46 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the stocks. Fortunately as the Collins is a fine pear, it is said, that grafted 

 on young- stocks near the ground, to grow vigorously, and that the operation 

 is attended with no ill efFects. In this statement, it is intended to merely 

 state facts of actual occurrence without any attempt to theorize respecting 

 them. 



There is one other subject connected with pear culture that it may not 

 be thought out of place here to refer to as briefly as possible, and that re- 

 lates to the renovation or attempts at renovation of old trees. This is some- 

 times recommended, and instances of success in so doing given, various pro- 

 cessss being advised as tending to produce the wished result, as scraping 

 the trunk and limbs to remove the moss and rough bark, the digging of a 

 trench around the tree to be filled up with a composition of bones, ashes, and 

 peat, in given proportions, or other methods. This may be all very well, and 

 some good may be the result, but while it is not intended to in the least call 

 in question individual instances of success that may be given, yet it is never- 

 theless believed that generally all attempts in the direction stated will prove 

 futile, and that those who make the attempt will have little but their labor for 

 their pains. Youth or vigor once lost by age cannot be regained, whether the 

 subjects of the attempt are animals or vegetables. So too, the grafting of 

 aged trees of worthless varieties with better kinds, in their limbs, is some- 

 times advised, and when performed may result in giving for a year or two a 

 crop of good fruit; but if more than a temporary success from the process is 

 anticipated, disappointment will probably be its result. So far as has been 

 noticed, grafts inserted in the limbs of aged trees grow and thrive for a few 

 years, but then begin to fail, suckers are thrown out from the limbs, and, 

 unless the tree dies, the grafts perish, and the original worthless variety re- 

 gains the ascendancy. 



No doubt it may be true, that when pear trees have lost their vigor, or even 

 become stunted and feeble from improper management, from growing in thick 

 sward on grass ground, or from a want of nourishment, and even, too, when 

 the cause of the evil is the improper condition of the soil, that the applica- 

 tion of proper remedies may correct it, that the digging up the grass and 

 loosening the soil to admit the influence of air and heat, applying manure, 

 draining the ground, or other proper measures, may restore health and vi^or, 

 and should be adopted. But where the evil is the result of old age or disease, 

 remedies are believed to be of but little use, and it is thought that it will 

 generally be found more satisfactory in results, and more economical in 

 practice, to grub up these aged or sick trees and supply their place with 

 young and healthy ones, than to attempt to restore those that, do what may 

 be done, will still prove but cumberers of the ground. 



Before concluding, the present opportunity is improved to state, what per- 

 haps should have been before said in another connection, that it is thought 

 that growers will find it much more profitable to cultivate those varieties of 

 pears whose fruit ripens in September and October, than those ripening later. 



