Probable. Characters to be looked for m a Seedling Pear-tree. 295 



is no rule without exception. Fine spines along the branches and 

 young- shoots, the latter weak and twisted, form an assemblage o^ 

 characters of bad omen, especially when these characters continue 

 to be reproduced in the upper part of the tree. But the worst char- 

 acter of all is a bad habit of growth, either as regards the stem or 

 the branches, and when, at the same time, the latter are straggling, 

 short, weak, and crooked. Luckily these characters do not occur 

 in seedlings from good varieties. 



Besides the favorable signs already enumerated, the following 

 are found in seedlings of five years old : — 1st, A straight stem suf- 

 ficiently strong to maintain itself in an upright position without 

 support. 2d, Lateral branches and shoots of moderate vigor, 

 without being either too slender or too thick, and of moderate 

 length, with their extremities pointing upwards 3d, Spines regu- 

 larly distributed on the stem as well as on the lateral branches ; 

 these spines are long or short according to where they are pro- 

 duced, and furniphed with prominent wood buds throughout their 

 length ; they are placed perpendicularly, are well fixed on the sur- 

 face of the branch, and wrinkled at their bases. 4th, The leaves 

 either of a light or dark green, are finely shaped, rather long than 

 round, not folded, either perfectly flat, or with the margins slightly 

 elevated, and the apex recurved, the finest leaves on current year's 

 shoots being furnished with stipulary leaves. The tissue of the 

 leaves is compact, the skin thin, the incisions regular and deep. 

 The nerves are prominent, the mid-rib strong and straight, extends 

 from the petiole to the apex of the leaf. The petiole is long and 

 slender. 5th, The wood buds, which are reddish brown, or gray, 

 are neither too much nor too little developed, neither too much 

 compressed nor too long, and not placed on the surface but based 

 on projecting supports. 6th, The internodes between the wood 

 buds are not long ; but those between the fruit buds are shorter 

 than those others by half, that is about half an inch in length or 

 even less. 



The above are characters of good presage, and even of a fine 

 and long keeping fruit ; indeed, it has been established, by repeated 

 experiments made by the late Van Mons, that the longer the sow- 

 ing of seeds of the best of every successive generation of Pears is 

 continued , the greater is the tendency of the fruit produced to keep 

 long, to impiove in form, and io increase in delicacy. 



