AUGUST. 
163 
RENOVATING BARREN PEAR TREES. 
Cases very frequently occur when Pear trees are trained against walls that 
the leading branches are laid in so closely together as nearly to over-ride each 
other; hence, unless with very productive varieties, they remain contin¬ 
uously barren. A few straggling fruit may occasionally appear at the extreme 
point of the shoots, but are generally of an inferior quality. I would not 
exonerate the roots from criminality, as they may have wandered beyond their 
allotted space, and pumped into the system matter, both in quantity and quality 
which the leaves, under the most favourable circumstances, are unable to digest. 
While the trees are young this close system of training does not materially 
interrupt fructification, but the damaging effects are progressively creeping on, 
for by the propagation of offsets, the radius of the spurs increases, proportion¬ 
ately diminishing the penetrating power of heat and light at the base of the 
young shoots, where these stimulants are most required to insure maturation. 
The method by which trees of a robust habit are managed, if management 
it can be called, is to slash down the growths periodically without considering 
that the oftener they are cut the stronger they grow. There is no room left 
for exhaustion, the operator is fighting against the effect, and through it, 
endeavouring in the most helpless way to conquer the cause. 
I believe it is generally admitted among gardeners who have studied the 
economy of the Pear tree, that horizontal training is preferable to any other 
kind, and more particularly when confined within the limits of a low wall; but 
of whatever height, I strictly adhere to this arrangement, because it more 
completely utilises the circulation of the sap, distributing it equally into each 
distinct channel, causing one part to balance another exactly. Fan training 
produces just the opposite effect: the fluid rushes up uncontrolled through the 
more vertical branches, throwing out during its ascent a mass of unproductive 
wood, and this abstractive process starves one portion and overfeeds the other, 
which is always unfavourable to the formation of flower-buds. There are some 
trees so thoroughly 'worn out, either by age or other causes, as to resist the 
most skilful system of renovation, therefore they are unworthy of any conside¬ 
ration and should be cast aside without reserve. Let us take the case of barren 
trees, whether arising from excessive root-action, or mismanagement of the 
branches, such as over-crowding, to which I have already made allusion. 
The remedial measure that I would adopt with horizontal training would be 
to arrange the principals as near as can be done to 20 inches apart, and fill up 
the intervening spaces with young growths selected from the spurs, choosing 
those that are placed nearest to the wall. The distance between each need not 
exceed 2 feet—long enough to meet, without being allowed to over-lap 
each other; while, at the same time, it is hardly necessary to say, that every 
superfluous spur should be cut clean off, and those that remain reduced as much 
as possible. 
It will be seen that the value of this method consists in having constantly 
at command an inexhaustible source, whence a supply of young bearing wood 
can be drawn whenever it may be required. It may be thought that the space 
left between the principal leaders is unnecessary, yet in practice it will be 
found that it is not too much—the short shoots or long spurs entirely cover the 
surface of the wall, every leaf has room to keep its natural position, fully 
exposed to the direct action of the atmosphere. 
I might go further and say that this arrangement is not an imaginative 
theory, it has been carried out in my own practice; for ever since the formation 
of this garden, I have had our Pear trees trained exactly on the same principle, 
looking forward to the time when a supply of young bearing wood would become 
