THE PEAR. 



643 



with ashes. This will give an abundant supply of nutriment to the 

 young seedlings the first year, Avithout which they become starved and 

 parched, after a few inches' growth, by our hot and dry summer, when 

 they frequently fall a prey to the apliis and other insects at the root and 

 top. A mellow, rich soil, whose depth insures a supply of moisture, 

 will give strong seedlings, which are always, at two years' growth, fit to 

 go into the nursery-rows for budding ; while a dry, thin soil will seldom 

 produce good stocks, even in half a dozen years. 



The seeds should be sown precisely like those of the apple, in broad 

 drills, and the treatment of the stocks, when planted in the rows for bud- 

 ding, is quite similar. Budding is almost universally preferred by us for 

 propagating the pear, and this tree takes so readily that very few failures 

 can happen to an experienced hand. About the first of August, in this 

 latitude, is the proper season for performing this operation. 



We may add here, that one-year-old pear seedlings are often winter- 

 killed when the autumn Las not been such as to ripen the wood tho- 

 roughly. A few branches of evergreens, or some slight covering laid 

 along the rows will prevent this. Or they may be laid in by the heels 

 in a sheltered place. 



The thorn makes very good stocks for the pear, except that if grafted 

 above ground the tree is often apt to be broken off at the point of 

 union by high winds. This is obviated by grafting a little below the 

 surface. Grafting on the thorn is a very useful practice for strong 

 clayey soils, as on such stocks the pear may be grown with success, 

 when it would not otherwise thrive. It also comes rather earlier into 

 bearing. The mountain ash is thought by some to be a valuable stock 

 for light sandy soils, but care should be taken that the graft or bud be 

 inserted low down near the crown of the stock, so that when transplanted 

 the whole of the stock can be covered with soil, otherwise the borer will 

 soon destroy it. The pear is sometimes budded on the apple, but it is 

 then usually very short-lived. 



For rendering the pear dwarf \ the Quince stock is almost universally 

 used, as the pear unites readily with it, becomes quite dwarf in habit, 

 and bears very early. Some large-growing pears — as the Duchess of 

 Angouleme — extremely liable to be blown off the tree, bear much better 

 on the quince stock, and others are considerably improved in flavor by 

 it. The dwarf pear, however, it must be confessed, rather belongs to 

 the small garden of the amateur than to the orcbardist, or him who de- 

 sires to have regular large crops and long-lived trees. The dwarf tree 

 is usually short lived, seldom enduring more than fifteen or twenty years 

 in bearing — but it is a pretty and economical way of growing a good 

 many sorts, and getting fruit speedily, in a small garden.* 



The pear, not being very abundantly supplied with fibrous roots, 

 should never be transplanted, of large size, from the nursery. Small 

 thrifty plants, five or six feet high, are much to be preferred. 



Soil, Situation, and Culture. The best soil for this fruit-tree is 

 a strong loam of moderate depth on a dry subsoil. The pear will, in- 



* Whether the Pear can be successfully cultivated on the Quince for market 

 Is yet a debatable question ; some growers, owing perhaps to soil and climate, 

 having succeeded satisfactorily, while others have entirely failed. That dwarfs 

 are a great acquisition to the garden where large standards are inadmissible is 

 | unquestioned. "We believe the promise of some varieties on quince warrants the 

 expectation that they will be found profitable for general cultivation. 



