254 Pears. 



Budding may be performed the first summer after transplanting 

 if the stocks have made a good growth. The management of the 

 young trees is the same as for apples, by grafting or budding near 

 the surface of the ground, and heading down, trimming, and cultiva- 

 tion. But as pear-stocks are valuable, budding is to be preferred to 

 grafting, because it may be repeated in case of failure. Root-graft- 

 ing, in the mode adopted for the apple, nearly always fails. It is 

 successful when large, entire, and branching roots are taken, and 

 the grafts inserted above the crown. 



DWARF PEARS. 



For orchard culture, and in most parts of the country where the pear 

 flourishes with great vigor and proves highly productive, pear-stocks 

 will doubtless always be found preferable to all others. The advan- 

 tages of a dwarf growth on dissimilar stocks have been already 

 pointed out under the head of stocks. Such trees are not so long- 

 lived as on pear-roots, and they require more thorough and fertile 

 culture, and care in pruning. But they have some important advan- 

 tages, such as coming soon into bearing, occupying a fifth part of 

 the ground, thriving in many soils where pear-stocks will not, and 

 in a few instances improving the quality of the fruit. 



The only reliable stock is the French quince. Nearly all the 

 experiments with the mountain ash have sooner or later proved fail- 

 ures. Budded or grafted upon apple seedlings, pears sometimes 

 make a feeble growth for a few years ; but unless the grafts them- 

 selves throw out roots, by planting beneath the surface, they sooner 

 or later perish. It sometimes happens that grafts of a few varieties 

 inserted at standard height, grow and bear for a few years. The 

 thorn has been used in England, and to some extent in this country, 

 with partial success. But all other kinds of dissimilar stocks have 

 given way to the quince, which is much superior for general use to 

 any other. 



The varieties of the pear do not grow with equal facility upon the 

 quince. A few, as the Duchesse d'Angouleme, Louise Bonne of 

 Jersey, and Beurre* Diel, are so much improved in quality that their 

 cultivation on pear stocks is discontinued by most fruit-growers. A 

 large number flourish well, but are little changed in quality, as While 

 Doyenne' and Dearborn's Seedling. A few, on the other hand, suc- 

 ceed badly or wholly refuse to grow upon quince stocks, without 

 double working, which consists in first budding some freely growing 

 pear upon the quince bottom, and then budding or grafting the 

 "refractory" sort into the pear shoot. 



