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THE PEAR TREE. 



branches, which curve downwards and give off branchlets from the 

 sides and upper surfaces. After division and subdivision, the branchlets 

 hana; down almost to the eround. 



Those formed on the inner side of the branches {i.e., on the side 

 nearest to the trunk) either curve round the branch to reach the 

 light, or, more commonly, die off, and their traces are only to be 

 seen in after years by a scar or dead stump. In this way, 

 from the outmost point of a branch to the bough with which 

 it is connected, the eye travels along a series of curved steps, 



only varied by some lateral growth. 

 The branchlets carry a number of arrested 

 twigs, which also tend to turn towards the 

 light, and which bear a rosette of long- 

 stalked leaves. The branches on the upper 

 part of the tree, though they follow the same 

 general plan of growth, show some minor 

 differences. Some of the branchlets spring 

 up vertically ; the new shoots are often 

 vigorous, neither arrested in growth, nor 

 ending in a spine (as is the case with the 

 Wild Pear), but growing to a considerable 

 length and bearing leaves at intervals and not 

 in a crowded rosette. The lower branchlets 

 spread to the greatest distance from the trunk, 

 and the outline of the tree is roughly 

 pyramidal. The trunk, boughs, and lower branches are covered with 

 a scaly bark, normally purplish-grey in colour though the lichens give 

 it a greener tint. The bark is divided into fairly regular square sec- 

 tions by vertical and horizontal grooves, the former wide, the latter 

 narrower. 



