360 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



*' The process consists in shortening the first yearns 

 shoot of the apple or pear tree, called the graft shoot, to 

 one foot at a full bud. The first year, on pushing out in 

 spring, rub off all laterals, except four or five at the bottom 

 of the stem, to garnish it with a first tier of branches for 

 future 3'ears. Train the leader to a stick quite perpendicu- 

 lar. The next winter proceed as Itefore, by shortening the 

 leader twelv« inches at a full bud. Remove all interme- 

 diate buds as before down the leader, and leave those at 

 the bottom to form a second tier of laterals ; and shorten 

 the lower tier to an outside bud. After the second 3'ear 

 shoot, the summer pruning consists in rubbing off the 

 laterals forming now the lower tier, above and below the 

 branch, so as to keep them as horizontal as possible. 

 Strengthen those that grow horizontal by pinching off the 

 ends if necessary. Each tier should be as near as may be 

 twelve or thirteen inches, one above the other ; and, if 

 possible, the branches of each succeeding tier should be 

 so grown as to be above the intervals of the tier below." 

 This makes a beautiful symmetrical tree, ornamental even 

 in a flower garden." 



The great obstacle in pear culture is the blight, a dis- 

 ease whose virulence is almost peculiar to this fruit tree. 

 The causes are not well known. Hon. John Lowell, of 

 Boston, attributes it to a minute insect described by Peck, 

 in 1816, as the scolytus -pyri. The insect in this latitude 

 lays its eggs late in May or June, close to a bud ; and as 

 they hatch, the grub enters the shoot, perforating and 

 devouring it. While the tree is in its full growth, shoots 

 at the extremity of the branches suddenly shrivel, the 

 leaves turn back and die; the wood also is dark and dis- 

 colored, and dries very hard. Prof. Turner attributes this 

 disease to another minute insect, scarcely perceptible to the 

 naked eye, which covers the branches in myriads. Thi3 



