THE PEAK TREE AND ITS PRODUCE. 



63 



j lind, for the sake of beauty and uniformity, they should 

 I jigree one side with the other. The buds which tend 

 jpackwards, or which are likely to grow out in front, 

 jlihould be rubbed off, unless much needed where they 

 Wow, in which case the shoots may be trained in. 

 i The spurs on a pear tree should be short and far 

 ipart. Long spurs, crowded together, will never pro- 

 iuce fine fruit. "Where they are too crowded cut out, 

 jind where they are too long shorten them ; but there 

 will be little occasion for this with trees under careful 

 ([culture. 



I There is another summer work for the pear-grower : 

 ibesides pruning back the young shoots, he must thin 

 lout the pears with a continually watchful eye. Xature 

 Ijdoes the first pear-thinning, when the young pears 

 iwhich fail to shape and swell shrivel and drop off by 

 hundreds. These, when they fall off, generally, unless 

 ifrost or hail have done a sweeping work of destruction, 

 jieave quite as many plump, swelling little nobs of pears 

 !as is good for the tree, and plenty of work in thinning 

 jbesides. 



j Avoid beginning to thin the pears too early ; rather 

 ''wait to see what the spring rains and stormy weather 

 'imay accomplish in that way; but when the pears swell 

 Sso as to approach, or in the slightest degree threaten 

 jjto crowd each other, thin out liberally. The late 

 '■pears may have more liberal thinning out than those 



which ripen in the autumn, because the last have to 



endure the winds and storms of autumn at a time 

 • when approaching maturity makes them less firm upon 



the tree, so that they will to a great extent thin them- 

 i selves, and that, if it comes after a very plentiful, arti- 

 1 ficial thinning, may leave the trees quite too thin of fruit 

 } for the time of gathering. In July or August, accord- 

 I'lJg to the forwardness of the season, thin Chaumontels 

 I to the extent of leaving no more than two to each bunch ; 

 j Louise Bonne, and other comparatively early kinds, 



need n-ot be tliinned nearly so much. In thinning, as 

 I in all other operations connected with fruit culture, 

 j experience and watchful care and observation must 



