298 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



It is the repose of the older buds which makes fall pruning, 

 if performed with judgment, so valuable. Because it forces 

 the tree to expend its energies in ripening its wood instead 

 of making more, and it also tends to induce fruitfulness by- 

 changing leaf-buds to fruit-buds. The great art of fall 

 pruning is to relieve the tree of its crude wood withont 

 causing its dormant huds to break. If performed too early, 

 or if but the tips of the fine wood are removed, the new 

 buds may break and side-shoots issue, leaving the tree 

 worse off than before. 



Young trees just coming into hearing should have their 

 trunks protected. That there is a change in the economy 

 of a tree when it begins to bear is plain ; and experience 

 seems to teach that trees are peculiarly tender at the time 

 of this change, since they are far more apt to die when 

 coming to fruit, than either before or afterward. Cherry- 

 trees and pear-trees should have brush, or corn-stalks, 

 or straw, or matting, as is most convenient, so placed from 

 the ground to the branches, as to exclude the sun with- 

 out excluding air. An hour's attention may save much 

 regret. 



PEARS GRAFTED UPON THE APPLE STOCK. 



We do not think the pear does so well in any other way 

 as on its own root. But it has been found extremely diffi- 

 cult to obtain the requisite stock. Pear-seeds are scarce. 

 When obtained, the seedlings have proved intractable, and 

 left the nurseryman oftentimes in the lurch. The first and 

 best substitute for pear-stock, is the root of the pear — great 

 quantities . may be obtained when removing pear-trees in 

 the autumn from the nursery, and also without any injury 

 to the trees, roots may be taken from old bearing-trees. 



