244 



PEAR-TREE. 



ducted on the general rule ' of sparing all such "well 

 placed and thriving laterals^ as may be necessary for pre- 

 serving the form given to the head of the tree, and of cut- 

 ting away all others close to the branch from which they 

 grow.' If the older wood be diseased or redundant, cut 

 this away also, or shorten it down to some healthy and 

 promising shoots. The retained branches, if growing 

 against a wail or trellis, should, after each pruning, be laid 

 down and nailed, with as much extension as can conve- 

 niently be given to them. 



Mr. Knight's mode of training the pear-tree is, to 

 leave on the young stock two lateral branches on each side. 

 When about six feet high, he transplants the tree early in 

 the spring, and inserts grafts on each side of the laterals, 

 so that two of them shall push from the stem about four 

 feet from the ground, and two others from the summit, the 

 ensuing year. The shoots produced by these grafts, when 

 about a foot long, are to be trained downward — the lower 

 ones almost perpcLidicularly, and the upper ones just below a 

 horizontal line ; and so placed, as to distance, that the leaves 

 of the one will not at all shade the other. Continue this 

 mode of training the second year, and in the third you may 

 expect an abundant crop of fruit. 



" When an old tree becomes unproductive, one of two 

 methods should be adopted — either to cut down within 

 eighteen inches or two feet from the ground, and train up 

 anew some selected shoots which may have pushed from 

 the stump, (which is the method of Forsyth,) or, to 

 take off at its base every branch which does not want at 

 least twenty degrees of being perpendicular, and all spurs 

 from such other branches as by this rule will be left. Into 

 these, (the retained branches,) at their subdivisions, and at 

 different distances from their bases, quite to their extremi- 

 ties, grafts must be carefully inserted ; which, when they at- 

 tain sufficient length, (say twelve inches,) must be trained 

 downward between the branches, as directed in the pre- 

 ceding paragraph. " — Armstrong, 



The diseases of the pear-tree, and the insects which 

 infest it, are in general the same with those to which ap- 

 ple-trees are liable. Soft soap is said to be an excellent 

 application to the stem and limbs, preventing tlie decline 

 of the tree, and causing the bark to become smooth and 

 glossy. A solution of potash, as recommended for the apple- 

 tree, (page 222.) would no doubt prove equally useful to this 

 tree. Pear-trees have of late years been subject to a maladv. 



