138 



!'!U)CKi:i»iN(.s t)K I in: 



tr\iiii:; llu' I'lVi'cts ot |)laniini; tho triTs in small s([uare brick pits, 

 and pluiii^in^ thfiii in lari;e pdts, both which methods were 

 I'ouiul too expensiNe, he took advuntiige of u piece of shallow 

 loamy soil restinjj: on a substratum of very hard white clay, 

 lhrt>uu:h which he caleulated that the roots of the trees would 

 nt)t penetrate, and he e\j)ei te(l that the soil on the surface mii;ht 

 be maile rich enoui:;h to support the trees without vigorous and 

 unruly ^rowtli. Ilowever he found that the roots of trees are not 

 so easily kept within bounds, and that tliose of the pears not being 

 able to enter the hard c lay, were wandering far and wide j the 

 braiuhes also keeping jjace with the roots, and growing much 

 too rapidly for his ealeulations as to the s})ace each tree ought 

 to have occupied. Having previously remarked for many years 

 that Apple Trees growing in a firm loamy soil in his nursery, if 

 removed one or two years consecutively, which in nursery cul- 

 ture often occurs, ac(iuired a stunted and j)rolilic habit, making 

 abundance of bloom buds and bearing profusely, it occurred to 

 him that if he could keej) the roots t)f his Pear Trees in the 

 same state by fretjuent removals, he should make them also 

 acquire the habit he had so long observed in Apples. 



But in attempting to remove his Pear Trees, it occurred to the 

 autlior that it would be less trouble to dig a trench round them, 

 and cut all their roots at a certain distance from the stem ; and 

 in this respect his anticipations w'ere completely fullilled. Spe- 

 cimens of various kinds of Pear trees thus treated, were exhibited 

 in support of the author's views. 



