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XLV. Upon the advantages of Root Pruning in Pear Trees. 

 By Mr. Thomas Rivers, Jun., Nurseryman, Sawbridgeworth. 



Read April 7, 1840. 



I t is now about ten years since, in consequence of being much 

 inconvenienced by the confusion in the names of new pears, I felt 

 myself called upon to plant specimen trees of all the varieties I 

 then possessed. But fearing that much ground would be wasted 

 in the experiment, I kept my mind on the alert to arrest super- 

 abundant growth and induce early fruitfulness ; this I then thought 

 could be best done by planting the trees in small square brick pits, 

 leaving holes at the bottom for drainage. Plunging trees in large 

 pots also occurred to me ; but as I soon found these, methods too 

 expensive, I took advantage of a piece of shallow loamy soil rest- 

 ing on a substratum of very hard white clay, to carry out my ideas, 

 for I calculated that the roots of the trees would not penetrate the 

 clay, and that the soil on the surface might be made rich enough 

 to support the trees without vigorous and unruly growth. How- 

 ever I soon found that the roots of trees are not so easily kept 

 within bounds, and that those of my Pear Trees, in search of 

 nutriment, not being able to enter the hard clay, were wandering 

 far and wide, the branches also keeping pace with the roots, and 

 growing much too rapidly for my calculations as to the space each 

 tree ought to have occupied. I had previously remarked for many 

 years that Apple Trees growing in a firm loamy soil in this nursery, 

 if removed one or two years consecutively, which in nursery culture 

 often occurs, acquired a stunted and prolific habit, making abun- 

 dance of bloom buds and bearing profusely. On examining these 



