steuart's planter's guide. 



S83 



We consider the forester who has observed that 

 thorns or furze trained in hedges are much easier cut 

 from softness of timber than when growing in detach- 

 ed bushes, a much better observer than ourselves; and 

 we would inquire whether he were certain that the 

 greater efficiency of his blows was not owing to their 

 being better directed, from the conveniency of ac- 

 cess, owing to the training up, than from the tim- 

 ber being softer ? The example of the raspberry we 

 consider very irrelevant, it being only a semi-herba- 

 ceous plant of biennial stem. 



Gardeners certainly experience the branches and 

 roots of crab -apple to be harder than the varieties 

 with thicker bark, larger more downy leaves, and 

 larger fruit. The largest growing apple varieties, 

 however, are not the above mentioned mild varie- 

 ties, but those which have a pretty close approxima- 

 tion to the crab. We have taken slips from some 

 of the very largest of our pear-trees, and having 

 placed them close to the ground on young stocks, 

 have found they threw out spines and rectangular 

 branching similar to crabs. Those most dissimilar 

 to the crab have thick annual shoots, without any la- 

 teral rectangular branching, and very thick bark ; 

 they have been gradually bred to this condition by 

 repeated sowing, always choosing the seed of those 



