136 FRUIT GARDEN. 



acidity. To what extent this hohls good has not been 

 correctly ascertained, but that the stock exerts a certain 

 degree of influence on the fruit is beyond dispute. Some 

 of the- finer pears do not take so readily on the quince: 

 in this case double working is resorted to. For exam- 

 ple, the Virgouleuse maybe easily budded on the quince, 

 and the Beurrd d'Aremberg will afterwards succeed 

 freely only on the Virgouleuse. It may be mentioned, 

 in passing, that the ancient horticulturists seem to have 

 supposed that a fruit was improved by double working; 

 and that the term reinette, a name applied to a class of 

 apples, is considered as having been derived from the 

 Latin renata, that is, a tree grafted upon itself. 



In selecting young pear-trees, some prefer maide^i 

 plants, that is, plants having the growth of one year 

 from the graft; but if good trees, trained for two or 

 three years, can be procured, so much the better. It is 

 important to ascertain that the stock and stem be clean 

 and healthy, and t^ take great care that no injury be 

 done by bruising or tearing the roots in lifting and re- 

 moving. The young trees may be planted at any time, 

 in tnild'weather, from the fall of the leaf to the begin- 

 ning of March; Wall-tree& require from 25 to 30 feet 

 of lineal space when on free-stocks, and from 15 to 20 

 feet when dwarfed. Standards on free-stocks in the 

 orchard should be allowed at- least 30 feet every way, 

 while for dwarfs 15 feet may suffice. When the trees 

 are trained en pyramide or en quenouille^ they may 

 stand within eight feet of each other. It is- very de- 

 sirable that the pear orchard should be in a warm &itua- 

 tion, with a soil deep, substantial, and well drained, or 

 free from injurious latent moisture. Without attention 

 to these circumstances, pear-trees seldom succeed. 



