250 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



there were some very healthy ones in very good condition still remaining from the 

 previous year that could even be kept much longer. They were extremely good when 

 eaten fresh. Very few pear trees are worth cultivating as much as this one. 



To this whole list of pear trees, already too numerous, we still could add forty or 

 fifty more found in unexceptional orchards & whose poor or mediocre fruit would only 

 be worthy of consideration by growers eager for variety. They number many summer & 

 autumn pears that are unexceptional in seasons with an abundance of good fruit, & a 

 large number of winter pears, some of which are inferior in quality to those that we've 

 already discussed & others that finish up too early. Perhaps some even think that we've 

 described too many late pears that are good only when stewed. But these fruits become 

 valuable during months of scarcity, when they're almost the only resource available. 

 Every year in late autumn one discovers that these late varieties are not very familiar or 

 widely known. 



CULTIVATION. 



Of all the cultivated pear trees, I don't know of a single kind that's reliably 

 reproduced by seed planting. Grafting is the only way to propagate them. 



Pear trees are grafted by bud shield, cleft, & crown grafts, depending on the form 

 & quality of the stock. They're grafted on wild stock & on the quince tree. Wild stocks of 

 pear trees grown from seeds or from shoots from old plants are suitable for receiving 

 grafts of pear trees intended for orchards. Those to be grown on espalier, counter- 

 espalier, as bush trees or as half-standard trees in kitchen gardens are grafted on quince 

 trees. They yield medium-sized trees that are quick to produce fruit. 



