196 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



Still better pies and tarts ; though, for these purposes, they should 

 not be quite dead ripe . The greatest possible attention must be 

 paid to have your trees of the right sort. When gentlemen go to 

 a nurserv to choose trees, and especially trained trees, they are too 

 apt to be captivated by the appearance of the plant; but as ill 

 weeds grow apace, so it is with fruit-trees. A Catherine or a ^dag- 

 dalen peach would be of twice the size in the same space of time 

 asa French Jilignonne or a Jlontauhon ; and, indeed, it may be laid 

 down as a general rule that, in proportion as the fruit excels, the 

 stature of the tree is puny and its growth slow : it is the same 

 through almost everything in nature, and it would be strange, 

 indeed, if peach-trees formed an exception. With regard to the 

 diseases to which the peach-tree is subject, and the enemies that 

 it is exposed to, mention will be made of these hereafter. 



280. PEAR. — The propagating and planting have already been 

 noticed ; because everything in those respects said of the apple is 

 applicable to the pear. In the rearing of orchards of pears also, 

 the rules for the rearing of apple orchards apply in all respects 

 whatever : and the reader should, therefore, now turn to those 

 rules. Pears, in a still greater degree than apples, demand espa- 

 lier training if they are of tine sorts. Indeed, these fine sorts, the 

 greater part of which have come from France, are worthv of a good 

 wall, facing the west, the east, or the north. As to the training 

 and pruning of them, the rules are precisely those described under 

 the head oi^spalier, which see. Pears very seldom bear upon 

 the last year's wood : but upon spurs, in like manner as the apple 

 does. No standard pear-tree, any more than a standard apple- 

 tree, should have place in a garden. All the reasons given for 

 training apples in the espalier form apply to pears, and with still 

 greater force ; for it is perfectly useless to attempt to get fine 

 pears upon standard-trees. ]\Iost trees will bear ; but the fruit 

 will not ripen, and will not be of good flavour even if they do. I 

 have mentioned before that the stocks for pears are pears raised 

 from the pip, quinces raised from cuttings or layers, or white-thorn 

 raised from the stones. For wall-trees or espalier trees, quince-stocks 

 are the best ; and that these may be had from the pips is proved 

 bv this fact, that I have now more than a thousand young pear- 

 trees grafted upon quince-stocks raised from the pips. I got the 

 pips from America, where quinces are grown in great abundance. 

 It would be difficult to get the pips here, and, therefore, quince- 



