56^-i [ASSEMBLT 



itation of ebony, ancl it is largely employed by turners for ma^ 

 king joiners' tools. The leaves will dye yellow. The gather- 

 ing and keeping the fruit is very important. It is finer flavored 

 if picked from the tree and ripened in the house than if allowed 

 to become fully matured on the tree. There are a few exceptions 

 to this rule, and but a few. The pear should be picked when its 

 stem yields easily by raising it. For winter dessert pears, sec 

 Downing, page 319. As to propagation of the pear tree : Graft 

 or bud the finer sorts upon seedlings, not on suckers, for the lat- 

 ter will make poor roots, and reproduce suckers j but if they are 

 used as stock, ihey should be young and thrifty. Seedling stocks 

 from seed of common hardy pears are the best. Seeds should be 

 planted in deeply trenched soils of rich loamy character, well 

 supplied with potash, and transplanted into nursery rows when 

 two years old. The treatment of both the seeds and stock is sim- 

 ilar to that of the apple. A one year old seedling is often win- 

 ter killed. Thorn is a good stock if grafted below the ground, if 

 grafted above, it breaks off by high winds. Thorn stocks are 

 good for strong clay soils — they come earlier into bearing. Graft- 

 ing on mountain ash renders them more hardy. If budded on, 

 the apple it is short lived. Take the quince stock for dwarfing, 

 it bears very early. Large pears which are sometimes blown off 

 by winds, are improved on the quince, and many others are im- 

 proved in flavor. Large pear trees cannot be profitably trans- 

 planted, as the roots are too small. Small thrifty plants are to 

 be preferred. 



As to the proper soil, situation and culture, strong loam and 

 dry subsoil, for habitually damp soils will not do. The red kellis 

 is good J it is so at Elizabeth town. Too rich loams render them 

 tender, hence the western alluvials will not do ; they suffer by 

 winter blight. In such soils plant on hillocks ; in muck and 

 river mud, on sand)"^ soils, in cold soils, plant on southern slopes; 

 in warm soils, on the northern slopes. 



On the ends of the limbs of the Queenville pear I have sus- 

 pended stones to cause the limbs to become more at right angles 

 with the tree, for it is an advantage to the fruit; but not so with 

 any stone fruit, such as peach or apricot. The pear trees should 

 be about thirty feet apart j but in gardens, headed in, twenty 

 feet apart. The diseases of the pear are pear-tree blight, fire 



