112 WORTHLESS VARIETIES. 
stock, not more than fifty per cent. of the buds will 
take the first season. 
Grarrivg.—There are few persons, indeed, who 
have planted pears, either m the garden or orchard, 
who have not been compelled, sooner or later, to 
learn the simple art of grafting, that they may be 
able to make such changes in varieties as experience 
dictates. This operation is all important to the 
wide-awake orchardist, in order to substitute profit- 
able for worthless varieties, with the loss of as little 
time as possible. There is nothing more discour- 
aging to the fruit grower, after having waited ten or 
a dozen years, than to find it necessary to put a new 
head on.his trees before getting any returns. But, 
under the circumstances, it is the only choice lett. 
There are many methods of grafting practised in 
this country. We have adopted in our orchard cleft 
grafting ; for large stocks I prefer it to the other 
modes. 
In the latitude of New York, we commence 
grafting the pear about the first of April, and con- 
tinue through the month. On large trees, we graft 
about one-half of the top the first season, and the 
balance in the spring of the second and third years. 
The branches are sawed off about twelve or 
eighteen inches from the body of the tree, and the 
top of the stock made smooth with a sharp knife. 
