THE PEAR. 123 



STANDARD PEAR TREES. 



Standard trees are not adapted for gardens ; their 

 proper place is the orchard, where they should stand 

 ten or fifteen yards apart. Standards being too fre- 

 quently neglected, left entirely to themselves in fact, 

 often grown on one side, the branches run into confu- 

 sion, and the middle of the tree becomes so thick that 

 the light cannot penetrate ; and this part of the tree 

 remains completely barren. 



To prevent these inconveniences, the tree must be 

 trained so that the principal branches at the summit 

 ray out regularly from the trunk, first in a horizontal 

 direction, then a little depressed, then vertically. The 

 head of the tree being kept open, the branches will 

 grow somewhat in the form of a goblet. There 

 will be as great an extent of branches if trained in 

 this regular manner, and the light being able to pene- 

 trate the interior surface, the produce will be doubled. 



In order to obtain standard trees of the form just 

 described, the following course must be pursued : 



We suppose the trees to have been grafted, standard 

 high, a year after plantation in the orchard. The first 

 year after grafting we only allow two, three, or four 

 shoots to grow, according to the degree of vigour of 

 vegetation ; the shoots must be left to grow at equal 

 distances round the stem. The superfluous shoots must 

 be pinched off when they have grown about four 

 inches. The equal growth of the reserved shoots must 

 be carefully maintained one must not be allowed to 



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