198 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



I ever saw. To these recommendations may be added that this 

 tree is as great a bearer as the Green Chisel itself ; and, which is 

 rather singular of the pear and apple kind, the three years that I 

 was in Long Island, these trees were loaded with fruit every year. 

 Cattle and hogs are turned into the orchards of America to live and 

 fatten upon the fruit : they take up from the ground those which 

 they like best ; or they feed from the lower branches of the trees. 

 I never perceived my cattle extremely anxious about other fruit ; 

 but, to get at the perry pears, the steers and oxen used to raise 

 themselves upon their hind-legs, which I very rarely saw them do 

 in the case of any other tree. Their strong jaws could mash them; 

 and they therefore were able to ascertain their sugary quality. 

 Raw, they will keep all the winter long, and until the month of 

 iSIay, and still be as solid and as hard as ever. I am sure that 

 this is the best pear in the world for cooking, and, I think, for 

 the making of perry. With regard to the gathering of pears for 

 the table, the rules are precisely the same as those laid down in 

 the case of the apple : though it may be observed that summer 

 pears (which keep but for a short time) ought to be gathered a 

 little while before they be ripe, and especially the Green Chisel 

 and the Catlierine. 



281. PLUiSI. — As to the sort of stock, it must be the seed of 

 the plum, as mentioned under the head of Propagation. The 

 plum is budded in general, and not grafted : so is the cherry ; but 

 both mav be grafted, and this is the common practice in America. 

 As to the management of the budded plant, and as to planting 

 out, directions have before been given, in the case of the peach, if 

 against a wall 5 and, in the case of the espalier apple, if in the 

 form of the espalier. Plums do not require so much room as other 

 wall-trees ; nor do they require so much as apples, or pears, or 

 cherries, in espalier. They bear generally upon spurs, seldom on 

 the last year's wood ; for training and pruning against a wall, the 

 rules laid down under the head of Apricot exactly apply ; and all 

 the objections to standards, mentioned under the head of Apple, 

 equally apply here. Against a wall, plums are placed on walls 

 facing the east, the west, or the north ; and the Green-gage (queen 

 of all plums) is finer when it has a northern aspect than when 

 much exposed to the sun : it is not so sugary; but it is larger, comes 

 in more by degrees, and is, in fact, of finer flavour than when ex- 

 posed to a liot sun. As to the sorts of plums : those cultivated 



