202 ON THE CULTURE OF THE PEAR-TREE. 



probably more easily render myself intelligible, by describing accurately 

 the management of a single tree of each. 



An old St. Germain pear-tree, of the spurious kind, had been trained 

 in the fan form, against a north-west wall in my garden, and the central 

 branches, as usually happens in old trees thus trained, had long reached 

 the top of the wall, and had become wholly unproductive. The other 

 branches afforded but very little fruit, and that never acquiring maturity, 

 was consequently of no value ; so that it was necessary to change the 

 variety, as well as to render the tree productive. 



To attain these purposes, every branch which did not want at least 

 twenty degrees of being perpendicular, was taken out at its base ; and 

 the spurs upon every other branch, which I intended to retain, were 

 taken off closely with the saw and chisel. Into these branches, at their 

 subdivisions, grafts were inserted at different distances from the root, 

 and some so near the extremities of the branches, that the tree extended 

 as widely in the autumn, after it was grafted, as it did in the preced- 

 ing year. The grafts were also so disposed, that every part of the 

 space the tree previously covered, was equally well supplied with young 

 wood. 



As soon, in the succeeding summer, as the young shoots had attained 

 sufficient length, they were trained almost perpendicularly downwards, 

 between the larger branches, and the wall, to which they were nailed. 

 The most perpendicular remaining branch upon each side, was grafted 

 about four feet below the top of the wall, which is twelve feet high ; and 

 the young shoots, which the grafts upon these afforded, were trained 

 inwards, and bent down to occupy the space from which the old central 

 branches had been taken away ; and therefore very little vacant space 

 anywhere remained in the end of the first autumn. A few blossoms, 

 but not any fruit, were produced by several of the grafts in the succeed- 

 ing spring ; but in the following year, and subsequently, I have had 

 abundant crops, equally dispersed over every part of the tree ; and I 

 have scarcely ever seen such an exuberance of blossom as this tree 

 presents in the present spring. Grafts of eight different kinds of pears 

 had been inserted, and all afforded fruit, and almost in equal abundance. 

 By this mode of training, the bearing branches, being small and short, 

 may be changed every three or four years, till the tree is a century old, 

 without the loss of a single crop ; and the central part, which is unpro- 

 ductive in every other mode of training, becomes the most fruitful. 

 I proceed to the management of young trees. 



A young pear stock, which had two lateral branches upon each side, 



