MARCH. 
59 
growth. Surely instructions of this sort should be qualified by the state of 
the tree, according to the young wood and the healthy appearance of the plant 
itself. 
I was a witness the other day to rather extensive operations of this sort, and 
in several instances during the two years they had been planted they had not 
increased their roots much, but they showed evident signs of commencing ; and 
not having made roots the soil crumbled away into the trench, and left them as 
bare as when first planted. This is simply retarding the production of fruit for 
another year or two. There is a tendency in some sorts to fruit in quite a dwarf 
state; when this is the case, they will be found to want encouraging more than 
root-pruning. There is also at present a great demand in favour of foreign trees. 
My experience is very much against them, as in most of the better sorts par¬ 
ticularly, canker begins the second season. Soil may have something to do with 
this, but in all my experience I have never seen any clear of this after a season 
or two in our climate. Of course when this begins the fruit is next to useless, as 
it invariably affects that also. English-raised trees are more apt to grow strong, 
but this is easier dealt with than canker; and as we know well now how to get 
flower-buds, heavy cropping will assist in reducing that tendency. 
ON CRACKED PEARS AND SWEATING APPLES. 
The past season having been so dry, I have seen very few cracked fruits 
amongst the abundant crops of Pears and Apples. This corroborates my former 
remarks on the subject in these pages (Vol. 1862, page 55), in which I stated that the 
disease was the effect of the damp and cold. I may now state that I possess only 
one Pear badly cracked which grew in a bottle. In the early part of this season 
I put a young Pear of the Vicar of Winkfield into a small bell-shaped bottle, by 
way of a curiosity. During the season the bottle leaned on one side, which 
prevented the exhalation or condensed vapour from the Pear from dropping out, 
and the side of the Pear which touched the water is cracked nearly to the core. 
After the bottled Pear was some time in a hothouse, I was somewhat surprised to 
find so much exhalation from it condensed in the clear bottle. This fact reminded 
me of the old and common plan of sweating Apples in a heap, then wiping them dry 
and laying them upon wheat straw in a chamber. But I seldom hear of that plan 
now-a-days, and I never adopted it myself; therefore, I cannot speak of its utility. 
This season, however, Apples are so abundant, that some of my neighbours are 
grinding and pressing them into cider ; while others for the want of room have 
stowed their Apples in heaps knee-deep. Although I do not approve of the last 
method, I think that those who keep Pears and Apples in closed jars, or boxes, 
may take a hint from the sweating plan. I mean that of wiping the fruit dry 
before it is stored up, otherwise the condensed exhalation in the jars may not only 
injure the flavour of the fruit, but hasten the decay of the store. In short, I have 
doubts if it is not safer to place the fruit in open jars than closed ones. However, 
for the sake of those who have not seen my previous paper on cracked Pears, I 
may mention, that I spoke of a crop of Pears in front of a cottage, where the fruit 
exposed to the drip was cracked to the core, while that under the eaves or pro¬ 
jecting thatch was sound. The tree was a common Crasanne, whose russet-skinned 
fruit like others of its class, is more apt to crack than smooth green kinds like 
Napoleon and Sucree Vert. The last resembles the Green Yair of the Scotch, 
which is seldom good in the south in hot seasons ; while the reverse is the case in 
some of the French kinds. In cold seasons, though their fruit looks well, it seldom 
ripens and decays in a hard state without being soft or mellow. The same may be 
said of some kinds of Apples. The Paradise Pippin or Egg Apple is a favourite 
in the north, but here in hot seasons it is often mealy, and even bursts like a good 
Potato well boiled ; whereas in such seasons the Calville Blanche of the French is 
excellent. This angular-shaped Apple is more worthy of notice, especially by 
those who prefer quality in flavour to beauty. Mr. Bivers speaking of it says, “ It 
is most remarkable for its delicious flavour when grown in the warmer parts of 
