221 THE FLORIST AND 



the kinds, and both produce to my satisfaction. I prefer a feyf 

 large to a quantity of small fruit, and in this respect some of the 

 staminate kinds just suit my views. 



Pears. Of these I have some sixty varieties all on the Quince. 

 Many of my earliest planted trees are doing badly ; this I attribute 

 to want of proper preparation when planting. Being a novice in 

 the business I had holes about two feet diameter and one deep made 

 for them, using compost for planting them in. They made more 

 growth the first year than ever they have done since. Latterly I 

 have had the ground better prepared, by spreading six inches of 

 rotted sod, lime rubbish, manure, ashes, &c, on the surface, an$ 

 working all up to a depth of eighteen inches. Nothing could be 

 more satisfactory than the healthy appearance and abundant crops 

 the trees planted after this preparation. I find great advantage 

 from pruning the strong shoots during the summer; it improves the 

 appearance of the tree by causing it to produce shoots and fill up 

 in lean parts, which equalises the growth and prevents strong grow- 

 ing branches from gaining headway and absorbing all the nourish- 

 ment. I also fancy that summer pruning gives you more fruit at 

 least on the older branches. The check given by pruning, sets 

 these lower buds jn action, and developes their latent fruit produ- 

 cing capabilities. The winter pruning I perform early, generally 

 before all the leaves are fallen, but since I have practised summer 

 pruning, I find that there is not much left for the winter cutting. 

 As soon as they are pruned in the fall, I sprinkle about a quart of 

 guano round each tree and fork it in the soil paying great attention 

 not to have any of the roots injured ; I then have a good dressing 

 of well composted manure spread uuder each tree. In spring when 

 the weather opens the remains of this manure is also mixed with 

 the soil. I have found great advantage from mulching trees the 

 first summer after planting, when once tjiey get established I pre- 

 fer to have the soil uncovered, so that the surface can be occasion- 

 ally stirred and broken up when beaten down with heavy rains, 

 with this treatment they grow luxuriantly. There is much differ- 

 ence in their growth on the quince ? while some are grown three 



