PEA 



[617] 



PEA 



4, Dunmore; 5, Marie Louise; 6, Louis 

 Bonne of Jersey; 7, Fondn,ute d'Au- 

 tomne; 8, Beurre d'Amalis; 9, Beurre 

 Diel ; 10, Althorpe Crassanne; 11, Winter 

 Nelis; 12, Passe Colmar-, 13, Hacon's 

 Incomparable; 14, Thompson's; 15, 

 Knight's Monarch ; 1 6, Glout Morceau ; 

 1 7, Beurre d'Aremberg ; 1 8, Easter Beurre ; 

 19, Soldat Laboureur ; 20, Josephine de 

 Malines; 21, Ne plus Meuris; 22, Beurre 

 Kance. 



Kitchen Pears in the order of their 

 ripening. 1, Bezi d'Heri ; 2, Summer 

 Compote ; 3, Catillac; 4, Bellissime d'Hi- 

 rer; 5, Uvedale's St. Germain. 



Useful and profitable Orchard Pears. 

 l,Beurre de Capiaumont; 2, Beurre Diel ; 

 3, Louis Bonne of Jersey, Williams's Bon 

 Chretien; 4, Jargonelle; 5, Swan's-egg; 

 6, Moorfowl's-egg. Those living north 

 and south of the centre of England must 

 inake allowance accordingly. 



Of Dessert Pears, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 

 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, will succeed well, if ne- 

 cessary, as espaliers, pyramids, &c. ; that 

 is to say, they will do "very well without a 

 wall. Of course, the orchard pears may 

 be added to this section, if necessary. 

 Nos. 5, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 

 should have a wall, if possible. Nos. 11, 

 12, 17, 21, deserve a south aspect. 



Propagation. Grafting is the usual 

 mode ; and for this purpose two distinct 

 kinds of stocks are used the one called 

 the free stock, or wild seedlings, the 

 other the quince. The first is the most 

 proper for the orchard pear, as this pro- 

 duces much larger trees; the latter is 

 best adapted, in general, for espaliers, 

 walls, and pyramidal trees in gardens. 



Budding is done precisely as for other 

 fruits, and for the same purposes as graft- 

 ing. By this course, however, one year, 

 or nearly so, may be considered as lost, 

 in point of time. 



Seed is resorted to, either to produce 

 stocks, or to raise new kinds. The seeds 

 should be washed from the pulp when 

 the fruit is fully ripe, dried and pre- 

 served as other seeds, and sown in the 

 February following. Care must be taken 

 to preserve the seed from mice whilst 

 germinating. Those who wish to expe- 

 dite the process, for the sake of gaining 

 time, with fancy seedlings, may sow and 

 rear the young plants in a moderate bot- 

 tom-warmth, sowing in January or Fe- 

 bruary, potting off the plants when up, 

 and hardening them off by the beginning 



of June, when they may be planted out 

 in a warm spot. The best way to prove 

 such seedlings is to graft them on a good 

 bearing old tree, on a quince stock, if 

 possible ; they will thus fruit in half the 

 time. Our nurserymen, who rear im- 

 mense quantities for stocks, bury the 

 pears in a pit in autumn, and take them 

 up in the February following to sow, mix- 

 ing abundance of sand with the mass, to 

 separate the seeds from the pulp; the 

 whole is then sown together. 



Soil. The pear delights in a sound 

 loam, rather inclining to clayey than 

 sandy. It will, however, grow freely in 

 sandy loams ; but the fruit is very apt to 

 crack, or become otherwise disfigured, 

 through their impatience of drought. 

 Any ordinary soil of a souud texture will 

 do for their culture ; and if what is termed 

 " in good heart," no manures are neces- 

 sary. For standard trees in orchards, the 

 soil should be at least two feet deep ; but 

 for espaliers, walls, pyramids, &c., half a 

 yard may suffice, if sound. A dry subsoil 

 is particularly necessary, especially for 

 garden pears. 



Culture during the Growing Period. 

 The chief point is to keep down watery 

 spray, which is generally produced in 

 abundance. Caution must be exercised 

 in not doing this too early, or the em- 

 bryo blossom-buds may be driven into- 

 growth. Our practice is to commence 

 by disbudding; this is generally in the 

 beginning of May. All gross foreright 

 shoots are stripped away, and several of 

 the more luxuriant shoots, where too 

 thick. In a few weeks the shoots begin 

 to lengthen considerably, and their cha- 

 racter, as to fruitfulness, is in some 

 degree determinable. Very few of our 

 pears bear on wood of the previous year, 

 but a great many shoots plainly show 

 betimes that their tendencies are towards 

 fructification ; such should, by all means, 

 be encouraged. About Midsummer, a 

 selection may be made ; most of those 

 which look browner than the rest, and 

 are shorter jointed, must be reserved ; 

 and much of the paler, longer- jointed, 

 and more succulent-looking spray may 

 be cut or pinched back, leaving about 

 four inches at the base. Those reserved 

 we tie down to the older branches, some- 

 times in a reverse position indeed, just 

 as they happen to lay. In about a 

 month or so from this operation we pinch 

 the points from all growing shoots, or 



