224 PKUOTNG. 



The French conduct it in beantiful pyramids, on pre- 

 cisely the same principle as the pear and apple ; bnt the 

 leading shoot must be kept fastened to an upright sup- 

 port — a small rod attached to the base — on account of its 

 reclining^ habit. The medlar is but little cultivated. Its 

 treatment may be exactly similar to that described for the 

 quince, its habits of growth and bearing being similar. 



Section 3. — Petjnino the Cheery. 



The cherry is conducted in any desirable form with as 

 much facility as any of all our hardy fruit trees. The 

 heart and higarreau classes are very rapid growers, often 

 attaining the height of six feet the first season from the 

 bud or 2:raft, and in two years formino; fine standard trees 

 six to seven feet high, with a few top shoots. They have 

 also large, drooping leaves, and, with few excej^tions, stifi*, 

 erect, or slightly curved branches. 



The chd'e class does not grow so rapidly. The branches 

 are stifl' and erect, the leaves smaller as a general thing 

 than the preceding classes, more erect, thicker, and of a 

 deeper, darker green color. 



The raorellos are of a bushy habit, with smaller leaves 

 than any of the preceding classes, and the branches are 

 more slender and closer together. The bark of all is very 

 tough, being composed of several layers of poAverful 

 fibres and tissue. It does not yield readily, like that of 

 most other fruit trees, to the expansion or growth of the 

 wood- and this occasions the burstino; and exudino; of 2:um 

 in certain localities, especially in the more rapid growing 

 classes. The mode of bearing has already been described 

 under the head of fruit branches, in the beginning of the 

 work. The fruit is produced on wood tln-ee years old 

 thus : The shoot of last year's growth, wliich is furnished 

 now with leaf buds in all its length, will produce at the 



