202 PEAR TREE, 



truit. These buds are placed at the side of the foot 

 stalk of the fruit, and, if the spurs are broken, there 

 will be no fruit on that part the next season. The press- 

 ing against the trees, therefore, with heavy ladders, and 

 the rash practice of thrashing the limbs with poles, ought 

 to be entirely abandoned ; for by such means, the bark 

 and limbs are bruised, and the blossom buds for the suc- 

 ceeding year are destroyed. Instead of ladders, step- 

 ping frames should be employed, and a pole, furnished 

 with a hook at the end, and covered with coarse cloth, 

 may be used to shake the small limbs, without injuring 

 the bark. When perfectly ripe, apples for cider may 

 be shaken off without injury to the buds, but still they 

 will be bruised, unless the ground be covered with blan- 

 kets or straw. Particular care is requisite in gathering 

 winter fruit for keeping: they should be gathered by 

 the hand, and without injury, lemoving them from the 

 gathering basket to the casks prepared for them, with 

 great care : if bruised, they soon decay ; and the less 

 those that are sound are moved, the better. When in 

 barrels, they should be placed in a dry, cool, shaded sit- 

 \iation, above ground, and remain until danger by frost, 

 and then put into the cellar. If apples are packed in 

 layers with clean and perfectly dry sand, late in October, 

 they will keep much longer, and be in a much better 

 condition to ship to a distant market. Some persons 

 construct shelves in a cellar secure against frost, and 

 place their apples separately upon them, and iind an ad- 

 vantage in saving their fruit over to the spring, which 

 fully repays the expense. This is considered in the end 

 as cheap as barrels. If put together in large parcels, in 

 very warm cellars, they heat, and then they rot ; and, 

 fho e of them that happen not to rot, lose their flavor. 



PEAR TREE. 



This tree will grow better on a stiff clay, than most 

 •ther fruit trees ; but the soils which best suit the ap- 

 pletree are also most suitable for it. Most of the direc- 

 tions already detailed, relative to the cultivati* n of the 

 appletree, may be applied to that of the pear tree. 



Pear trees require but little pruning, comparatively 

 frith the apple tres, and if carried to excels, proves 



