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never keep pace in their growth vfi.tH the fruit bud- 
ded or grafted upon them j as alfo becaufe the fruit 
upon fuch (locks are commonly drier, and mo id apt 
to be (tony, than when they are upon Pear docks. 
Quince (locks are greatly ufed in the nurferies for all 
forts of Pears which are defigned For dwarfs or walls, 
in order to check the luxuriancy of their growth, fo 
that they may be kept within compafs better than up- 
on free (locks. But againft the general ufe of thefe 
(locks, for all forts of Pears indifferently, there are 
very great objedtions : i ft, Becaufe feme forts of Pears 
will not thrive upon thefe (locks, but in two or three 
years decay, or at mod will but juft keep alive. 2 dly, 
Mod of the forts of hard breaking Pears are rendered 
ftony, and good for little •, fo that whenever any of 
thefe forts are thus injudicioufly raifed, the fruit, al- 
though the kind be ever fo good, is condemned as 
good for nothing by fuch as are not well acquainted 
with it, when the fault is entirely owing to the dock 
on which it was grafted. On the contrary, mod melt- 
ing buttery Pears are greatly improved by being upon 
Quince docks, provided they are planted on a ftrong 
foil ; but, if the ground be very dry and gravelly, no 
fort of Pear will do well upon Quince docks in fuch 
places. 
Thefe general directions being given, there is no oc- 
cafion to repeat any part of the method in which thefe 
docks are raifed, and the fruits budded or grafted 
thereon, which has been already mentioned under the 
article of Nurseries. 
The diftance which thefe trees (hould be planted ei- 
ther againft walls or efpaliers, mud not be lefs than 
forty feet ; for if they have not room to fpread on 
each fide, it will be impoifible to preferve them in 
good order, efpecially thofe on free docks, for the 
more thele trees are pruned, the more they will (hoot ; 
and, as I faid before, many forts of Pears produce 
their bloflbm-buds firft at the extremity of the former 
year’s (hoots, fo that when they are (hortened, the 
fruit will be cut away, and this cannot be avoided, 
where the trees have not room allowed in their firft 
planting. 
This diftance, I doubt not, will be objeded to by 
many who have not fully attended to the growth of 
thefe trees, efpecially as it hath been the general 
pradice of mod gardeners to plant thefe trees at lefs 
than half the diftance which is here mentioned i but, 
whoever will be at the trouble to view any of thefe 
trees which have been fome years ftanding, they will 
always hnd, if by accident, one of thefe trees has been 
planted againft a building, where the branches have 
had room to fpread, that this tree has produced more 
fruit than twelve trees which have been crouded clofe, 
and have not room for their branches to extend. There 
are fome Pear-trees now growing, which fpread more 
than fifty feet in length, and are upward of twenty 
feet high, which produce a much greater quantity of 
fruit than if there had been three trees in the fame 
room they would have done, as there are examples 
enough to prove, where trees are planted againft 
houfes and the ends of buildings at about twelve 
feet, or much lefs diftance, becaufe there is height 
of walling for them to grow, which is the reafon com- 
monly given by thofe who plant thefe trees fo clofe to- 
gether. But one tree will bear more fruit, when the 
branches are trained horizontally, than three or four 
trees, whofe branches are led upright, and there ne- 
ver can be any danger of the upper part of the wall 
being left naked or unfurnifhed j for I have feen a 
Pear-tree which has fpread more than fifty feet in 
width, and covered the wall upward of thirty-fix feet 
in height -, this was a fummer Boncretien Pear, and 
was extremely fruitful, which rarely happens to this 
fort when they are not allowed a large (hare of room. 
The fined tree of this fort of Pear, which I have ever 
feen, was a large (landard-tree in my own poffefiion, 
whofe ftem was not more than ten feet high, where 
the branches came out regularly on every fide, and 
extended near thirty feet from the trunk, many of 
which were by the weight of the fruit in fummer 
PYR 
brought down to the ground, fo they were obliged 
to be fupported with poles all around the tree "to- 
ward the extremity of the branches, to prevent then- 
lying upon the ground * and this tree had its branches 
fo difpofed as to form a natural parabola of forty 
feet in height, bearing from the lowed to the higheft 
branches-, fo that in a kindly feafon, when the blolibms 
efcaped the froft, it- hath produced upward of two 
thoufand Pears, which Were much better flavoured 
than any ot the fame fort which 1 have yet tailed. 
This inftance I mention, only to (hew how much one 
of thefe trees will fpread, if proper room be allowed 
it ; and alfo to obferve, that as the branches of this 
tree had never been (horteried, they were fruitful to 
their extremities. This (hews the abfurdity of the 
French gardeners, who do not allow more than ten or 
twelve feet diftance to thefe trees ; and fome of their 
mod improved writers on this fubjedt have advifed 
the planting an Apple-tree between the Pear-trees, 
where they are allowed twelve feet-, and yet thefe au- 
thors afterward fay, that a good Pear-tree will (hoot 
three feet each way in one year • therefore, accord- 
ing to their own observation, the trees fo planted will 
have their branches meet together in two or three 
years at mod, and what mud be the cafe with fuch 
trees in five or fix years is not difficult to know. But 
this method of planting has not been peculiar to the 
French, for mod of the gardens in England have 
been little better planted. Indeed, thofe perfons who 
were intruded with the making and planting mod of 
the Englilh gardens, had little (kill of their own, fo 
were obliged to follow the directions of the French 
gardeners ; of whom they had fo great an opinion, as 
to get their books tranflated, and to thefe have added 
fome trifling notes, which rather betray their weak- 
nefs for, where they have objected to the little room 
which their authors had allowed to thefe trees, they 
have, at the mod, allowed them but three feet more ; 
from which it is plain, they had not confidered the 
natural growth of the trees, and whoever departs 
from nature, may be iuftly pronounced an unikilful 
gardener. 
As mod of the Englilh gardens have been made and 
planted by perfons of little judgment, it is very rare 
to find any of them which produce much fruit ; for 
although many of thefe gardens have been totally al- 
tered and new planted, yet they have feldom been 
much altered for the better j and the poffeffors have 
been put to the expence of removing the old trees, 
alfo the earth of their- borders, and to purchafe new 
trees, which have been planted perhaps a foot or two 
farther afunder, than the old trees which were re- 
moved ; fo that when the young trees have grown a 
few years, they were in the fame condition as the old, 
and it will be the lofs of fo many years to the owner : 
but this will conllantly be the cafe, when it is the 
intereft of the perfons employed, who can fell fo ma- 
ny young trees ; and the planting of three times the 
number of trees in a garden, more than is proper, 
may in fome meafure be afcribed to the fame, though 
in many inftances I (hall be inclinable to think they 
have proceeded from ignorance, rather than defign. 
But where fruit-trees have been thus injudicioufly 
planted, if the (locks are healthy and good, the beft 
v/ay to recover this lofs is to dig up two or three, and 
leave every third or fourth tree, according to the 
diftance which they were planted, and fpread down 
the branches of thofe which are left horizontally I 
mean, all fuch as are capable of being fo brought 
down : but thofe which are too ftubborn for this, 
(hould be cut off near the ftem, where there will be 
new (hoots enough produced to furnifh the wall or 
efpalier ; and if the fort of fruit is not the fame as de- 
fired, the young branches may be budded the fame 
fummer, or grafted the following fpring with any 
other fort of Fear, and hereby many years may be 
faved j for one of thefe old trees fo budded or graft- 
ed, will fpread to a much greater length, and pro- 
duce more fruit, when thus managed, in three years, 
than a new tree will in ten or twelve, efpecially if the 
ground 
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