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was grafted. On the contrary, most melting buttery Pears are greatly improved by being upon 
Quince stocks, provided they are planted on a strong soil; but, if the ground be very dry and gra¬ 
velly, no sort of Pear will do well upon Quince stocks. 
The distance which these trees should be planted either against walls or espaliers, must not be 
less than forty feet; for if they have not room to spread on each side, it will be impossible to pre¬ 
serve them in good order, especially those on free stocks, for the more these trees are pruned, the 
more they will shoot; and, as I said before, many sorts of Pears produce their blossom-buds first at 
the extremity of the former year’s shoots, so that when they are shortened, the fruit will be cut away, 
and this cannot be avoided, where the trees have not room allowed in their first planting. 
This distance, I doubt not, will be objected to by many who have not fully attended to the 
growth of these trees, especially as it hath been the general practice of most gardeners to plant these 
trees at less than half the distance which is here mentioned; but, whoever will be at the trouble to 
view any of these trees which have been some years standing, they will always find, if by accident 
one of these trees has been planted against a building, where the branches have had room to spread, 
that this tree has produced more fruit than twelve trees which have been crowded close, and have 
not room for their branches to extend. There are some Pear-trees now growing, which spread more 
than fifty feet in length, and are upwards of twenty feet high, which produce a much greater quan¬ 
tity of fruit than (if there had been three trees in the same room), they would have done, as there are 
examples enough to prove, where trees are planted against houses and the ends of buildings at about 
twelve feet, or much less distance, because there is height of walling for them to grow, which is the 
reason commonly given by those who plant these trees so close together. But one tree will bear 
more fruit, when the branches are trained horizontally, than three or four trees, whose branches are 
led upright; and there never can be any danger of the upper part of the wall being left naked or 
unfurnished; for I have seen a Pear-tree which has spread more than fifty feet in width, and covered 
the wall upwards of thirty-six feet in height; this was a summer Boncretien Pear, and was extremely 
fruitful, which rarely happens to this sort when they are not allowed a large share of room. The 
finest tree of this sort of Pear, which I have ever seen, was a large standard-tree in my own posses¬ 
sion, whose stem was not more than ten feet high, where the branches came out regularly on every 
side, and extended near thirty feet from the trunk, many of which were by the weight of the fruit in 
summer brought down to the ground, so they were obliged to be supported with poles all around the 
tree towards the extremity of the branches, to prevent their lying upon the ground; and this tree had 
its branches so disposed as to form a natural parabola of forty feet in height, bearing from the lowest 
to the highest branches; so that in a kindly season, when the blossoms escaped the frost, it has pro¬ 
duced upwards of two thousand Pears, which were much better flavoured than any of the same sort 
which I have yet tasted. This instance I mention, only to shew how much one of these trees will 
spread, if proper room be allowed it; and also to observe, that as the branches of this tree had never 
been shortened, they were fruitful to their extremities. This shews the absurdity of the French gar¬ 
deners, who do not allow more than ten or twelve feet distance to these trees; and some of their most 
improved writers on this subject have advised the planting an Apple-tree between the Pear-trees, where 
they are allowed twelve feet; and yet these authors afterwards say, that a good Pear-tree will shoot 
three feet each way in one year; therefore, according to their own observation, the trees so planted 
will have their branches meet together in two or three years at most, and what must be the case with 
such trees in five or six years is not difficult to know. But this method of planting has not been 
peculiar to the French, for most of the gardens in England have been little better planted. Indeed, 
those persons who were intrusted with the making and planting most of the English gardens, had little 
skill of their own, so were obliged to follow the directions of the French gardeners; of whom they 
