262 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



and Europe, including the British Islands, where 

 it grows naturally in hedges, woods, and copses. 

 Its fruit is hard, acid, and unfit for eating till 

 it loses its green colour and blets, or begins to 

 decay, when it acquires an agreeably acid, some- 

 what astringent flavour. It is generally eaten 

 raw, but is also occasionally made into preserves 

 along with sugar. 



The Medlar is raised from seeds, which should 

 be taken out of the ripe fruit and sown imme- 



diately. They usually take two years to ger- 

 minate. The seedlings should be trained to a 

 strong stake in order to preserve a tolerably 

 upright stem. Seed is only sown with the view 

 of obtaining new varieties or stocks, the varieties 

 being propagated by budding or grafting upon 

 the wild Medlar, Pear, Quince, or Thorn. The 

 latter kind of stock is preferred on the Con- 

 tinent, and is perhaps the best where the soil is 

 sandy and dry. The Quince stock is best in 



Fig. 1046— Medlar {Mespilus or Pyrus germanica). 



moist soils, as its roots extend near the surface; 

 and the Pear, grafted standard high, gives a 

 straight stem and a more regular appearance to 

 the tree, for which it is probably the best stock 

 in ordinary soils. Any of the usual modes of 

 grafting may be employed ; but for that purpose 

 scions should be chosen from shoots of the 

 previous summer's growth, and care be taken 

 to cut oft* the extremities where the flowers 

 appear, otherwise they will not succeed. When 

 budding is resorted to, the mode with a dormant 

 eye is preferred. 



With regard to soil, the Medlar is not particu- 



lar, growing in any that is not arid or swampy, 

 but it produces the largest and best fruit in rich, 

 loamy, somewhat moist ground. 



The tree may be trained as a standard, and 

 the Nottingham, Royal, and Stoneless varieties 

 may even be formed into productive pyramids, 

 in the same way as the Pear. The Nottingham 

 Medlar, which takes an upright growth, requires 

 very little pruning; but the Dutch Medlar, and 

 others of similar crooked growth, will require 

 some regulation to prevent the branches from 

 crossing and rubbing against each other. More 

 than this need not be attempted, for the branches 



