CHAPTER V 



MODERN PEARS AND PEAR-GROWING 



THE Pear is equally suitable with the Apple for culture 

 as a cordon, and under a proper system of propagation 

 and general management the old fear of slow bearing 

 may be dismissed. 



The Pear is, however, a more complex fruit than the 

 Apple, and it does not yield to modern " hustling " 

 methods of expediting cropping without exacting certain 

 conditions. For example, one of the first essentials to 

 quick fruiting is healthy establishment on the Quince 

 stock, which is the same precocious foster-mother to the 

 Pear that the Paradise stock is to the Apple. But while 

 the great majority of Apples unite readily with the 

 Paradise stock it cannot be said that most of the best 

 Pears take kindly to the Quince, and many have to be 

 grafted on to a sister Pear which will itself grow readily 

 on the Quince. 



This curious fact creates an immediate complication. 

 It means that the grower who is also a propagator must 

 acquaint himself (i) with the names of varieties which 

 will make good foster-mothers, in the first place because 

 they will unite readily with the Quince, and in the second 

 because the majority of other Pears will take kindly to 

 them ; (2) with those Pears which it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to " wet-nurse " in order to ensure successful 

 results. 



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