1 66 Dwarf Pears. 



DWARF PEARS. — II. 



A POINT of the greatest importance in cultivating dwarf pear trees 

 is the selection of proper varieties. A failure to attend to it has caused 

 much unjust condemnation of this class of trees. The number of vai'ie- 

 ties which can be recommended for general cultivation everywhere is 

 limited, and the fact that many of those wliich succeed on the pear root 

 are not at all adapted to the quince, reduces still further the list which 

 we can advise to plant as dwarfs. There are, on the contrary, some 

 which, when grown as dwarfs, succeed better than as standards, and 

 foremost among these are the Duchesse d'Angouleme and the Louise 

 Bonne of Jersey. The former of these two is the pear for dwarfs, 

 succeeding throughout the country, and fi'om its large size command- 

 ing the highest price in the markets. These are both autumn pears, 

 though the Louise Bonne is so much earlier than the Duchess that they 

 will not at all interfere with each other. For a late kind we recommend 

 that almost perfect pear, the Beurre d'Anjou, and for market purposes 

 we think it would be more profitable to stop here, than to add to the 

 variety. But if a summer pear is wanted, plant Rostiezer. Where the 

 White Doyenne still succeeds, it is impossible to have anything better. 

 Vicar of Winkfield succeeds admirably as a dwarf, bears enormous 

 crops, and when soil and climate are adapted, is of good quality. Ur- 

 baniste is one of the best of all pears on any stock ; but on the quince, 

 the long time which it takes to produce fruit on the pear is abridged one 

 half or more, and it makes most beautiful pyramids without the slightest 

 care in training. Beurre Superfin, Beurre Hardy, Belle Lucrative, 

 Beurre Diel, Winter Nelis, Easter Beurre, Glout Morceau, Dearborn's 

 Seedling, and Brandywine, are all fine pears, which have done well as 

 dwarfs. But, as we said before, if we were planting for market, we 

 should confine ourselves mainly to the first three or four named, and 

 proceed cautiously with the others, until tested, wherever our locality 

 might be. 



Another most important point is to avoid over-cropping. All fruit 

 trees are liable to injure themselves by overbearing at. times, but the 

 tendency of dwarf pears to make fruit buds is so great that they are 

 especially liable to such injury. The remedy is thinning the fruit, and 

 where fruit is so easily accessible as on. dwarf pears, there is no excuse 

 for neglecting this necessary operation ; but the young cultivator is often 



