FRUITS VARIETIES AND CULTURE. 573 



mon quince to be equally as good as the Angers, when 

 worked side by side with them. The fruit produced from 

 trees worked on the quince is usually larger and better 

 flavored than on the pear, and the trees can be set much 

 nearer together. They come into bearing in two or three 

 years, but are not as long-lived as when worked on the 

 pear stock. In planting the trees on pear stocks they 

 should be set twenty feet apart; but as these will be 

 several years before they come into bearing, the spaces 

 should be filled up with dwarf trees, growing on the 

 quince stock, so as to have them, when planted, ten feet 

 apart. Thus a plantation of sixteen trees, set in a square, 

 on the pear stock, would require thirty-three on the 

 quince to fill the intervals — making a square of seven 

 trees on a side. This will prevent the attacks of the 

 quince borer, and add to the longevity of the tree. 



The_soil must be kept clean and well tilled; but it 

 should not be deeply spaded within two feet of the trunks 

 of the trees. No fruit tree will be healthy or bear well 

 if the ground is deeply spaded near its stem. The pear 

 likes a deep, strong loam, similar to that required by the 

 apple. Iron is beneficial; hence the pear succeeds well in 

 our red clay loam, if deeply dug and sufficiently manured. 

 For pears on the quince stock, the soil should be deep and 

 cool. From the analysis of the wood and bark of the 

 pear tree, it is apparent that wood ashes and superphos- 

 phate of lime cannot but be very beneficial to the growth 

 and fruitfulness of the pear. 



In pruning the pear, the object is to make it throw out 

 branches within a foot of the ground, and to encourage 

 its growth in its natural pyramidal shape. 



Not much priming is required the first year; but any 

 shoot that, by overgrowth, threatens to destroy the 

 beauty of the tree should be pinched in at once. When 

 the tree is transplanted, if it has been out of the ground 



