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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



by first grafting on it a kind that does succeed and afterwards 

 regrafting the refractory kind thereon. It is not so easy, how- 

 ever, to secure these fibrous roots in the case of the " free " or 

 wild Pear stock, unless the stock be rigorously dealt with in its 

 youthful stages, converting their natural stubborn tap-roots into 

 fibrous-forming ones by regular annual, or at least biennial, 

 lifting and relaying. 



In the case of standard or orchard trees free stocks are indis- 

 pensable, as some strong roots are required to withstand wind, 

 &c. Moreover, the free stock is the best for light, sandy soils for 

 all forms of trees, cordons only excepted. 



For horizontal or other trained trees on w T alls the free stock 

 also answers well ; but it is absolutely necessary in most soils to 

 lift the roots from the subsoil frequently during the first few 

 years of their existence — not to be pruned off, but to be relaid 

 in a more horizontal position nearer the surface, working in a 

 little fresh loam from time to time ; it is best done in November. 

 This beneficial operation is generally neglected (especially by 

 amateurs) until the roots have become so large and stubborn, and 

 the wood so gross and unfruitful, that the severity with which the 

 operation has then to be performed often throws the tree into a 

 state of chronic debility from which it seldom recovers. Hence 

 the disrepute into which root-pruning has fallen, and the failure 

 which in so many instances attends Pear cultivation. 



It is astonishing what liberties may be taken with the roots 

 of Pear-trees, and with infinite advantage to the crop, when done 

 at the right time of year and in a judicious manner, more 

 especially where the subsoil is strong and heavy. Indeed, to 

 plant Pear-trees on free stocks in the rich soil of a garden, and 

 allow them to grow r on unchecked for some years, only produces 

 trees with strong, deep-rooting tap-roots, almost fibreless, which 

 continue to pump up ever so late in the season a quantity of 

 crude sap into the already gross wood, which wood can never 

 ripen, and therefore it seldom bears fruit. Such a system of culti- 

 vation — if indeed it can be called cultivation - always ends in 

 disaster and disappointment. No pains should be considered too 

 great to lay a good foundation of fibrous roots, and no trouble 

 should be spared afterwards to maintain these fibrous roots in a 

 healthy condition and near to the surface by suitable manurial 

 mulchings, and the judicious use of liquid nourishing stimulants. 



