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HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



pear is not indigenous to America, but an intro- 

 duced tree ; and since its period of introduction, 

 hundreds of varieties have been originated, and 

 many, such as the sickle-pear, of very great 

 merit, the soil and climate both being congenial 

 to the growth of this tree and the complete ma- 

 turisation of its fruit. Mr Downing, in his work 

 on " The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America," 

 mentions two trees of great size and produc- 

 tiveness, one of which is growing in Illinois, 

 believed not to be more than forty years old, 

 the girth of whose trunk, 1 foot above the 

 ground, is 10 feet, and at 9 feet from the ground, 

 is 64 feet: in 1834, it yielded 184 bushels of 

 pears; in 1840, it yielded 140 bushels. The 

 other to which he alludes, and calculates as 

 being perhaps the oldest in the country, was 

 planted more than two hundred years ago. From 

 this we may premise that the pear was intro- 

 duced somewhere about two centuries and a half 

 ago to that important fruit-growing country. In 

 England, the pear tree attains a large size and 

 great age. In 1829, we visited an extraordinary 

 tree of this sort, growing in what was once the 

 garden of the parsonage-house adjoining the 

 park of Sir E. Stanhope, at Home Lacy, Here- 

 fordshire. It then covered nearly half an acre 

 of ground ; the larger branches, each of which 

 was in size equal to a large tree, had, during the 

 course of ages, fallen down and taken root at 

 the parts where they came in contact with the 

 ground, and shot up in form of distinct trees, yet 

 all more or less connected with the main trunk. 

 This tree has been known to produce in one 

 year thirty hogsheads of perry. Both Loudon, 

 and others quoting from him, have stated the 

 produce as only fifteen hogsheads. We were in- 

 formed by the proprietor that the quantity was 

 double. This variety is a true perry pear, very 

 hardy and productive, having an austere juice. 



Pears,like apples, are divided into three general 

 sections ; namely, summer, autumn, and winter 

 keeping sorts. The two latter are the most 

 esteemed, affording as they do our principal 

 dessert-fruit at a season when all others are past 

 and gone. Mr Rivers justly observes, " The 

 pear seems to require a warm moist climate. 

 Jersey is probably the most favourable seat for 

 pears in Europe, and next to that fertile spot 

 the low moist situations around London, par- 

 ticularly in the neighbourhood of Rotherhithe. 

 In that deep alluvial soil, the jargonelle and 

 other fine pears may be said to attain the highest 

 possible degree of perfection. In many parts of 

 France the climate is too warm. . The neigh- 

 bourhoods of Cheltenham and Worcester are very 

 favourable for the culture of pears. Many of the 

 Flemish and French varieties ripen their fruit 

 well, and are first-rate in size and flavour." At 

 Pinkie and Luffness, on the margin of the Firth 

 of Forth, they also ripen well, and attain a large 

 size, on account of the deep alluvial soil they 

 grow in, and the humidity of the atmosphere, 

 from its proximity to the sea. It has been set 

 down as a general rule that pears grown against 

 a wall will have their fruit much larger in size 

 than the same kinds trained as standards, but 

 that they are, more especially in dry warm sea- 

 sons, deficient in flavour, nor do they keep so 



well. But we think somewhat of this depends 

 on cultivation, as the temperature is increased 

 by the radiated heat from the wall. These con- 

 sequences would follow if a corresponding sti- 

 mulus is not given to the roots, and this wo 

 think is accomplished by copious waterings with 

 enriched liquids during the time of the selling 

 of the fruit. We water copiously with guano- 

 water, and we find Mr Rivers does the same, 

 applying it with an unsparing hand. 



Planting pears. — The pear requires a good, 

 naturally rich loamy soil ; not, however, en- 

 riched by artificial means, as that would only 

 have the effect of producing a luxuriance of 

 growth that would require much skill and la- 

 bour to overcome, by training, root pruning, 

 and other manipulations, all of which it were 

 better to avoid. The pear is cultivated in a 

 variety of forms, according to the hardiness or 

 tenderness of the kind; and the sorts are chosen 

 most suitable to the purposes for which they are 

 intended. And hence we have full standards, 

 half standards, espaliers, wall - trained, dwarf 

 standards— and of all these some one or more 

 varieties. To arrive at certain ends, two stocks 

 are also chosen for working the pear upon — 

 namely, the pear stock and quince stock : the 

 former, where longevity and strong trees are 

 required, generally for orchard purposes; and 

 the latter, where small trees of greater precocity 

 in coming into a bearing state, occupying less 

 room, &c, should the period of their existence 

 even be of shorter duration. 



An opinion has been entertained by some, to 

 the effect that the pear wrought upon the quince 

 stock is of short duration. Of course, we have 

 no means of drawing a parallel in this respect 

 between them and such as have been wrought 

 upon the pear stock, because the former is of 

 modern adoption ; whereas the oldest fruit-trees 

 in Britain are pears wrought upon the latter, and 

 no doubt have existed for centuries. In France, 

 where the quince stock was first employed, 

 thousands of healthy and productive trees may 

 be found of considerably more than half a cen- 

 tury's growth; and the fine wall of pears in the 

 garden of the Horticultural Society of London, 

 upon quince stocks, are in the highest state of 

 vigour, although they are now about twenty-six 

 years old, and were amongst the first trees of 

 the sort planted in Britain. Admitting that 

 they are of shorter duration than those upon 

 pear stocks, the small space they occupy, and 

 the abundance of fruit produced, and that from 

 the second year in general after planting, are, in 

 our estimation, of far greater consequence than 

 if they were to grow as large as the oak, and, 

 like it, live for a thousand years (vide article 

 Stocks). In planting the pear on quince stocks, 

 Mr Rivers observes that it is necessary that the 

 stock should be covered up to its junction with 

 the graft; and "if the soil is not excessively 

 wet, the tree may be planted in the usual man- 

 ner, so that the upper roots are on a level with 

 the surface of the soil. But with pear trees on 

 the quince something more is required than the 

 ordinary mode of planting." This is simply to 

 form a mound of compost, above half-rotten 

 manure and earth, mixed in equal quantities, 



