48 



CASS ELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



Propagation by Cuttings. — Practically this 

 is but seldom resorted to. It is so much easier to 

 raise stocks from seeds and then graft the supe- 

 rior sorts on the seedlings, that the raising of 

 Pears from cuttings has been rather neglected. It 

 is however, practicable with the majority of sorts, 

 and of the usefulness and fertility of own -root Pear- 

 trees there can be no doubt. There are two seasons 

 when Pear-cuttings may be inserted with fair hopes 

 of success. One is the dead season, say from October 

 to the end of December, the earlier the better ; the 

 other is about the middle of July. The cuttings 

 should be very similar at both seasons, a small piece 

 of moderate-sized wood, from six to nine inches 

 long, an inch or so in diameter, with a heel (see Rose- 

 cuttings, pages 102 and 211, Vol. I.) of old wood 

 attached. These should be inserted in light sandy 

 loam, and made as firm as possible. Of course the 

 summer cuttings are inserted with all their leaves 

 attached, unless those in the buried portion, and 

 means should be taken by partial shade and over- 

 head sprinkling to retain the leaves on the cuttings as 

 long as may be. There are also other methods of 

 rooting Pear-cuttings. 



Propagation by Buds.— This is more practised 

 with the Pear than the Apple. It is also adapted for 

 several distinct purposes, as well as a means of pro- 

 pagation. It is a convenient method of posting 

 branches where they may be needed for f m-nishing or 

 renewal, or to make good accidental failures, and as 

 a mode of inserting fruit-buds where few or none 

 have been produced on a branch or tree. As a 

 means of propagation, budding, though less certain 

 than grafting, is often convenient. It is practised at a 

 different season, so that stocks that may have failed 

 to take by grafting in the spring, may be budded 

 in the summer, and thus converted into Pear-trees 

 before the end of the season. There is no better 

 mode of budding Pears for pur- 

 poses of propagation than the 

 common shield budding practised 

 on the Rose. 



The treatment of the wood 

 under the buds is quite a different 

 matter. In budding at the pro- 

 per season for propagation, the 

 wood is best removed ; some- 

 times, however, owing to peculiarities of season 

 or of varieties, this is difficult or impossible. In 

 such cases budding must either be left undone, or 

 else the section of wood must be left under -the 

 bark intact. In such cases the segment of wood 

 should be left as thin as practicable without 

 unduly impinging on the root of the bud. (See 

 Fig. 34.) 



Fig. 34. 



Fig. 35. 



Budding at other Seasons and for other 

 Purposes than Propagation. — On the Con- 

 tinent, where the grafting or budding of fruit- 

 buds in the spring is much more practised than 

 in England, buds something of the form or size 

 of Fig. 35, with the woody sheath left intact, or 

 clusters of buds as in Fig. 33, d, e, are 

 mostly employed. When one bud, 

 as in Fig. 35, is used, the process is 

 called budding ; when more than one, 

 as in d, e (Fig. 33), it is called graft- 

 ing. Skilfully performed, either 

 process is alike useful and success- 

 ful in transferring fruit-buds from 

 where they are not needed to other 

 parts of the same tree, or of different 

 trees, where but for those transferred 

 buds there would be few or no fruit. 

 Budding with wood-buds in a dormant state may 

 also be practised in the spring to furnish shoots, 

 branch, or buds, where there would otherwise be a 

 deficiency. With more expert and skilful manipu- 

 lation it would probably become possible to have a 

 fair crop of Pears most seasons, as it is comparatively 

 rare to find a season in which few or 

 many Pear-trees are not so over- 

 crowded with fruit-buds as to offer 

 a sufficient surplus for furnishing 

 many other trees. Fig. 36 shows the 

 surplus bud in Fig. 35 safely trans- 

 ferred to the barren stem or branch 

 of another tree. 



Propagation by Layers. — 



This, though quite practicable, is 

 seldom adopted as a means of pro- 

 pagation. (See Rose Layers, page 

 216, Vol. I.) Pear-layers, however, 

 are treated somewhat differently, in- 

 asmuch as the entire shoots are generally covered 

 with soil with the exception of a single bud or two. 

 This, however, is by no means essential to success, 

 though it is the best mode of raising Pears and 

 Quinces for stocks. 



Considerable difference of opinion prevails as to 

 the best Quinces to grow for Pear stocks. The three 

 best known are the Round or Apple Quince, the Ob- 

 long or Pear Quince, and the Portugal, with fruit 

 something like the latter, and the largest leaves of 

 any. This fact and its freer growth render it the 

 most generally used. Others, however, contend that 

 this Quince is too gross for the Pear, and that the 

 weaker-growing and smaller-leaved varieties are the 

 best for small bush-trees for pot culture, orchard- 

 houses, &c. 



So few Pears are grown on their own roots that 



