94 PROFITABLE FRUIT-GROWING. 



are much the easier to manage. These are the 

 t-ees for cottagers and busy working-men to pro- 

 duce, and the nearer they approach the specimen, 

 fig. 30, page 93, the better, It is a splendid tree 

 of Pitmaston Duchess Pear, twelve years old, 

 fifteen feet high, and nearly as much in diameter. 

 Any fruiterer would have given 2 for the crop 

 last year, before it was gathered, and it was as 

 good the year previous, this year it is not. The 

 best of fruit-trees cannot be depended upon to bear 

 uniformly every year. The branches appear 

 crowded, but that is the consequence of the enor- 

 mous reduction by photography, to represent such 

 a large tree in the small space. The branches are 

 more than a foot apart, indeed, sufficiently distant 

 for the sun and air to play amongst them, hence 

 the fruiting spurs the whole length of the branches, 

 and the heavy crops of splendid fruit produced. 

 The tree is on the Pear stock, and growing in soil 

 that is good to a depth of two or three feet. It 

 is standing evidence of the truth of Mr. Shirley 

 Hibberd's aphorism, namely : "IT MUST NEVER 



BE FORGOTTEN THAT FRUIT IS THE PRODUCT OF CUL- 

 TIVATED LAND AND CULTIVATED TALENT" a Sen- 



tence which should stand out bold and clear, and 

 be committed to memory by every person who is 

 engaged, or about to engage, in the occupation of 



