286 



Root-pruning Pear- Trees. 



and continued annually or biennially as required, its lead- 

 ing shoot being constantly shortened and the tree not suf- 

 fered to increase in height. By root-pruning, and pinching 

 off the ends of the side shoots in summer, the tree will in 

 time become a compact cone, bearing abundance of fruit. 



9 2. Pear Tree tinined j)yramid- 



ically [our fig. 9J. — No. 2 is a 

 portrait of a tree of Louise Bonne, 

 of Jersey, taken here in autumn, 

 1843, the tree four years old, six 

 feet in height, grafted on a quince 

 stock, and root-pruned ; this ap- 

 proaches to the pyramidal shape, 

 so well adapted for small gar- 

 dens ; for trees of this form may 

 be planted six feet apart, either 

 in a square appropriated to them, 

 or in rows by the sides of garden 

 walks. The above was one of a 

 group, all of which were laden 

 with fine fruit, so much so, that 

 they required to be fastened to 

 stakes ; it will be seen that its 

 roots are a mass of fibres, show- 

 ing the effects of root-pruning ; 

 the tree was taken up, that the 

 artist might giv^e it with its roots, 

 exactly after nature, or rather 

 art. The pyramidal form is per- 

 haps, of all shapes, the most eli- 

 gible for pears in the open quar- 

 ters, as scarcely any pruning of 

 their branches is required. By 

 merely going over the trees in 

 June and July, and pinching off 

 the ends of the side shoots to 

 within two or three buds of their 

 .base, they soon become well-fur- 

 ■nished with bearing shoots, and 

 assume a close pyramidal form. 



Pear Tree trained in the Pyramidal'^^'^^ height of the trceS maybe 



forvi. regulated by fancy . trom six to 



eight feet seems the most eligible, Nothing can be more 



