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H0CK1NGS' GARDEN MANUAL. 



purpose are such as are the least valuable for dessert. 

 Perry is also made from the juice, and the best sorts are 

 said to be little inferior to wine. 



The instructions for propagation, planting, soil, &c, 

 and the first formation of the head of the tree, are 

 similar to those given for the apple (which see). The 

 subsoil must be dry or well drained. 



Seedlings : In raising pears from seed, the proportion 

 of good sorts out of a given number is very small, and 

 many will be utterly worthless. They take from eight 

 to sixteen years to produce fruit, unless grafts are put 

 upon old established trees. Dr. Yan Mons, of 

 Brussels, recommends that trees be raised from the fruit 

 of seedlings, as the second generation of seedlings, if 

 subjected to high cultivation, is likely to produce an 

 improved variety. 



Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, has introduced a 

 mode of pruning and cultivating fruit-trees, which, if 

 generally adopted, will cause a revolution in the ma- 

 nagement of orchards. He recommend that the trees 

 be worked (grafted) on dwarfing stocks — the apple on 

 the paradise stock, the pear on the quince, &c. ; that 

 the trees be kept small by continually nipping off the 

 ends of the young shoots, by which they are never 

 allowed to exceed the size of small bushes ; and that 

 they be planted closer together. Eight feet is the dis- 

 tance for trees thus pruned, and twenty feet for stand- 

 ards. The mode of pruning he recommends is the same 

 as he directs for trees in pots, which will be found in 

 the article on the peach (which see). 



Pruning : The pear requires but little pruning. The 

 head may be formed as recommended for the apple, 

 and then it will only be necessary to shorten the long 

 shoots half or two-thirds, and to keep the head open 

 at the winter pruning. As the fruit is produced on 

 short, thick branches or knobs (called spurs), clustered 

 in bunches about the two-year-old wood, they should 

 be encouraged, at proper intervals, all over the tree. 



