Root-pruning Pear Trees. 287 



interesting than these pyramidal trees when in full bearing : 

 indeed they arc perfectly beautiful, and their fruit, from 

 being fully exposed to the sun, are always fine and high 

 flavored. Plants calculated to form these pyramidal trees 

 can be purchased here grafted on quince stocks and also on 

 pear stocks. 



3. Fear Tree trained en quenouille. — This is merely the 

 pyramidal tree with its side shoots suffered to grow to a 

 proper length, say from fifteen to eighteen inches, and then 

 brought down gradually and fastened to the stems by stout 

 copper wires, as given in the engraving. This must be 

 done at intervals of some days, otherwise the shoots may 

 be fractured. To prevent the branches and stem from be- 

 ing injured, the loops of the wire should be made sufficiently 

 large to allow the increase in girth by the annual growth. 

 Laid-cord, soaked in boiling linseed oil, will answer equally 

 well, as it will last two or three seasons, and by that time 

 the branches will be fixed in their respective positions. 

 Pyramidal trees intended for quenouilles must not be root- 

 pruned till the branches have attained sufficient length to 

 form the curve required ; in short, the tree must be made a 

 quenouille before its roots are touched. This will probably 

 require two seasons or more, depending upon soil and cul- 

 ture. Quenouille trees in France are often from ten to 

 twelve feet in height, and as they are not root-pruned, they 

 are often, from excessive pruning of their branches, un- 

 sightly masses of foliage, with but few fruit-bearing spurs. 

 With root-pruning, six to eight feet seems the most agreea- 

 ble height; and summer pruning of the shoots, a pleasant 

 occupation, can be followed without inconvenience. Trees 

 formed into quenouilles cannot at present be supplied." 



Our figure will show, at once, the form and appearance of 

 the roots. Under this mode they are one mass of fibrous 

 roots, destitute of large and long feeders, which go deep 

 into the subsoil and take up nourishment often times inju- 

 rious to the tree. Here we see it is rendered almost inde- 

 pendent of the soil, and the "feeding at home," as Mr. 

 Rivers expresses it, is fully attained. By the means of 

 guano, which affords the most valuable liquid manure, 

 they may be successfully cultivated in soils where, natu- 

 rally, a tree would scarcely grow. In light sands, such as 

 a portion of Cape Cod, by root-pruning and guano, pears 

 may be produced in great abundance. 



