FOREST TREES. 129 
PYRUS. 
Natural Order, Rosacee. 
Calyx, tube urn-shaped, five-cleft; petals, roundish 
or obovate; stamens, numerous; styles, two to five; 
fruit, fleshy or berry-like. 
Pyrus aucuparia—Huropean Mountain Ash. 
Leaves, pinnate, glabrous; leaflets, serrate; flow- 
ers, corymbose; fruit, round, small, red. 
The European Mountain Ash grows to the height 
of thirty feet, and sometimes considerably exceeds 
that stature. It is much cultivated for ornament, 
for which its fine foliage, clusters of white flowers 
and red berries eminently qualify it. It rarely needs 
pruning, and never grows out of shape. It may be 
used asa stock on which to graft the Pear. It is 
liable to be attacked by the apple borer (saperda 
bivittata), and where that insect is common, requires 
the same care to guard against it as the Apple Tree. 
For propagation, the berries, when ripe, may be 
put in a cask or box and kept moist until they are 
sufficiently decayed to allow the seed to be washed 
out easily. The seed is then mixed with sand and put ° 
in a place where it will freeze until spring. Unless 
the berries undergo a fermentation, the seed is not 
likely to grow the first year. Loudon says the mode 
practiced in Britain is to mix the berries with fine 
sand, and lay them in beds a foot thick, covering 
them with two or three inches of sand, and allowing 
them to remain for one year. They are then taken 
