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they may answer the intention for the present, yet will certainly greatly injure the trees, as must all 
violent amputations, which should ever be avoided as much as possible on fruit-trees; and this, I 
am sure, can never be wanted, where trees have been rightly planted, and regularly trained, while 
young. 
The season for pruning these trees is any time after the fruits are gathered, until the beginning of 
March; but the sooner it is done after the fruit is gathered, the better, for reasons already given for 
pruning of Peach-trees; though indeed the deferring of these until spring, where there are large quan¬ 
tities of trees to prune, is not so injurious to them, as to some tender fruits; but if the branches are 
regularly trained in summer, and the luxuriant shoots rubbed off, there will be little left to do 
to them in winter. 
All the sorts of Summer Pears will ripen very well either on standards, dwarfs, or espaliers, as 
will all Autumn Pears upon dwarfs or espaliers; but, where a person is very curious in his fruit, I 
would always advise the planting them against espaliers, in which method they take up but little room 
in a garden, and, if they are well managed, appear very beautiful; and the fruit is larger and better 
tasted than those produced on dwarfs, as has been already observed; but some of the Winter Pears 
must be planted againt east, south-east, or south-west walls, otherwise they will not ripen well in 
England in bad seasons. 
But although this may be the case with some of the late Winter Pears in very bad seasons, yet, in 
general, most sorts of them will ripen extremely well in all warm situations, when they are planted 
in espalier, and the fruit will be better flavoured than that which grows against walls, and will keep 
much longer good; for, as the heat against walls which are exposed to the sun will be very great at 
some times, and at others there will be little warmth, all fruit which grow near them, will be hastened 
unequally, and therefore are never so well flavoured as the same sorts are which ripen in the open 
air; and all the fruit, which is ripened thus unequally, will decay much sooner than those which 
ripen gradually in the open air; therefore those Winter Pears which grow in espalier, may be kept 
six weeks longer than those which grow against walls, which is a very desirable thing; for to have 
plenty of these fruit at a season when it is very rare to find any other fruit to supply the table but 
Apples, is what all lovers of fruit must be greatly pleased to enjoy; which is what may be effected 
by planting many of the late sorts in espalier, where, although the fruit will not be so well coloured 
as those from the walls, yet they will be found exceeding good. When the Besi de Chaumontelle 
came first to England, the trees were planted in espalier, and some of them not on a very good soil, 
or in a warm situation, and yet from these trees I have eaten this Pear in great perfection in April, 
and sometimes it has kept till May; whereas, all those which have been since planted against walls 
ripen their fruit by the beginning of November, and are generally gone by the middle of December; 
nor are the latter so well tasted as those off the espaliers. 
The Virgoleuse and St. Germain, as also the Colmar, are esteemed the most difficult sorts to ripen 
their fruit, yet these I have eaten in great perfection from espaliers, and often from standard-trees, 
where they grew upon a warm soil; but the fruit was much smaller on the standard-trees than those 
of the same sorts which grew against walls or espaliers, but they were full as well flavoured, and 
some of these sorts I have eaten good in April, which is two months later than they usually keep; 
but yet I would not advise the planting these late Pears in standard-trees, because they should hang 
very late on the trees in autumn, at which season the winds are generally very high; and these 
standard-trees being much exposed, the fruit is often blown off the trees before they are ripe; and 
those of them, which may hang on the trees, are frequently bruised by being forced against the 
branches by the winds, so that they seldom keep well. What I mentioned this for, is to prove, that 
these Pears will ripen very well without the assistance of a wall; so that if they are planted in 
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