122 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



or seven feet, and properly treated, will be in a favorable 

 condition for exhibiting in the third, or at all events in the 

 fourth year after grafting, the character of the seedling vari- 

 ety. Nevertheless, the properties, and more especially the 

 form of the fruit, cannot be ascertained with all that degree 

 of certainty which is desirable until the grafted tree, well 

 established and vigorous, in good soil, shall be subjected to a 

 proper system of pruning. 



A tall-stemmed pear stock, before being grafted, will have 

 nearly arrived at the age at which it would bear fruit, of 

 some sort, at the part where it is to be worked with a graft 

 taken from that part of the seedling where fruits were first 

 produced. This being the case, it is easy to perceive that 

 the graft will produce wood on which fruit-bearing spurs 

 will be formed in a few years, and that fruit will be produced 

 of perfect form, and as excellent in point of flavor as those of 

 the seedling tree. 



A bud inserted near the ground in a quince stock — if it 

 lake, for some varieties do not succeed on that stock — will 

 likewise fruit in the third or fourth year after being worked. 

 On the quince, the wood of a variety of pear may acquire a 

 different tinge, but the form of the fruit is generally the 

 same. Occasionally, however, the fruit of some varieties 

 worked on the quince becomes larger, is produced in greater 

 abundance, and acquires a richer flavor than that grown on 

 the seedling tree. But these are exceptions to the general 

 rule, and may perhaps be partly attributed to the sort of 

 quince, for of this there are several varieties, the influence of 

 which on the graft is as varied and decided as that of diff"er- 

 ent varieties of the wild pear employed for stock. In general 

 but little attention is paid to this circumstance, which, how- 

 ever, is the cause of many of the failures which occur in 

 cultivation, and to an extent which, we think, requires to be 

 noticed in a special article. 



The bud, or graft, placed on the lower part of a wilding 

 intended to form a dwarf pyramid, although taken from the 

 upper part of the seedling, must undergo the influence of the 

 young stock on which it is worked, and must produce wood 



