 These stocks will })roduc.? you fine ineliin,<i fruit with cer- 

 tainty, if taken care of, while all the care of tlie gardener 

 and proprietor united, will not prevent some kinds of pears 

 from canker, cracks, and blight, if produced on pear stocks. 



"But," say the advocates for pear stocks, " the quince is 

 subject to be destrpyed by the borer !" 



This is true, and so is every thing subject lo be destroyed 

 m one way or another, if it is not taken care of, by those 

 whose duty it is to look after them. 



1 have nearly or quite a thoasand pears on quince stocks 

 in my garden, and i doubt if any one cultivating an equal 

 number of pear stocks of the same size, has for the last 

 rwenty-five years, lost as few trees as 1 have. 



With respect to the iwrers, if care be taken lo examine 

 the trees twice a year, without fail, say in the middle of 

 June, and the middle of October. tliereWill be few or no 

 borer.? in the garden. There is little or no trouble or labor 

 in this, if it be done regularly. My gardener will examine 

 and destroy all borers that he finds" in six or seven hundred 

 trees, in a day. I have counted seven hundred and thirty- 

 four trees, which he had examined in that time. Thi's, 

 therefore, is no herculean trouble or labor. 



These quince stock pear trees may be fruited on all sides 

 by judicious pruning, from the top to the bottom, within a 

 foot of the ground ; and as the melting or soft-fleshed pears, 

 which are called Beicrres, are much better on these than 

 they are on the pear stocks, you may have more good fruit 

 on your quince, than you can get on your pear stocks. 



If you want trees to plant in grass gruwiid. I should rec- 

 ommend pear stocks ])y all means ; but in gardens I should 

 choose to have the bulk of my fruit on quinces. 



If you undertake lo raise pears on seedlings, or layers of 

 one or two years old, you will find how much sooner they 

 get their fruit on quinces. Quince layers are very easily 

 obtained by any one having quince trees in iheir g'rounds. 

 The Portugal Qu'ince tree is the best to sirike from, as they 

 grow more freely and larger than the common sort, and will 

 increase with the growth of the pear scion that is put into 

 it ; but this, the common sort will not do. Hut il is much 

 cheaper, and more sure, to import from France, both your 

 seedling paars and quince layers, if yoti wish to cullivale a 

 nursery. 



I have now in my garden, many pear trees on quince bot- 

 toms, growing both ns standards and as espaliers, which 

 -.vera planted iipward.« of twenty years ago. They are both j 

 in perfect health, and fuU-boaring every summer. The only i 

 objection to the standard pear stock is, that if left to itself, j 

 its head grows too largo for its roots to support it steadily ;7i I 



j the ground, but tliis objection does not apply lo the espaliers. 

 It is therefore Lest to keep their heads pruned within limit- 

 ed dimensions, if you raise ihem as standards, but qiiince 

 bottoms are far preferable for espaliers to pear stocks. 



Pears on quince stocks vdll live to a good age, if taken 

 care of, and no exciting manure be allowed to come to their 

 roots. If they become weakly, apply fresh, virgin eoil to 

 the roots in the room of manure. — Hortku/ti/risf. 



Remarks. — We are g]ad to be able lo lay 

 such a communication as the above before the 

 i-eadei-s of the Farmer. Mr. Perkins is one of 

 the most careful and experienced Pear growers 

 in this country, and his commendations we con- 

 sider of great weight. 



We have, at several times, within two years 

 past, recommended this mode of cultivating the 

 Pear, on account of the great advantages it of- 

 fers, as correctly stated by Mr. Perkins. It is 

 a matter of no small importance to the owners of 

 small gardens and limited grounds, to grow twen- 

 ty varirties or ticenty trees on tlie same area that 

 Jfour would occupy, and at the same time to gpt 

 fruit Ihree, four, and even six years sooner. 



''New Names.'' 



Mr. Editor : — In the February number of 

 the " Farmer," I noticed a remark under; the 

 head of "Swan's Orange Pear," on which I 

 wish to say a few words. It appears from the 

 tenor of the piece that the writer is not in favor 

 of rejecting "populal- names," and yet in the 

 closing paragraph he says, "It seems that every 

 man who finds a fruit he does not happen to be 

 acquainted with, wants to give it a name of his 

 own. The Horticulturist should discountenance 

 this." If by this remark the writer means sim- 

 ply the "finder," (as I suppose he does,) and 

 not the "originator," of a fruit, I fully ag*«e 

 with him. In regard to the "originator,"' 1 would 

 say, no one has a better riglit than he, to give a 

 name, and even the " finder" of an old, and to 

 him hitlierto nameless variety, may have, the 

 same right, subject, however, to a change, if it 

 should afterward be found tliat said fruit had been 

 previously known by another name. In natural 

 science, " whoever is first in the field has the ex- 

 clusive right to give names." Successors should 

 either adopt these, or give them as " synonyms." 

 I consider the same rule to hold in regard to 

 " originators" of new varieties of fruit. On this 

 ground I would contend for " Swan's Orange 

 Pear," and " Reed's Seedling," as the proj)er 

 names of the fruits no\s- known by these names. 

 " Tlie Horticulturist," I think. " slioukl countr- 

 nance this." H. 



Our correspondent is right — we are not in fa- 

 vor of rejecting popular names. The person 

 who may happen to meet with a fruit, new to 

 him, should, instead of at once naming it, find 

 out, if possible, its popular name, and adhere io 

 tliat. If it should prove to be a new or unknbXvn 

 variety, then, as "H."says, he has a right to 

 name it. — Eo. ^ ' 



