THE WINTER STUDY OF FRUIT TREES. 
21 
nearly hairless and therefore a distinct red-brown. Of the grey or 
downy class ' Pott's Seedling/ ' Red Ribbed Greening,' and ' Braddick's 
Nonpareil ' may be cited. 
In form also great variation occurs, from the long and pointed bud 
of ' Duchess of Oldenburg ' to the large, globular, downy, and loosely 
packed bud of ' Pott's Seedling.' 
The variation in hardness of the wood is very remarkable, and when 
cutting grafts one easily notices a variety of softer texture if mixed in 
among those of a hard variety. In general it seems that Apples of 
soft flesh such as the * Codlins ' have a wood to correspond, while the 
' Reinettes ' fall into the class of hard woods. So striking is the dis- 
tinction that an eminent pomologist has proposed a classification of 
Apples based upon their breaking strain. The same character is 
noticed in the Plums. 
Pears. 
The pyramidal form taken by many Pears has long been noted, and 
some philologists derive the name from pyr — fire, seeing in their form 
a likeness to the tapering of ascending flames. This is probably a little 
fanciful, and if the fire origin is to be upheld one would rather see it in 
the gold and scarlet of autumnal colour. While nearly all Apples 
tend to grow upward and then bend down forming a round or flat head 
with branches more or less pendent, many Pears preserve their pyra- 
midal form even in old age, the lower branches being widest and the 
outline of the tree diminishing towards the apex. There are, of course, 
many varieties which do not affect this form ; ' Catillac,' for example, 
makes a round-headed tree, or ' Jargonelle,' which straggles untidily 
in any and every direction. 
The most remarkable feature of the Pear is perhaps the large 
number of fastigiate forms it includes. When this habit is combined, 
as it so often is, with a tendency to make spurs rather than shoots, we 
get such upright forms as ' Beurre Clairgeau,' which rival the Lombardy 
Poplar. Similar habit will be found in ' Le Lectier,' ' Passe Crasanne,' 
and many others. 
In the young shoots many useful characters are found, and that 
of colour may be taken first. It has been said by some pomologists 
that this character is so variable that it is of little use for diagnostic 
purposes. Decaisne, in fact, went so far as to regret that he coloured 
the shoots in his illustrations in the " Jardin Fruitier." 
Colour is, of course, always a variable factor, and in some varieties 
is so little marked as to render it unwise to place much reliance upon 
it. But there are many varieties in which it is both distinct and con- 
stant. The striking chocolate-red of the shoots of such Pears as 
' Fertility,' ' Beurre Giffard,' ' Jargonelle,' • Louise Bonne,' ' Verulam,' 
and ' Catillac ' is such as to render them conspicuous under any usual 
conditions. I have carefully noted the fact for many 3/ears under 
different conditions of soil and exposure, and have always found the 
above to be entirely constant. 
