116 RAISING PEAR TREES. 



budding on seedling stocks. Stocks from suckers 

 sometimes do well; but unless they are well pro- 

 vided with fibrous roots on all sides when set out, 

 the growth is apt to be diminutive, and the trees 

 crooked or one-sided. The planting and manage- 

 ment of the young trees may be the same as with 

 young apples ; but as the stocks are more valuable 

 than apple stocks, they are not usually taken up for 

 root grafting, but grafted or budded near the surface 

 of the ground where they stand, which may be re- 

 peated in case of any failures. Seedlings are, how- 

 ever, great! y improved by transplanting at one or 

 two years of age ; cutting off the lower end of the 

 tap root, induces them to throw out lateral roots, 

 and renders their final removal from the nursery 

 more easy and safe. 



As a general rule, pears should be grafted or 

 budded on pear stocks. On the apple, hawthorn 

 and quince, their fruitfulness is increased, but the 

 duration of the life of the tree is diminished. The 

 same cause which produces an accumulation of the 

 elaborated juices in the branches, and consequent- 

 ly an increase of flower buds and a heavy crop of 

 fruit, also prevents the proper flow and free diffusion 

 of the sap and secretions, and shortens life. There 

 are, however, several advantages in the employ- 

 ment of such stocks in certain cases. 



One of the most important of these is the pro- 

 duction of dwarfs. These are chiefly desirable in 



