UNIVERSITY OF B,C. LIBRARY 3 QA9d 05045 578 8 STCRAGf ITEU FROC£SSING-ONt U.B.C. LIBRARY r ^«^ ♦ 2 rfc , »^«^ fc f/v y- Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of British Columbia Library http://www.archive.org/details/pearculturemanuOOfiel ^^^■,,m>mr- i^'^. > t HrfJiirfii tv H fftr cli/tmeier of' n/ihiml Jiye /. . -/bbot 3 . Brurrr Siiprrffh . Z. £cZfe Lftrrti/irr . •^ /Jm-p/uie ,'>'t/'////e . J . ffenveJJ . ^it^fmstt^ . um^ s-^KfAfT. Mbuatt/fMrr: **9 Bnr>Ao»iMr .- FEA.1^ CIJr.TXJRE. A MANUAL PEOPAGATIO^, PLAXTmG, CULTIYATION, AIS^D MAXAGEME]S^T THE PEAPi TPiEE DESCRIPTIONS AND ILLUSTEATIOXS OF THE MOST PEODUCTIVB OF THE FINER VARIETIES, AND SELECTIONS OF KINDS MOST PROFITABLY GRO^TN FOR MARKET. THOS. W. FIELD, Phe prfiljen-dmpping Pe.ir, the reddpnin^ glow ClMjn the cheek of Beauty, nn.l the Fonch, Hnve common oource and end. The iXiat We till, we are. The noddinp flower, the Klin, Arching in cloislers nod in vaulted aJelcB, A.re man, or bout, or worm, in other forma. No mftrUe dnmb, or crmibling t^mb shall rear Their pale chill walls o'er me. The tree I jlan Shall monument my du*»t — itself Uie tree, Kefioed in leaf, and fruit, and tluwer: tliAt wh«n The ixmunteriul part pntu mattor nn Again, it is more fit for Heaven. Btiu Ml: A. O MOORE, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER, 140 FULTON STREET. 1859. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, By a. O. MOOEE In the Clerk's Offico of tho District Court for the Southerr District of New York. ®|is §001: is i^ltrinttli TO MY FRIEND, TDJR. L O TJ I S E. B E I^ O IT ilVE .A. IST S , UABK or AFTKOTION AND B E 8 P E 0 T, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. TuE loleasure with wliich I have, for several years, pursued the labor of coUecting and arrangmg the matter of this Book, melts away, as I approach the tribunal wliich IS to pronoimce upon the result of that labor. The Public which an author ft>ars most is, after all, very small— it is those of his own craft, who will easily discover his fiihire ; and it is precisely that small Pubhc Avhose favor I am' most anxious to deserve. Cardinal De Retz once said: '•He who is m good repute among his own order, cim not easily be overthro^vn." It is from intelHgent Pomologists that I shall receive censure with the most humility, and praise ^dth the most gratification ; and it was m hope of earnmg the latter that I have oegun and completed this work. There is so Httle that is really original m any work, that the unguarded and jealous critic, m reviewing some humble author, is in imminent danger of launchuig his boll at some great and standard authority. Wheu'charged, by a critic of such rank, with uuperfections, I ^hall only be able to answer: "Sir, the best Pomologists have contributed the most perfect results of their in\x^sti- gations to tliis work; and the msensible plagiarism, by which another's idea is reproduced m my brain, ought not to create prejudice against the idea." So mucli o^t' what IS exceUent in this work may, Ijy long residence in my ou-u braui, seem to liave had its origin there, that it would ( - ) vi . PREFACE. be vain to attempt, at tins late hour, a restitution of ideas to the proper o\niers. When known or recollectod, the aulliority Avhose matter has been quoted is noticed in the body of the work. It requires to be distinctly stated, that the plan of this book does not admit of that extensive description of varieties Avliich would be desired by an amateur of long experience in the cultivation of the Pear. Its design is to answer, in a clear and intelligible manner, the oft- repeated questions of the novice : " What kinds of Pear Trees can I plant most profitably ?— and how shall I treat them, to insure a return of the investment ?" The Author has indulged no higher ambition than to answer these queries satisfactorily— and does not claim the ability to instruct those experienced Pomologists, whose lives have been spent in patient investigation of the most minute phenomena attending the Propagation, the De- velopment, and the Fruillng of the Pear Tree. In constant connnunication with Horticulturists, the want of a Manual of Pear Culture, so often suggested by them, originated in my mind the idea of collating the experience of the best cultivators ; and stimulated by my own hearty love of the subject, I have executed the Avork n(jw oll'erod to the lovers of that noble fruit. If it shall result in a more intelligent treatment of the beautiful but dumb companions of the Horticulturist, and tlius obviate much of that disappointment which has flowed from ignorance of the peculiar requirements of the Pear Tree, and of the varieties to be selected, the Book will have ])crr.)rmed the office for which it was written ; and the Author will not regret his work. (J 0 N TE NTS. PART I . Preparation of the Soil— Draining— Plowing and Cropping the Giound —Trenching— Manuring— Digging Holes— Digging Trees-Soils for Pears — Transporting, PART II. Tiie Seedling— Planting Seed— Obtaining new Seedling Varieties— Hy- bridizing— Leaf BUght of Seedlings— Propagation by Layers and Cuttings— Quince Stocks— Cost of preparing Ground and Planting Manures for Nursery Stocks— Methods of Grafting— Buddin°-. PART III. Selecting Pear Trees from Nursery— Causes of the Failure of Nursery Trees— Proper Age for Planting— Pruning and Root Pruning before Planting— Replanting the Pear to form Fibrous Roots— Heeling in— Treatment of Withered Trees— Planting— Plan of arranging Pear Grounds — Cultivation of the Pear Orchard — Mulching — Special Manures for the Pear— Invigorating Old Trees— Grating Large Trees. PART IV. Office of the Quince-stock — Causes of the failure of the Pear on the Quince— Advantage of the Quince Stock— Rules for Growing the Pear on Quince — Double Working. ( vii ) Viii CONTlCNTri. V A 11 T V. Prunino. — Advanta-es of ryramidal Sl.apo — Approach Graftiug— Prunin- to a IJua-Ucncwiug the Wood of old Dwaifs-Suinu.er rinching-Fruit Spurs, and Trcatmeut— Forms of Training— Kulcs for Pruning— Root Pruning. PART TI. DisKASKS OK THE PEAR.-Winti-r or Frozcu-Sap Rliglit-Signs of the Disoase—lnsect-Bliglit— Leaf-Blight. ' P A P. T Y I I . INSF.CT3 IsjCRiOfS TO T.IK PK.AR.-Scolytus pvri-Scalc luscct-Tlic Pear Slu--— Caterpillar, Canker, Worm, &c.— Means of destroying. P A Pv T VIII. Varimiks.— Conditions vl.ieli aflect the Quality of Fruit -Terms relating to Quality-Q.ialiues required for MarkH, Cidtivation-Van- ctios for Market Cultivation to be grown on Pear Stocks— Varieties that mav be grown on the (Quince. PART IX. r. u-HKKisa, Makkkting, and FuuiT-RooMS.-Soils as affecting Quality of rears-Tl.inning Fruit— Gathering— Marketing Pears— Coloring and Ripening of Summer and Autumn Pears-Ripening of Winter roars— Fruit Rooms-Mr. Slmiooley's Plan of Fruit-Room— Cata- logue of Native Varieties — Catalogue of Foreign Varieties and Synonyms. PEAR CULTURE. mTKODUCTIOTs'". While revolution and conquest were disturbing tlio equilibrium of the political world, during tlie last twenty years, bringing dread and terror in their san- guinary train, another revolution was iDrogressiug, more enduring— as it was productive of happiness, instead of misery. This was, the revolution in the culture and produc- tion of everything which the generous earth yields to man's cultivation ; but more particuhxrly manifested in the propagation and perfection of fruits. Our fathers required the whole of their long lives to eat of the fruit of the tree they planted. But by the new arboriculture, the youth may pluck fruit from the tree he planted when a child. In none of the fruits is this peaceful reTolution so striking as in the culture of the Pear. From the long period'of twenty or thirty years required for the fruit- ing of the tree, we have deducted more than four- fifths, and reduced the time to three or four. The introduction of the French method of propa- o-ation upon the Quhice stock luirf given such an 14 INTiiODCCTION. impetus to the cultivation of the Pear, that tlie sales from a single nursery in this country reach the enorm- ous number of half a million trees in one year. It is undoubtedly true that the propagation of the Pear on the Quince, by its early production of this noble and beautiful fruit, M'ill be the source of more unalloyed pleasure, and more innocent and healthful gratilica- tion, than any discovery in the arts and sciences foi the last twenty years. Tlic origin of this method of propagating the Pear must not be looked for in very recent times — as trees more than a hundred years old, originally upon the quince stock, may be found growing in France. The history of its introduction into this country would not be difficult to trace ; but I have been able only to ascertain sufficient to induce me to believe, that ISlv. Perkins, of Boston, was among the first to introduce it, nearly forty years since ; soon after, Marshall P. "WiLDKR, of Boston, and Mr. Manning, of Salem ; and later still, Mr. IIovet, of Cambridge, commenced the cultivation of quince-rooted pear trees, which nuiy be seen in those places more than thirty years of age. Mr. Mantel, of Astoria, was for some years in opposition to Mr. A. J. Downing, the earliest advocate of its general cultivation ; but it was not until within the last ei^lit or ten years that the planting of the trees had become very common. Indeed, it is only within a year or two that the theory was broached, which governs the whole constitution of the com- pound tree, viz. : that the office of the Quince is entirely as root, and not as a truidc. That we shall arrive at a ]M»int ol' excellence in tho INTKODUCTION. 15 propagation of tlie Pear which will enable us to dis- l^ense even with the Quince in great part, is not doubted by good pomologists. In the original introduction of the Pear as a fruit into this country, the French Huguenots bore a pro- minent part. In preparing for their exile, they doubt- less selected the seeds of their best varieties, and planted them around their homes in the !N^ew World. This is evidenced by the multitude of aged trees (many of them producing fine varieties) in the im- mediate neighborhood of their first settlements, par- ticularly on Long Island and at 'New Pochelle, in Michigan and Illinois. It is not a little curious to observe how the taste and preference for this fruit has survived in the coun- tries through which the Huguenots passed in their flight, or where they temporarily sojourned. Belgium and Holland have produced more fine varieties, and more eminent cultivators, of this fruit than all the rest of the world. There are many questions relating to the Pear, which are still little understood, although discussed for a long time by men of talent. Among these are : the decline of certain highly-esteemed varieties, which can no longer be grown in localities where they formerly ranked as the highest and best ; the excel- lence of many varieties in particular places, and their inferiority when grown in others ; the refusal of some varieties to grow upon the Quince stock. These, and many other mysteries, which have caused as much disappointment and chagrin to the cultivator, from his inability to account for them, as from hiji IG INTRODDCTIOISr. failure to obtain the fruit, cannot, from tlie limited character of this work, be discussed at length. The Pear has proved, by experience, to be adapted to as ^vide a range of territory in the United States as the Apple ; and on the ligliter soils of the Atlantic coast, to be much more productive. We are beginning to learn, too, what varieties are adapted to sj)ecial local- ities and soils ; and amid the great multitude of excellent kinds, it will not be difncult to find some that will succeed, with ease, in the most unfavorable location. We are not confined now, as formerly, to a single variety, that ripened in August or September, whose evanescent excellence vanished in a day or two ; but by a skillful selection of varieties, we extend the enjoy- ment of this king of fruits over a period of eight or ni)ie months — or from August to May. A great advance has also been made in the quality of the fruit ; for in place of the dry and inealy Sugar- Pear, the insipid Jargonelle, and the griping Winter- Bell, we liave obtained the Flemish Beauty, the Duchesse, and the Easter Beurre. That we shall continue to make great progress in the knowledge of varieties, their propagation and improvement, can hardly be doubted, as long as such intelligent and enthusiastic men as Downing, Wildkk, Bekckmans, IIovey, Baery, Tuomas, and Brincklk, continue to cultivate the Pear. To them the pomolo- gists of this country owe a large debt of gratitude ; and to thorn I am iTidcbfod for much tliat is valuablo in this treatise. PAK'r I.— PEEPAEATIOI^ OF THE SOIL. To the tree-planter, tlie author would say, in the commencement of this treatise, as its most important and best fortified proposition : that the most complete and thorough preparation of the soil is by far the most economical and productive. Let none, therefore, be deterred from its performance by the labor of preparation, as its neglect will per- petually remain a source of regret. Defects or neglect in this matter can never be entirely remedied by any future nursing or manuring. The thorough pulveiization, deepening, and mixing of the soil before planting, will insure a healthy and vigorous growth, which the best subsequent system of manuring, trim- ming, and cultivation, can never equal. The satisfaction and delight that one feels in grow- ing a beautiful tree, are enhanced by the Imowledge of having been the instrument in supplying a soil and cultivation intelligently adapted to its perfection. The nurseryman is called upon to answer no ques- tion oftener than the vexatious query : " How large holes shall I dig for planting my trees ?" It can only be answered wisely by saying : "If you have one hundred trees to plant, dig but one hole for them all — 18 PRErAUATION OF TUE SOIL. in other words, dig the M'hole field as thoroughly as you would the space for a single tree. If tree- planters would observe this rule, few of them would Buffer the disappoiutmeuts which often attend trans- planting. So few persons, however, can find courage to invest this amount of labor in the mere planting of a tree, that it is a little to be feared that some will be disinclined to attempt anything, when so much is demanded for perfection. To such it can only be said : " Undertake less than you intended, but per- form that little in the best manner." The processes for the important work of thorough preparation of the soil are : first. Draining ; second. Plowing and Cropping the Ground; third, Trench- ing— fourth, Manuring. DRAINING. Tliorough drainage has become so much a matter of faith with intelligent agriculturists, that it is con eidered almost heresy to doubt its value or necessity in all soils. Without questioning the truth of this extreme doc- trine, it is sufficient for us to say : that all soils, pos- sessing any of the following conditions, must, to Bccm-e a healthy growth of the pear tree, be first thoroughly drained. 1. lliose composed principally of clay. 2. Those which rest on an impervious subsoil. 3. Tliose generally upon which water remains more tlian an hour after rains. 4. Those in which springs, or springy ground ap pear<3. DEAESriNG. 1 9 5. Those which lie at the base of a hill at some distance below the summit. 6. Those which lie so nearly level that, although porous in their character, do not allow the water to flow off readily from the surface. On any of the varieties of soil mentioned, without draining, the pear tree is peculiarly subject to serious diseases. Tlie winter or sap blight linds its most numerous victims upon them, while in the worst con- ditions of such soils the growth of the tree is slow and stunted. In soils at all retentive of water, thorough drainage is the only safeguard against these evils, and many positions, not suspected of this defect, will be fonud upon examination to be sadly in need of this remedy. If the plot of ground lies at the base of a hill, or on its slope, at some distance below the summit, the water percolating through the soil from the higher ground will find its way to the surface along some saturated strata ; and the least that can be done will be, to cut a ditch of from four to five feet in depth along the upper line of the gronnd, thus intercepting a part of the descending waters. This ditch should be laid with tile, or a rude but effective channel made of rubble stone, and in both cases should be half filled with the latter, when pro- curable ; upon which a thick layer of straw should be placed, and the earth pressed firmly in to fill up the ditch. For more minute directions relating to the condi- tions of soil requiring drainage, and the various 20 PKEPA RATION OF Till': SOIL. methods of effecting it, the reader is referred to tlio works upon that subject. It is sufficient for tliis place to say, that there are but few soils that would not derive great advantage from thorough under-draining. PLOWING AND CROPPING THE GROUND. Wlien the planting of an orchard can be anticipated for a year or two, the ground should be prepared by growing some hoed crop upon it ; as the proper treat- ment for a good crop of corn, or potatoes, forms an exceUent preparation for the growth of trees. By this plan, the soil is reduced to a fine tilth, the weeds ai'C subdued, and if the crop has been well manured, the ground is rich enough for the first year. K the soil is clayey, or otherwise retentive of moisture, the plowing should be performed in the fall, and left in ridges ; but if at all sandy and light, it should be left as compact as possible at tliat time, and not plowed until spring. Tlie ground sliould be double plowed, by turning a deep furrow, and following in the bottom of that furrow either with a subsoil or common plow. If there is such a thing possible as stirring the soil for eighteen or twenty inches in depth, it should by all means be accomplished, for this reason : a hole dug in a soil, more or less compact, is in effect a cisteru. This, while it loses capacity, does not lose any of its power to retain water, by being tilled with loose soil, in which a tree is planted. The invigorating effect of water upon the roots of plants is probably nearly exhausted in the first few moments of its con- PLOWING AND CEOPPING THE ©ROUND. 21 tact witli them, and becomes less and less valuable, the longer the same particles remain, nntil it is a cause of absolute injury. If the hole, therefore, is dug deeper than the sur- rounding soil is loosened, the lower part of it will retain water for an unhealthy action upon the roots planted in it. Eut if the earth is loosened over the whole field, as low as the bottom of the deepest hole, the drainage from that hole is perfected, and the otherwise stagnant water will flow off, provided an outfall from the field is secured. An excellent plan for those who are pressed for time is, to plow five or six furrows, twice deepened, or subsoiled, in the line where the planting of a row of trees is intended, and omit the intervening spaces until a later period. Let these furrows be run, if possible, in the direction of the slope of the ground, to act as drains. Those horticultm'ists, however, who intend perform- ing their work in the most thorough manner, should take this rule as their standard. Pulverize the soil of the wliolc field to a depth greater than the longest roots will be planted, and this can only be well done by TEENCHING. As frequently performed, the best results of trench- ing are not attained. The true design of its perform- ance is, to add to the depth of the soil, without destroying its capability. When the fertile earth near the surface is tlii'own 22 PEEPAUATION OF THE SOIL. " to the bottom of the trcucli, and covered ten to twelve inches deep with sterile soil, which lias never been aerated by frequent stirring, in contact with the atmosphere ; either a very large quantity of manure must be applied, or, with ordinary treatment, some years must elapse, before the soil can become fertile, or capable of sustaining trees in a hc 24 PKEPARA'nON OF TlUi SOIL. From sonic comparison of the amount of labor upon other grounds, I am convinced tliat the above would prove nearly an average cost, although the trenching of heavier and more stony lands would cost as much as $100 per acre. Where the labor of preparing an acre at once, appeared too formidable a task, a number of amateurs have practiced tlie following plan at my recommendation with good results. Tlie ground intended for planting is divided into four equal parts ; and if the wliole j)lot contains an acre, and is a bquare, each fourth will contain almost 11,000 superficial feet, and its four sides be each 105 feet in length. A more convenient plot, for spacing the trees accurately, would be, 100 by 110 feet. Extending these lines to 220 feet by 200 feet would inclose but a trifle more than an acre. One of these quarter-acre plots should be thoroughly trenched and manured, to receive all the pear trees intended for the entire acre. Kone of these trees need be removed before the end of the second year, when another plot has been prepared for the recej^tion of every alternate tree in each alternate row. At the end of the third year, another square having been trenched, remove every alternate tree from the rows, which at tlie last removal were untouched. The origi- nal square will now contain one lialf of the whole number of trees, or double its quota ; and the removal of every alt ci-n ate complete row to the fourth unoccu- ].icd square, in the fourth year, will place the trees at equal distances throughout the entire ground. Some- what more than the exact number of trees necessary to complete tlic plan should be |)lanted in the lir.st TEENcnmG. 25 year, in order to be able to compensate for the loss of any, by substituting trees of equal size and vigor. This plan presents advantages which will be more largely discussed, but of which the following is a synopsis, 1. It divides the labor into practicable i)ortions which do not discourage the planter by their magnitude, and the work is better performed than if more were demanded at once. 2. Manure, which would be difficult to obtain in sufficiently large quantities, for preparing the whole ground well, may be easily procured for one-fourth the area. 3. In the best selected lot of trees, there will, from various causes, be some that fail in the first two or three years, and if planted in an orchard, would leave an unsightly blank — or require the planting of a tree that will always break the harmony of the ground, by its smaller size. But trees taken from the near supply will scarcely lose any vigor, by a careful second trans- planting, and not one in a thousand should be lost. 4. The root-pruning occasioned by removal hastens the bearing of pear-trees, on both pear and quince stocks, many years. 5. All the nursing whicli young trees especially requii-e is brought within a small compass, and the labor is materially lessened. The mulching, tlie hunt for insects, and the washing of tlie trees, are all per- formed in a small area, and without the ftiticruin^ labor of travelling long distances. The pear tree, above all others, is especially fitted for frequent removals, and 2 26 PEEPARATION OF THE SOIL. is, indeed, benefited by them in acquiring capacity for early fruiting MANURING. Undoubtedly, the most thorough preparation for an orchard or fruit ground would require the enriching of the whole soil nearly as well as most cultivators do the space immediately around the tree. As it is intended tliat the entire body of earth within the limits of the fruit ground shall be occupied by the roots, it is important that it should contain sufficient nom'ishment for their sustenance. During the first few yeare, it is true, they would be supplied with the j)abulum they find immediately around the tree, and that in a light soil much of the nutriment at firet supplied would have escaped before the trees were fitted by age and growth for its appropriation. But for such a soil, the manure should be adopted to its peculiar condition, and be composted with a large bulk of clay, or swamp-muck, or other organic matter, which will enable a hunii:ry soil to long retain the fertilizing agencies applied to it. A soil, however, which has been naturally supplied with but a moderate proportion of vegetable mould or clayey loam, will not forget for many years the influence of a manure which has been deeply deposited. Used in this manner, manure will exhibit its influence upon the growth and fruiting of the pear tree in a much greater degree than in any subsequent application. It not unfrequently occurs, that suflicicnt manure for the wliolo space of ground to be fertilized is not readily obtainable at the time of planting. * MANURE FOE PEAR TREES. 27 To economize the quantity for present use as much as possible, a partial application, that will serve tem- porarily, may be made along a line of five or six fur- rows in width, thoroughly plowed in, and inter- mingled with the soil. After the holes are dug along this line, well-rotted manure should be strewn in them, and covered with soil. Occasionally, as the hole is being filled over the roots, more manure should be well pulverized and shaken in, but in all cases, in such a manner as to prevent its direct contact with the roots. In deepening a soil for any purpose, it must be remem- bered, that as the quantity of earth to be enriched is greatly increased, a much larger amount of manure will be required. If it be desired to increase the depth of a soil of nine inches to eighteen, and the manure is thoroughly intermixed to that depth, it will require more than double the quantity of the latter, which would be needed to fertilize the first nine inches of depth, as the subsoil is nearly devoid of nutritious matter. But, as the escape and loss of this is upward into the atmosphere, the deepened soil will retain the volatile constituents of manure much longer than a shallow one. MANURE FOR PEAR-TREES. It is a general truth, that the manure that will produce a good crop of corn or potatoes will perfect a crop of fruit ; but while special manures are to be jealously criticised and tested by experiment, still something should be learned from tlie special demands of the plant. In the aslies of the pear and apple wood or fruit, and in the potato stalk and tuber, a very 28 PREPARATION OF TOE SOIL. " largo amount of potash is found, and the theoretical deduction from that fact, tliat potash or ashes would add largely to the growth and fruiting of these varie- ties of trees and plants, is found true in practice. But in the ashes of wheat, comparatively little potash is discoverable, wliile in its place is seen a large amount of phosphates ; and, accordingly, we find the various salts, of which phosphoric acid is the base, exercise a great influence in increasing the wheat crop. Now it would be blindness or mulish obstinacy to neglect these facts, and apply manures without atten- tion to the special wants of a plant or tree. Farmers and gardeners who scout contemptuously the teachings of science in regard to manuring, daily practice the most scientific and special theories for manuring plants, to produce perfect vegetables and flowers. Well-rotted stable-manure is without doubt the safest, and ordinarily the most convenient, form in which nutriment can be conveyed to trees, but it is not always attainable in sufficient quantities, nor does it alone produce the highest result. Guano is a con- venient manure, thougli temporary in its action, unless combined with twenty times its bulk of charcoal-dust, plaster, or partially, dried muck. From two ounces to half a pound may be applied to each tree at planting; varying in quantity according to the area and depth of ground in which it is distributed. But in no case should it be i)laccd so that the roots will have less than three to six inches of earth, protecting them from its caustic influence. Guano aff'ords an admirable liquid-dressing for trees (especially when exhibiting a languid growtli) applied at the rate of an ounce or MANURE FOK TEAli TKEES. 29 two in a pailful of water, distributed for a space of three or four feet around the tree. Of the more concentrated forms of manure, ground bones, horn shavings, etc., are decidedly the best, especially when dissolved in sulphuric acid. When used without this treatment, the bones should be a mixture of the finely-ground bone-meal and the crushed half-inch bones in equal quantities. The first will decay rapidly, and aflford immediate nutriment to the roots, while the latter will last longer, and yield their virtues when the finer bones will be completely exhausted. But even these generous and excellent manures have a better effect mixed with coarser nianures, such as stable-litter, horse-dung, swamp- muck, and other decomposing organic matter. Summer appHcations of stimulating manures have a tendency to produce late succulent growth that does not ripen, and which the winter bhghts or kills down, endangering the life of the whole tree with its poisoned sap. Late spring applications of manm-es also stimu- late wood-growth to such an extent in midsummer, as to induce the tree to throw ofl' the young and lialf grown fruit. In the grounds of the author, during the last season, a Bartlett Pear tree, three years from the bud, set 520 pears. When the fruit had acquired the size of mus- ket-balls, the tree was supplied with guano and super- phosphate of lime, dissolved in large quantities of water, in order to ascertain how great a number of fruits a tree six feet higli, and one and a half inches in diameter of body at the ground, would i.^n. A barrel was filled with the solution, and set so as to leak slowly about two quarts daily around the roots. so PKEl'AKATION OF THE SOIL. As the summer advanced, fine thrifty shoots, two and three feet in length, covered the tree, but all the fruits, except about thirty, fell before ripening : while on trees not stimulated by such unnatural nutrition, and which made little or no wood-growth, more than fifty fine pears were matured. Ko tree of that size should have borne one-quarter of that number, but it was an experiment in which the good of individual trees was not regarded. Nature usually refuses to perform the double labor of wood- growth and large fmit production during the same l^eriod ; and we cannot, with all our skill, induce her to disregard the laws which govern her delicate and wondrous processes. When rich stimulants are applied to bearing trees during the growth of the fruit, the latter is almost certain to fall prematurely, as soon as the unusual nutrition is exhibited in more thrifty production of wood-growth. The proper time for the application of such highly orL^anized manures as have been mentioned, is in the fall or in early spring, during the hibernation of the tree. They should always be well and deeply worked into the soil. The cost of manuring varies mucli with the locality and price of stable manures. If thoroughly manured for the reception of 400 to 800 pear trees — an acre should receive from twenty to fifty double wagon-loads of stable or compost manures. Thirty- five wagon-loads, at two dollars each, would lix the cost of manuring an acre at $70, which would be a very moderate sum. in the grounds of Prof. Mapes, at Newark, New COMPOST. 31 Jersey, may be seen pear trees of luxuriant growth, producing great quantities of the finest fruit, which have been manured, as he assured me, only with super- phosphate of lime. COMPOST. There is nothing in his range of labors that gives the genuine lover of fruit and vegetable growth such complete satisfaction as the increase in size and excel- lence of his compost-heap. In it the cultivator is storing up his chemicals for N'ature's laboratory, and is thus prepared to furnish to her the elements which shall come forth the purest gold. Untold wealth lies hidden in its dark and unseemly mass, and at the magic touch of the great enchanter, shall burst forth in forms of wondrous beauty. In it his imagination sees hidden the subtle essences which will ripen the golden pear, color the cheek of the melting peach, give lustre to the green foliage and beautiful growth of the trees on which his care is bestowed ; and thus he cheats his senses of the loathsomeness which appears to others. No single substance or kind of manure contains all the virtues or manurial requisites for tree or fruit growth ; and a compost which contains all or most of the fertilizing agents, will be always found in practice to produce the finest growth and fruit. Excellent results in the growth and fruiting of pear trees have been obtained from a compost formed m the following manner : Feat or swamp muck, and the tough sods of an old headland, were laid down in a layer about six inches thick, and twenty-five feet 32 PREPAKATION OF THIO SOIL. square, and on tliis a layer of old leather shavings, three to four inches, and an inch of refuse lime were placed. These layei-s were repeated until the heap was live or six feet in height. To every second layer of sods or i)eat was added one inch of hone-meal, amounting to one hundred hushcls in the aggregate, and twice on the top of the sods a layer of six inches of horse manure, that aided in starting the fermenta- tion. The whole was encased and topped off with sods. A narrow rim was turned upon the edge, forming a basin, and five hundred pounds of potash, dissolved in water, poured upon the heap. If ashes had been obtainable, one hundred bushels of unleached, or three hundred to live hundred of leached ashes would have been applied. The liea]> contained one hundred cubic yards, was turned twice before spreading on the soil, and was intended more as a medium of distributing the potash, lime, and live hundred pounds each of guano, and superpliosphate of lime, afterwards added, and for forming with the ])eat and leather shavings a crood retainer of ammonia in the soil, o Let every fruit-raiser, each spring and fall, prepare such a compost as the following, and the results of its apj>lication to trees will astonish and deliglit him. A heap of leaves, leaf or swamp muck, peat, or rubbish of any nrganic matter, should be jjlaccd at a convenient distance from the house (for no offensive smell need be apprehended, if properly treated), to receive the wood-ashes, the soapsuds, the kitchen and chamber slops. Another heap should be formed at the stables, or rather, a pit should be dug, and half filled with the DIGGING HOLES. 33 absorbing materials, in which should be thrown all the bones and spoiled meat, the carcases of fowls and animals, all the old fish and meat brine, the night- soil from the privies, and the liquid manure from the stables. Even the coal-ashes should be preserved for the small per-cent of alkaline salts they contain ; and to the whole, iron should be added in some shape, either as cinders from the blacksmith's shop or the foundry. All this mass is effectually deprived of offensive smell, by covering with a fresh supply of muck, when- ever an escape of nitrogenous matters is perceived. The effect of such a compost, applied to fruit-trees, is almost startling, in the rapidity and hardiness of growth it induces, and in the luscious and highly- colored fruit a soil so fertilized will bring forth. As the dark and loathsome mass swells in its pro- portions, the cultivator (who knows it is but the ungraceful form which covers a beautiful soul) sees gorgeous flowers and fruits emerging with colors no mortal hand could bestow. DIGGING HOLES. K the soil has been trenched or deeply plowed, the digging of holes for trees is a work of comparatively small labor, and they need be made but little larger than sufficient to accommodate the roots without bending or crowding. When, however, the soil has not been thus deej)ly prepared, the holes should be dug as deep and as large as the most generous views of the planter would dictate, taking care, only, that they shall not be a less width than twice the diameter 2* 31 PKEPAltATlON OF THE SOIL. of tlic spread roots to be planted in tbeni, uor of a less depth than six inches below the bottom of these roots. "When it is intended to prepare the ground only in the immediate vicinity of the tree, the holes should not be less than four feet in width, by two feet in deptli. But no plan can be more defective than digging deep holes in retentive clayey soils, where water will collect without freedom of passage. Filling this hole with loose earth does not alter its character for retain- ing water, and the roots must soon decay. When it is only intended to dig such holes without connecting them one with another in the form of a trench, having an outlet fall, the planter had fur better dig but a shallow hole, and prepare himself for very indifferent results M'ithout more pains than mere hole-digging. DIGGING TREES. The disappointment and cliagrin which the tree- planter feels at seeing a sickly tree linger feebly through three or four seasons of yellow leaves and dwindling branches, would often be averted if some person interested in the life and growth of the tree, and with skill to direct, were present at its digging. It is just at this point that the care of the cultivator should begin, for it is too late for skillful management, when the tree has been ruined in the digging. No disappointment can be more exasperating than that experienced by one who waits with feverish impatience, year after year, for the fruiting of his trees, and sees them struggle, almost like living sentient things, to preserve a sickly existence, and ultimately DIGGING TREES. 35 die from the violence and abuse they received in dis- placing them from the nursery. Many a person has retired care-worn from business, to the farm he has labored half a life-time to obtain the means of purchas- ing, only to be driven back into the old mill-track again, by disappointment at the result of his labor in planting the imperfect, rootless trees sent to him from some famous nursery. The nurseryman is usually sincerely desirous that his trees should be taken up carefully, and arrive in good condition; but petty questions arise regarding the expense of increased labor in digging or packing carefully, and his reflec- tion usually is : that he " guesses they will do pretty well." In pressing seasons, too, he is glad to engage the most ignorant foreigner who offers; to .be em- ployed in digging up a tree, about whose necessities the laborer knows no more than he does of the con- stitution of the country of whicli he is, or expects to be, a voter. Pat or Heinrich, with no higher idea than that he is to take out a good spadeful, sets in his spade close to the body of the tree, and by lifting, and pry- ing, and twisting, brings out a living thing from the earth, which although mangled, and torn, and cut, he cannot conceive is hurt, because it docs not groan. It is not only stupidity and ignorance with Avhich the purchaser is obliged to contend, but an utter indifference on the part of the laborer to the success or failure of the tree; and his desire to cxliibit a good day's work induces him to hasten that part of his labor in which he should exercise most care. In all cases, one should begin with the inteniion cf hastening no part of the digging of a tree which can 3t) PKEPAJtATION OF TIJE SOIL. be bettor douc witli more time. If the tree is more tliaii t^vo years old, commence at a distance not less than two feet from tlie body, and increase the dist- ance one foot for every inch in thickness of the tree at the earth-collar. Set the spade into the ground with one edge of the npright blade always turned towards tlie tree, and bending back the spade, raise the earth M'ith a shaking motion, that will free it from tlic roots raised by the blade. If the flat side of the blade and the face of the digger were turned towards the tree, every root would be cut ofi' clean, where the spade enters the ground. But by the first method, in addi- tion to the two feet of roots in the solid ball, there will remain rootlets and fibres to the width of the sj^ade. In this manner proceed around the tree, with the edge of the spade turned towards it, and you will cut very few of the roots w'hich extend into the trench. Let a sharp cutting spade be provided, which should never be used f<»r digging, and with this cut smoothly all the roots that extend beyond the trench until the lowest layer of roots is reached, and proceed to dig under them, by laying the spade nearly flat, and parallel with the ground, and thrusting it under the ball to cut the tap-root. Having cleared away the loose dirt, shake the tree gently back and forth, until it is ascertained where the tree is held by the remaining roots ; and then, with a digging-fork, dislodge the earth in the ball from tliem, and only lift it wlien you find that the tree will not strain, or the roots break. A gentle hhake will now free it thoroughly from curth without tlashing it against the ground, as most DIGGING TREES. 37 laborers will do unless watched. From this time, the sooner it is in the ground the better; but if replanting is delayed, Nature must be imitated as nearly as pos- sible, by hiding the roots from the light and air, in the best manner, and as soon as you can. An old rug, pieces of matting, wet straw, or, when these are not convenient, a light, but complete covering of pulver- ized soil, should be thrown over the roots. Even in a rainy or cloudy day, injury is received by exposure to the chilling atmosphere or light. When the soil is sufficiently adhesive, and the trees to be planted are near their destination, a ball of earth may be left around the roots, and the whole carefully lifted in the arms of two men, and set in the hole. There is in jDlants a condition somewhat analogous to animal heat, though hardly sufficiently well defined to be pronounced vegetable heat. But it is certain that the temperature of plants must be maintained within a limited range, to preserve their juices from destructive change ; and this limit is much re- stricted, when the roots are deprived of their natural protection, and exposed to chilling atmosphere. It is not necessary that the temperature of the air should even be lowered to the freezing-point, to accomplish great injury to the naked roots, which, while protected by earth, could endure an absence of heat indicated by thirty degrees below zero. There is somethmg in this analogy of condition of plants to living beings which, while it excites our wonder, reveals to us how little we have yet learned regarding their mysterious processes. I have seen some of the roots of a pear tree, stand- 38 I'KEPAKATION OF TUE SOIL. iiig upon a bunk, exposed on one side entirely unpro- tected, to a severe winter, without injury. The requisite condition, or heat being maintained by their connection with the larger body of roots, which were protected in the soil — just as we daily expose a part of the person to tlie cold with impunity, while the naked body would not endure a temperature many degrees higher, without perishing. There is an equal danger in exposure to the opposite extreme of temperature, though not so rapid in its consequences. A cold bleak wind is far more elTcctive in drying up the sap than a moderately warm tem- ])orature, exerted for the same length of time. Tlie etfects of both extremes of heat and cold are the same. The sap is inspissated to such a degree, that the empty cells close up, and become incapable of again exerting the mysterious endosmose action by which their functions are employed. Could the lungs of a drowned pei-son be once more inflated, the blood would commence its flow; or could the blood be induced to move by friction, the empty air-cells of the lungs would till, and the vital functions of life once more commence. Could we till the colhipsed sap-vessels of the dried tree, we should gain (.»ne point in itd recovery, and in the appropriate place the means for this will be discussed. SOILS FOR PEABS. It is somewhat mortifying to the promologist, after twenty years of careful study of the laws which govern the growth and fruiting of trees, to feel con- SOILS FOB. PEAKS. 39 strained to acknowledge, that not only what lie has learned from others, but much of what he has gathered from his own experience, is to be distrusted — perhaps unlearned. In nothing is he likely to be more disappointed than in the soils which analogy and theory would induce him to point out as superior. So many influ- ences and conditions affect the results of horticultural effort, that disappointment often follows the selection of what appear the finest soils. The ISTewtown Pip- pin, on the soil of Long Island, where it originated, refuses to yield the exquisite juices and rare perfumes which distinguish this king of apples ; and from the same island which once sent forth sloop-loads of the rarest Yergalieu Pears, scarcely a bushel of perfect fruit of that variety has been gathered in one season for the last fifteen years. IsTeither the richest soil, nor the most careful cultivation, any longer produce good fruit of these varieties ; while on the nigged farms along the Hudson, the Newtown Pippin preserves its superiority with scarcely an attempt at cultivation bestowed upon it ; and through the central and north- ern counties of l^ew York, the Yergalieu continues to produce its unrivalled fruit. Most of the other varieties of Pear arc produced on Long Island and in New Jersey in great excellence and abundance. Yari- eties of pears are pronounced excellent in the vicinity of Boston, which are worthless when raised in other localities with equal care in cultivation. These anom- alies prevent us from declaring with certainty upon the fitness of any soil for all varieties of pears, when that particular locality and soil have not been tested 4() rKEl'ARATION OF THE SOIL. by experiment. No prudent man will, therefore, plant a very large number of trees, of varieties M'liicli have not been proved in his neighborhood ; at least, not without having made careful inquiry regarding those that have succeeded or failed. Still, general rules that should govern in the choice of soils may be given. Ko soil, however rich, that allows water to remain on its surface more than a day after it has fallen, or to rise in holes dug not more than four feet deep, is lit for jDlantations of the Pear, or, indeed, of any other fruit tree. And no light, thin soil, which is not susceptible of deepening, can be relied on. The soil for the Pear must be (by, and either deep, or capable from the nature of its subsoil of deepening without destroying its excellence, and of a looseness of texture sufficient to allow the free extension of the tender rootlets. A peaty or alluvial soil, or one too rich in vegetable mould, may induce a luxuriant and beautiful growth in a})pcarance, the succulent shoots of which a rigor- ous winter would certainly blight. A free loam luiving a large preponderance of sand, without being light, is preferable, as it is easily worked, at times when a clayey soil would be nearly a bed of mortar. With proper manuring the first would produce a stocky, well-ripened, but comparatively short growth, while the latter, if in good condition, would induce one more vigorous, but frequently unripened. A noticeable instance of this difference is seen in the fact, that the winter blight of the Pear has never been known on the rich, but light soils of New Jersey SOILS FOK PEAKS. 41 and Long Island, which seem peculiarly adapted to the growth, productiveness, and longevity of the Pear; while the winter of 1855 destroyed many thousands of pear trees on the strong soils of the counties of Central l!^ew York. In the neighborhood of Syracuse, this was especially remarkable. l^othing can be more fatal to the hopes of the pear grower than the selection of his trees from an alluvial flat. Blight at some period of their existence is sure to manifest itself in a great number of them. Free soils, however, it must be granted, are subject to balancing evils, in affording shelter to innumerable tribes of insect depredators, in fostering the produc- tion of equally innumerable varieties of weeds, and in more readily parting with moisture and manure. A more nearly perfect soil as a base, for the cultiva- tion of the Pear, is a somewhat heavy loam, composed of three-fourths of coarsely granulated sand, fifteen to twenty per cent of clay, and the remainder of vege- table matter. This*should rest upon a subsoil of sand and clay, extending to the depth of three or four feet. A bed of gravel should underlie the whole, thus aftord- ing perfect under-drainage. It would be well for the planter, before engaging largely in the business, to ascertain the longevity and productiveness of such pear trees as are growing in his neighborhood. Many of the old Dutch residences of Brooklyn, erected long before the Revolution, bearing evidence of the mili- tary violence of that period, are surrounded by trees older than themselves — trees that have outlived two or three generations of houses, each of which may have seen as many generations of men pass away. 42 PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. Mr. Downing certainly made a great mistake wlien, in writing a description of the soils suitable for the Pear, he pronounced a sandy loam unfitted for the permanent growth of the tree. Two or tliree hours' ride through the western end of Long Island would have convinced liim that there were, in that locality, more pear trees, from fifty to one hundred years old, tlian in all the rest of the United States. The number of pear trees, more than forty years old, in King's and Queen's counties alone, must be greater than fifty thousand. At Greenpoint, L. L, now the Seventeenth Ward of Brooklyn, may be seen an orchard of more than one hundred pear trees, which the oldest resi- dents remember to have been of full size, and in full bearing, in their boyhood. Three of these trees I have found to measure respectively nine feet, ten and one- half, and eleven feet in circumference. These last cannot have been in existence less than one hundred and fifty years. These were the ofispring of seed planted by the Dutch and Huguenot exiles, about the time of the settlement of the town in 1G4S ; and are certainly good evidence of the longevity of the Pear, on compara- tively light soils. I do not assert, however, that trees planted on thin, sandy soils, especially such as overlie an impervious, or a poisonous subsoil,* would not be liable to blight. On such soils, the roots, compelled to keep near the surface, are exposed to the sudden and extreme heats of summer, by wliicli their sap is 60 highly heated as to destroy the more newly-formed * Ah li th« cose, to a IJinltod extent, In some <1istrlct« of New Jersey, where the piotoxldu of Iron— 60 Injurious to vcgotatlon— i)rovttLl8. TEAI^^SPORTING. 43 and tender spongioles and sap-vessels. In such case, the roots are said to be scalded ; because, at their shallow position, they are unable to obtain sufficient moisture for the supply of the leaves, which, by their abundant evaj^oration, lower the temperature of the sap — vapor being so perfect a conductor of heat. The frozen sap-blight has not, within the memory of man, been known to visit the localities above-mentioned, except under the circumstances noted relating to subsoils. TKANSPOKTING. Trees ought always to be packed, when the distance from the nursery to their destination is greater than can be accomplished in three or four hours ; and, even in the latter case, their roots should be well protected. Packing is a labor that most nurserymen would avoid, as the charge seldom covers the bare cost of labor and material ; but no man who values health and vigor in his trees will grudge five times the usual charge, if its payment was necessary. Indeed, it ought to be a standing rule with nurserymen to charge such a price for trees as would cover the cost of packing ; and then to pack them would be a matter of course, whicli the mistaken economy of the customer would not induce him to avoid. Unless the purchaser has bought only a small num- ber of trees, he should order them to be packed in boxes, that will endure the rough handling of ireight- mcn, and protect them from bending, breaking, and exposure. If trees are to bo removed long distances in tight 4i PREPABATION OF THE BOIL. cases, tliey sbould be moderately dry, as if wet, or packed with very damp moss, or straw, they are liable to grow or to heat, and mould. Straw and other coarse material should be distri- buted among the tops, and moss among the roots, separating not only the layers of trees, but, as far as possible, the individual trees and roots from each other. "When the transit is by water for a long dis- tance, the moss should be dried, as sufficient humidity will be gatliered on the passage ; and the roots should be first dipped in a mortar, composed of clay and water, by which they will receive a coating of earth, which will protect each rootlet from the atmosphere. PAKT 11. —THE SEEDLING, AND PROPA- GATION OF VAPtlETIES. THE SEEDLING. It is surprising that so little attention has been paid to the perfection of the seeds which form the germ of the trees we so highly value. Pear seeds are peculiarly liable to prove defective, being gathered from all sources ; and although they have recently sold at prices, varying from one hundred to two hundred dollars per bushel, there has not been a strict scrutiny as to their quality. The dealer cannot be too severely blamed for this, as no standard of excellence has been established by the nurserymen. The latter is intent only on procuring a large supply of stocks for bud- ding, and as the results of inherent weakness in the stocks do not always manifest themselves in the nur- sery, he entertains but little anxiety about the source or defects of the seeds he plants. After abundant experience, I am satisfied, that not one-half of the pear seeds sown vegetate ; and of those that do, not more than one-fourth produce healthy stocks, and that of the hundreds of thousands of trees sold from the nurseries, not one in five reaches its tenth year. Carelessness in transportation, ignorance, or iudo- 40 SEEDLING PEOPAOATION OF VARIETIES. lence in planting, and neglect or absolute abuse in cultivation, are fatal to thousands ; l;ut the indifl'er- ence of the seed collector to the condition of health in the seed, equals all other causes in dcstructiveness. If the fruit is unripe, the seed must necessarily be imperfect, and the perry pomace is usually fonned from fruit, of which but a small portion is perfectly ripe. The variety of pear from which seed is to be taken is never considered, except by amateurs ; and as many of our varieties are known to be tender in their wood, tardy in their growth, or badly shaped, and short-lived, the fruit cracking or rotting at the core, the offspring must be more or less corrupted by these defects. If allowed to remain only for a short time in the pomace or rotten fruit, acetous ferment- ation begins ; and the seed commencing to vegetate, the germ is injured by the acid. It must have been noticed that few seedlings make their appearance on ground where apples or pears have fallen, or been deposited after rotting in the cellar, while from the dung of animals fed on them, seed- lings start from almost every dropping; in the latter instance, all the fermenting acid matter of the pulp had been appropriated in the economy of digestion. Pear-seeds are injured, not only by being kept moist for a long time, but quite as often in the process of drying, and from being kept too dry. Large masses of moist seeds engender heat, but if the latter are ex- posed to constant atmospherical drying, the germ of nany of the seeds would become greatly injured. ?ear-seed8, soon after being cleaned from the pulp, hould be separated from each other by some desic- TFE SEEDLING. 47 eating material, such as sand, charcoal dust, &c. From experience, we have found, that to obtain healthy seedlings for budding or grafting, the seed must be selected from healthy and vigorous trees. In any part of a pear-growing country, there may oe found large, vigorous trees, producing from ten to twenty bushels of small, well-shaped, but unmarket- able pears, having large and full developed seed — which fruit can be purchased for a small sum. These should not all be gathered at once, but at three or four periods ■ — obtaining at each time only those that are ripe or nearly so. As fast as they become quite soft, the seeds may be pressed out and sifted from the pomace, and before becoming quite dry, or indeed they may immediately, be mixed with two or three times their bulk of the sand and charcoal dust, &c., and after drying for a few days be preserved until Spring. Much has been said of late about the adaptation of varieties to each other ; that is, that certain varieties of pear should be grafted upon those having the same habits of growth. But upon a large scale this is impracticable. Some English nurserymen prefer the seeds of the Virgalieu, as they are large and full, and Mr. Berck- mans has often told me that he has found all varieties do well on the Virgalieu stock. There is little doubt that the stocks produced from the seeds of the more advanced and retined varieties produce fruit, when grafted upon, sooner than in inferior seedlings. But there is the serious drawback, that the finer varieties arc shorter lived, and more subject to disease, than the Crab Pear, almost in the ratio of their excellence. 4:8 SEEDLING rEOPAGA'nON OF VAKIETIE8. From information of tlie use of ii crab pear, in Con- necticut, kuown as the Perry, and from its great vigor, hardiness, and longevity, I anticipate excellent results from its use as a stock. After what has been said, it will be almost unne- cessary to state that varieties subject to blight ; or fruit from trees that have been injured by it, must always be avoided by the seed collector. One cause of defect and failure in trees is, the selection of suckers for stocks. It has been customary for some nursery- men, during the great demand for pear stocks, and their consequent scarcity, to employ the vagrant and wandering families of negroes to grub up the suckers in woods, and around old pear trees, for use in the nursery. Of the disadvantages attending the use of such stocks, it is hardly necessary to speak. PLANTING SEED CULTIVATION OF SEEDLINGS. The seeds should be sown in October, after frost has made its appearance, or in early spring. The former is thought by many to be preferable. Tlie conditions favorable to their growth, are the same as for the best cultivation of trees. The soil should be deep, dry, well pulverized, and moderately rich. When grown in very rich or damp soils, they make a rank, luxuriant growth, but form excellent subjects for that pestilence of the Pear tree — the blight. Indeed, of all seedlings, not exotic, I think the Pear has generally proved the most difficult to grow. If the soil should be poor, the plant is stunted and small ; and such plants seldom attain a vigorous condition, and are entirely unworthy of use as stocks for buddincr. CULTIVATION OF SEEDLINGS. 49 To secure the proper mean requires good and care- ful manageuient. The soil should rather be a rich mould from an old pasture or meadow, than one re- cently manured ; and not largely composed of leaf or swamp muck, which would tend to form a succulent and unripe growth. When but a few thousand are needed — the best plan is to form a bed in some dry or well drained spot, in the following manner — for 10,000 seedlings, dig out a space thirty feet by fifty, two feet deep, and return only the surface soil; to this add: earth from old headlands, sods from a pasture, which have been rotted during the previous summer, with three or four loads of leaf or swamp muck, which has been one year exposed, and a similar quantity of well rotted barn-yard manure. These, with a bushel or two of lime, or what is greatly preferred, fifty pounds of super-phosphate of lime, should be thoroughly intermixed ; and the seed sown in rows one foot apart. In this manner, if the season should prove to be one of drought, the bed may be watered and shaded from the sun during the hottest weather. It is important to obtain a large early growth ; so that, by the first of August, they should be at least a foot to eighteen inches high, and quite stocky It would be much better if the seedlings could have a greater distance between them ; but this peculiar management would be found quite impracticable on a large scale. Newly-cleared wood land, when dry, and cultivated for two years, is favorable to the growth of seedlings ; and in all cases, soil which has not before grown fruit trees, must be selected, and nearly or quite as deeply tilled as the bed above described. Unless 3 50 SEEDLING PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. a good growth is early secured, the plants are liable to two serious disadvantages : First, if they should continue late in groAvth, and the early frosts overtake them with succulent and un- ripened wood, the frozen sap-blight will often destroy them, unless amply protected by removal and burial in the soil. And, secondly, pear seedlings are fre- quently attacked in the hot mid-summer months by a sort of rust, that appears in spots on the leaves, which soon after ripen, and then the growth ceases. The only preventives are, to secure a full growth early in the season, or to shade the plants during the continuance of the hot weather. In the latter part of July, or early part of August, when the growth has become somewhat checked, and many of the leaves are ripening, the tap-roots may be cut by thrusting a long handled instrument — some- what like a spade, but of half the width, thinner and quite shai'p — in an oblique direction, beneath the plants, six to eight inches below the surface. This is practiced in England and France much earlier, say in the middle of June, but is objectionable on account of checking their growth. In the first method, the retiring sap will form new fibrous roots, which will much assist the growth in another season. In the fall, pear seedlings must always be removed, and the first grown and best rooted selected for the nursery rows, to be budded the next summer. The second quality also is sometimes planted in the nm-- sery for budding the second summer; but seedlings of the third quality, and sometimes of the second, are, the next spring, replanted in the bed — not being sufficiently OBTAINING NEW SEEDLING VAEIETIES. 51 vigorous for budding. The winter is often fatal to seedlings in the bed, by heaving them out of the gi'ound. They are therefore packed in sand in the cellar, or are buried, top and roots, in close beds, until spring, for preservation. OBTAINING NEW SEEDLING VAEIETIES. Tliese are the result of accidental or intentional hybridization, or of the natural tendency of the seed to change, both in the character of the fruit, and the habit of the tree. It may be assumed that, although seedlings of pears resemble the parent, yet that no two seedlings, of cultivated varieties at least, produce fruit exactly alike. The fruit of some of the natural seedlings — that is, those not produced by complex hybridization, and found growing without the aid of art — often reproduce their variety by their seed ; or, at least, plants of almost perfect similarity. But there is ever a constant ten- dency in the most luscious and melting varieties to return to the wild state. Yan Mons, of Belgium, who expended a life-time in experiments on the variation of pear seedlings, held the theory, that " wild pear trees, in a state of nature and in their native soils, always reproduced seed without perceptible variation ; but that, as soon as the original circumstances are altered, and the seed is planted in a new climate or soil, change commences." His theory is at this time familiar to all, and need be but briefly alluded to here. The pear selected for its seed must have travelled, one step at least, away from the acrid crab. It is essential moreover, that it should not be of the higher 52 SEl^DLTNG PROrAGATION OF VARIETIES. order, as he asserted the theory, tliat at or near iho fiixtli generation of successive seedlings, the highest poiiit of excellence is reached, and a rapid declension begins. I have nowhere seen couHrniatory examples of the last portion of his dogma. The seeds of the variety being chosen, its fruiting was to be accelerated by every means, as the short life of man would scarcely suffice for the six generations required, when the fruiting of each was extended to the natural term of fifteen to twenty years. The seed- lings were therefore subjected to root pruning, summer pinching, ringing of the bark and twisting of the limbs, until the sap retarded in its passage was tortured into forming fruit. The seeds of the first generation, whose fruit would exhibit but slight amelioration, were sown, and the fruiting hastened in the same way, and the seeds sown successively until the fifth and sixth generations were reached. From these he produced a great variety of glorious fruits. The limits designed for this book will not permit even a hint at the extensive discussion this theory has elicited, but few can doubt at this day, tliat the cause of the variation in all cases is hybridization through tlic flowers. I have never seen evidence sufficient to convince me that the continual cultivation of a crab pear would ever alter its characteristics in the individual tree or its grafts. Amateurs do not, however, cultivate or preserve every seedling produced. Certain indications govern theui in their selections in the seed-bed, or soon after OBTAINING NEW SEEDLING VAKDGTIES. 53 transplanting, and tliose only receive great care and attention wliicli arc of promising appearance. If the leaves of a seedling exhibit an excess of down, or the branches are very thorny, the probabilities are against its proving of sufficient excellence to warrant its cultivation. To these marks of inferiority, I have added, from my own observation, a peculiar bright, deep green, not easily described, a remarkable vigor of growth, an unusual quantity of limbs, and a thick bushy foliage. Tlie formation of fruit for any other purposes than reproduction, or the mere creation of seeds, is an unnatural process — or, in other words, is produced by artificial means. Xone of our finest varieties of pears equal seedlings in their profuseness of foliage and shoots. In the former, the number of shoots is generally less and the growth much stouter, more stocky and straight. "When this is the appearance of the young seedling, and the leaf is bright and oleaginous, instead of dull and downy, when the petiole of the leaf is long and clean, when the color of the wood is more inclining to purple or yellow than bright green, and when the spurs and spines which appear are blunt, instead of long, sharp, and thorn-like, we may reasonably con- clude that a new variety of some excellence will be produced. If the fruit sets well in spring, and continues to grow, although frosts and blasting winds have injured other fruit, it is a sign of hardiness ; and if more than three to six fruits set in a single coronal of flowers, it is a fair signal of great productiveness. IMore than one season will be necessary to prove its excellence, as 5:1: SEEDLFNG PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. many promising fruits, in their Urst season, liavo important defects, sucli as rotting at the core, gritti- ness, or astringency. Some excellent pears have been discarded as outcasts in their lirst fruiting, \vhich subsequently proved to be worthy of high rank. It has been advised not to hasten the fruiting of seed- lings, by budding on the quince or grafting on older trees, as it is supposed to change the character of the fruits too much for identification in future growth; but for these opinions I can see no good reasons. M. De Jonge, of Brussels, says : " A bud inserted near the ground in a quince stock, will produce fruit in the third or fourth year ; and, though the wood may acquire a ditfereut tinge, yet the form of the fruit will remain the same, although some varieties may be larger, of richer flavor, and in greater abundance. These efl'ects are, however, excep- tions, and are attributable to the sort of quince, of which there are several varieties, difieringas widely in their influence on the Pear, as the varieties of the wild pear employed for stock." The period of time required to prove a new variety will exhaust the patience of most persons. Three years will be required to judge if the seedling promises sutficiently to encourage its cultivation ; seven years more, with pruning and good cultivation, to produce fruit ; five years more, of successive fruiting, to definitively test its quality, and correctly determine its worth. Fifteen years of extra care and attention are thus required to prove a single variety ; and if to this wo add ten years more, before it can be extensively nYBREDIZING. ^'^ known and cultivated, wc may see how slowly the labors of the pomologist are crowned Avith success, but this period may be abridged one-half by working upon the Quince. In Mr. IIovey's splendid collection of American Seedling Pears are some of remarkable promise. Among" those termed by Mr. Ho^-ey, Dana's Seed- lings, are several which are admitted by such excellent jud^'ges as Mr. Louis BEKCKMA>fs, to possess signs of rare goodness. Many seedling collections would amply repay the labor and cost bestowed upon their cultivation ; while in others, labor would be entirely thrown away upon thousands of worthless varieties, without securing one valuable sort. HTBRIDIZIXG. It is often desirable to combine the qualities of two pears in a new variety, and this is practicable only through their flowers. When the blossoms are about to open, inclose the cluster selected with a lace bag, and when perfectly expanded, cut away the stamens or male organs of the blossoms, and with a small color- brush gather the pollen from the anthers of the variety with which it is designed to cross, and impregnate the pistils left standing in the blossoms— which should again be inclosed in the lace bag until the petals fall (Fin-s. 1 and 2). Tlie seeds taken from this fruit, when ripened, should be planted with care, and a full detail of the double parentage noted. It by no means^ fol- lows that tliese seeds will all produce the same fruit, for tlie original varieties from which thoy have been derived will exercise more or less influence in causing them to vary. SEEDLING rKOPAGATION OF VAlilETIES. llie stamens when cut away must not be ripe enough for their pollen to communicate with and ng.L Fig. 2. N Fig. 1 A fruit bud near Wossoming. Fig. 2. Eeprcsents a conmal of flowers from a eiflgle bud. fertilize their own pistil.-^. The pollen used for impreg- nating must be rij^e and poM'dery, and the stigma of the pistil must be damp. It was in this way that Mr. K-NiGUT produced his Monarch, Dummore, and other fine Pears, though the general results of this process do not seem to be remarkable. Mr. Locis Berckmans, from whom I have freely drawn information for tliis "work, has some 30,000 seedlings of his own propagation and of collections from Van Mons, Esperin, Bivort, Dr. Brinckle, and other eminent pomologists, which he has selected by various marks and tokens which are eloquent to him in prophesying tlie merits of their fruits. He does not, I thiidv, after a long experience, pay much atten- tion to artificial hybridization for producing new varieties. Notwithstanding the splendid results of a systematic LEAF-BLIGUT OF SEEDLINGS. 57 imj)rovement of the Pear, and the noble fruits obtained bj the gentlemen named, we have been indebted to accident, or rather to the voluntary contributions of ISTature, for those pears which rank the highest in beauty, flavor, and general excellence. The Duchcsse, found in a hedge at Angers ; the Seckel, in the woods of Pennsylvania ; the Yirgalieu, the Bartlett, and the Louise Bonne de Jersey, whose origin is not believed to be the subject of design, all confirm this view; while we must acknowledge that there is a delicacy in the constitution of many of the pears obtained by scientific propagation, that renders them inferior to the accidental varieties. In fact, the suj^erior vigor and hardiness of those varieties obtained through accident, alone enabled them to survive the neglect and difiiculties under which they sprang into existence ; the high-flavored, large, and truly splendid varieties produced by scien- tific skill and high cultivation, maintain their superi- ority only under the conditions in which they were nurtured. I have seen the Duchesse d'Angouleme growing on quince stock, for twelve years, in a grass plot, without attention, where it had been planted when twenty years old, and yet producing large, melting fruit. A Flemish Beauty, Beurre Bosc, or Beurre Diel would have succumbed under this treatment long before. LEAF-BLIGHT OF SEEDLINGS. Leaf-blight is the terror of nurserymen, and when it makes its decided appearance, his hope of success for the season is at au end. 5S SEEDLING PKOPAGATION OF VAKIETIE8. The disease is not necessarily fatal, but when plants in the seed-bed are attacked by it, the cultivator will almost desire that they had perished outright ; as great numbers of them will be checked so prematurely in their growth, as to be unable to endure the rigor of the next winter. On the iirst appearance of the disease, small brown spots arc seen upon the under side of the leaves of the weaker plants in the seed-bed or nursery rows, which spread quickly over the whole leaf, and in a few days, over the entire collection of plants. Growth stops at once, the leaves fall, and budding for that season is of course prevented. At this period all nostrums and chemicals are useless. Tlie fact that this disease pre- vails most in old nursery grounds, and indeed is almost confined to soils long cultivated, points to the necessity of restoring to tlie soil its original qualities, or of planting only in new soils. The disease is doubt- less of fungous character, and as its appearance on the leaf would indicate, is highly contagious. As remarked twenty years since, it is much jnore pre- valent upon the leaves of seedling stocks than upon those of budded and fine varieties. Buds set in stocks attacked with this pestilence, and wliich have suffi- cient vitality for growth, produce healthy trees, whose leaves remain unsj^otted. This has afforded a curious subject for speculation among pomologists. Mr. Downing supposed this disease to be identical with the cracking and cankering of the fruit of some varieties. Some kinds of pear trees in bearing in my grounds are slightly attacked every year, but the disease makes PROPAGATION BY LAYEES AND CUTTINGS. 59 no progress ; the small number of leaves affected drop off, and growth commences again, though the fruit does not acquire more than half size. The best pre- ventives are : to plant in new, deep, and rich soils ; to cultivate well and obtain a good, strong growth before the first of August. An article upon this subject, exhibiting evidence of close investigation, and containing suggestions of much value, was written for The Horticulturist some years since, by Mr. H. E. Hooker, of Kochester. PROPAGATION BY LAYEES AND CUTTINGS. With the Pear this is always a difficult process, and requires nice management. If the theory regardino- the necessity of affinity between the stock and the graft is worthy of attention, propagation by layers is important, for nothing can be nearer in affinity to a variety than the variety itself. Some vai'ieties are much more easily propagated in this manner than others, but when the proper conditions are observed, success is attainable with all. When the leaves are ripening in the early part of August, the lower shoots of the present year's growth should have the bark and sappy wood cut through on the lower side, to about one third of the diameter of the shoot. Some- times a ring of bark about an eighth of an inch wide may be removed entirely around. The shoot is then bent down into a hole (care being taken not to break it at the cut), and covered witli tine soil, tiglitly packed. The retiring sap from the ripened leaves is arrested at the incision, and there forms rootlets. I have succeeded by this method in producinij hand- CO SEEDLING rBOPAGATION OF VARIETIES. some trees from about one half of the branches lay- ered. When it is desirable to do this somewhat extensively, a "stool" may be formed by cutting off the tree about a foot above the ground. The next season there will be produced a dozen or more thrifty shoots from a tree two years old, which may all be hiyered as above described. "When the shoots are too high for this kind of treatment, incisions may be made in them, and balls of clay and cow-dung mixed together put over the incisions, inclosed with matting, and tied. QUINCE STOCKS. These are always propagated by layers or cuttings. Any attempts at propagating by seeds would evidently be unsuccessful in producing a uniform variety fitted for budding with the Pear. The Angers and, latterly, the Paris varieties of the Quince, are the only ones in use for this j^urpose. The qualities needed for stocks are : free, rapid growth ; a tendency to a large size so as to equal the ]iear trunk, and to root freely from cuttings or layers ; to have a cellular and ligneous formation that will fit them to unite readily with that of the Pear. In those varieties that refuse the Pear, or on which it makes an imperfect union, we shall perceive by examining the fracture where the pear wood cleaves from the Quince, that the adhesion has been produced simply by the irregular and grooved surfaces of the wood of the bud and the stock, fitting into each other without any intermingling of the ligneous fibres of eachj although the Ixirk of the two species has united to form a sheath over tlic ini|«irl'cct union. That inter- QUINCE STOCKS. 61 mingling, and continuation of woody fibres, wliich takes place between a bud and its stock of the same species, does not here exist. There is, then, only a mechanical adhesion of irregular surfaces, held to- gether by a sheath of bark. The apparent antipathy of some varieties of the Pear to the Quince is, doubtless, owing to the resist- ance made by the different texture and cellular form- ation of the Quince to the returning sap. It is probable that, the cells of the Quince being smaller than those of the Pear, the inspissated sap of the latter, on its return, has become too rich in albumen to pass into them ; but sufficiently accurate micros- copic experiments have never been instituted to pro- nounce decisively upon the theory. The tubes of all woody formations are not continuous, but successive — like the joints of bamboo : the upper ends being smaller, and fitting into spaces between the lower ends of the next higher series. It is com- monly known that water will not pass readily through the smaller tubes, in which alcohol and ether easily flow. From the same cause, probably, the richer juice of the Pear will not flow in tlie smaller tubes of the Quince ; and the consequence is, that a swelling out of the Pear at that point is formed by the repelled juice which, not finding a free passage, produces no ligneous fibres or cellular tissue in the Quince. PROPAGATION OF THE QUINCE BY LAYEKS AND CUTTINGS. The Quince forms a notable exception to all otlier fruit trees in its ability to form roots readily from any 62 SEEDLING PKOPAGATION OF VAKIETIES. part of its baric. The propagation of the Augers Quince, by layers or cuttings, is manifestly only a con- tiiniation of tlie original individual tree. 2hc cuttings should he made in the fall or winter — not later than January^ since the buds "svill begin to swell in th(* early, warm days of winter. It is desir- able that the buds sliould remain in a completely dor- mant state, so tliat they can make no demand upon the cutting for sap until rootlets have pushed out, and given the cutting ability to furnish it without exhaus- tion. It is not generally considered that roots are never added by influences exterior to the plant, but are the product of the plant itself. Tlic roots of a cutting arc formed by the sap contained within itself, which, exuding as healing lymph, is changed into roots under the peculiar conditions of air, moisture, and darkness — which process goes on even in winter, when the ground is not frozen. It will be seen, then, that those plants formed with large evaporating organs in the bark will not readily root, as they part too easily with their sap. The close, dense bark of tlie Quince, and the hard rind of the outer wood of the Grape peculiarly fit them for this method of propagation ; and we consequently find that, out of thousands of cuttings planted of the Angers variety, but few fail of rooting. Tlie cuttings should be planted as early in spring as possible, althoiigli their vitality is so great as to sur- vive almost any treatment, in soils fitted for them. During a rather wet June, wliile ti'imming some quince Stocks, preparatory to l)udding in August, I directed the trimmings, then in full leaf, and with some inches PROPAGATION OF THE QCTNCE. 63 of new growth, to be planted in the adjoining ground, which was so sandy and poor that it had been left unplanted. Even with these disadvantages, more than half took root, and made fair plants. The cuttings should be from eight inches to a foot long, and planted so as to leave an inch or two of buds above the surface of the ground. The soil sliould be rather clayey, and retentive of moisture. When it is light, it should be packed firmly around the cuttings with the foot — the closer the better. Cuttings of the Quince will usually succeed more unifonnly in rather damp soils, but will not so uniformly grow tlu'ifty when transplanted to drier grounds. Fig. 8. Fig. 8. Mother Stool, and usual Plan of Layering Quince Stocks. Quince stalks are, however, produced in much greater quantities by layers from permanent planta- tions of stools. These are made by planting quince roots about four feet apart, in very deep and richly manured soils, and cutting back the growth every year near the ground. This treatment forces up a large number of thrifty shoots, which increase in quantity as the stock grows older. 64 SEEDLING PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. As usually practiced, in the latter part of August, the earth is heaped up, and firmly packed around these clusters of shoots or stools, as in Fig. 3. The shoots throw out roots immediately, but are not usually separated from the stock till the autumn of the following year. It has not been customary to commence earthing up before the second spring ; but we have found it of essential importance to do it earlier, so as to secure the benefit of the concentrated sap of the fall. Fig. 4 *^^^ Fig. 4. Treatment of Stools in the first, second, fourth, and fifth jears. A much better plan, practiced by Mr. A. S. Fuller, is shown at Fig, 4. The stool is planted in a trencli, which, as the former increase's in size, is, at the eartliing up of each successive crop, filled higher and higher, until, at tlie removal of the fifth crop, the stool is dug up, the lower part of the root removed, and the upper and iiinri' \ igoi-ous portion replanted. rLANTING STOCKS — SOILS SUITABLE. 65 TLANTIlvG STOCKS SOILS STTITAELE, ETC. It is of tlie highest importance that only the very best rooted plants, either of quince or pear, should be planted in the nursery. Mr. Barry, than whom there is no higher authority, says, in his excellent work, "The Fruit Garden," that " one hundred good, yigor- ous stocks are worth five hundred poor ones ;" and some of us will live to see the day when customers will pay live times more for a perfectly healthy, well-grown tree, than they will for a poor, or even a medium one." There are a few purchasers now of the same opinion. It has been customary to crowd the nursery rows with all the plants that promised to survive, planting them only eight inches apart, and to bud them all, without discrimination, during the fol- lowing summer. The consequence has not unfre- quently been, a feeble growth from those buds that barely survived ; a thrifty growth in the vigorous and healthy stocks; and complete failure in one half of the number planted. When stocks are strongly rooted, they should be planted in the fall — provided the ground is ridged up against the rows, to prevent heaving out in the winter. If weakly rooted, and no extra care is intended, they should be buried in light, dry soil, j^lacing the roots thickly together in a trench, and filling it up within a few inches of the top. This should be done early, in order that the ground may be firmly scttlod by rains, and packed about the roots before it ia frozen. 60 SEEDLING PKOPAGATION OF VARIETIES. As early as the condition of the ground will permit, the stocks so treated should be planted in nursery rows, or bedded out. In bedding out, the weaker stocks may be planted thickly, or only two or three inches apart, in rows, at a sufficient distance to permit plowing between. The soil should be strong and deep, and the plants receive thorough cultivation. The nursery ground should be deeply worked, and well manured a year previous to the planting of the stocks, in order that the application of fresh and power- ful manures may not induce a succulent and unripe growth. The method of preparing a plot of ground planted recently with stocks, may not be inappropriate to this section. The soil was a sandy loam, half an acre of it being filled with boulders, varying from the size of a paving-stone to those weighing five hundred pounds each. As these stones were reached by the plow, they were removed by laborers with spades and crow- bars, and placed on the surface of the plowed land. When a furrow had been cleared of stones, the sub- soil plow was drawn by a stout team in the bottom of it, loosening the subsoil to the depth of six inches. This loosened earth was now thrown out by the common plow, and the hard soil again deepened by the subsoil plow, until the whole depth of loosened Boil was from sixteen to eighteen inches. The ground was then cross-plowed, harrowed smooth, furrows drawn four feet ajDart, and deepened with a spade. Thirty thousand pear stocks were then planted one foot apart in these trenches. Tlie whole expeuso for labor was as follows : MANUEES FOK NUilSEEY STOCKS. 67 8 days' labor of team and man, in plowing and subsoiling, at H $32 00 3 days' labor of 3 men to loosen and remove rocks and stones, at $1 9 00 1 day's furrowing by double plowing 4 00 27 days' deepening trenches, at $1 21 00 20 days' planting stocks 20 00 $92 00 If double the labor had been devoted to deepening the soil, it wonld have been an economic expenditure. Great care should be exercised in securing the trees in straiglit lines, as a tree projecting from the row is liable to injury from the plow. The soil must be dry and rich, and the use of that common but vaguely defined term must not be mis- understood. Properly expressed, the soil should be fertile without having received recent applications of strong manures. MAJ^UKES FOR NUIiSEKY STOCKS. To Stimulate a vigorous growth early in the season, an application of from three hundred to live hundred pounds of guano per acre is highly approved. It should have been composted for a month previous to use with forty times its bulk of well pulverized swamp muck, which has been exposed to the frosts of at least one winter after digging. This stimulating compost, however, should be applied in the Fall, after growth has ceased, well distributed, and plowed in on soils otherwise in good condition. A strong and stocky growth of trees will ensue, and as this energetic and volatile manure will have exhausted its poAver by midsummer, the young wood will ripen fully, aL^d C8 SEEDLING PROPAGATION OF VAKIETIES. beconiG liard and linn. A mncli more i^erfect manure for the development of young trees is formed from a mixture of guano and superphosphate of lime. This I prepare each winter, and have found most excellent etiocts from an application of six hundred to one thousand pounds per acre in the strong, healthy growth and early fruiting of almost every tree to which it is applied. To prepare this quantity of superphosphate, use three hundred pounds of burned bones, or four liun- dred pounds of ground, unburned bones dissolved in one hundred and lifty pounds of strong sulphuric acid diluted with twice its bulk of water, adding one hun- dred and fifty pounds of Peruvian Guano ; the whole to be thoroughly intermixed. The excess of acid changes the volatile carbonate of ammonia in the guano to the soluble but non-volatile sulphate, which is slower, and not corrosive or injurious in its action on plants. The resulting mixture being in a semi- fluid state, some absorbing material will be needed to act as a divisor. Peat or swamp muck, nearly dry, will be the best substance, and may be used in large quantities, being itself composed of tlie ligneous and carbonaceous products of the growtli of wood. Tliis compost may be spread broad-cast, or strewn in fur- rows plowed near tlie rows. Tlie necessity of furnish- ing the elements found in this manure may be seen at ».»nce in the cliemical analyses of tlie Pear, its bark and wood. i)n tlie farm of Prof. Mapes, several varieties of pears, which witii us liave not hitherto maintained their European reputation, liavo been produced, of AI^ALYSIS OF TITE ASHES OF TDE PEAR. 69 great excellence, by application of the phosphates. The fruits were pronounced by Louis Berckmans, Col. Wilder, and others, the finest of their kind ever grown in this country. A study of the following analysis will show the necessity of using potash in addition to the elements found in the superpliospliate and guano, wliicli may be supplied to the soil in the form of crude potash, green sand marl, or woodashes. Neither ashes nor potash should be mixed directly with guano or stable manures, or so placed in the soil as to come imme- diately in contact with each other. ANALYSIS OF THE ASHES OF THE PEAR. One hundred pounds of fruit yield nearly half a pound of ashes, the wood and bark much more. ASHES OF HEART WOOD. BARK. FRUIT. Totash 27-00 23-14 3-00 0-45 0-30 10-40 0-80 6-20 33 • 36 9-40 1-80 0-40 3-50 54-69 8-52 7-98 5-22 5-69 ■ 1-49 14-28 2-00 Soda Lime MaE^nesia Sulphuric Acid Silicic Acid Phosphoric Acid Phosphate of Iron PREPARATION OF STOCKS FOR PLANTING. The small cost of stocks has induced a careless method of planting, and a more inexcusable neglect in preparing them for it. Quince stocks are usually taken from the mother plant or stool by a quick jerk, which leaves a large ragged end ; as it strips oif the bark and wood from the stool, for a space at least twice the diameter of the stock. At the season when 70 SEEDLINC PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. this IS performed, no healing lymph exudes, and of course, no rootlets ai-e produced ; besides, the rugged wound does not encourage their formation. A raw, unhealed end always remains ; and of some thousands of pear trees upon quince roots, which I have removed, I have never seen fibres put forth, where such a wound has been made. Tlie rough corrugated ends will show the marks of the rupture made by their violent removal from the parent stock. Tlie injured roots of stocks should he smoothly cut, and the jagged portions cleanly pruned away, leaving a surf ace, from which fresh rootlets will readily spring. In the violent removal of the stock, the bark is stripped from nearly all of tlic fibrous roots ; and if they are not removed, a large mass of decaying organism must be thrown off, before a healthy vitality can commence. Wlien tlic fibres are thick and matted, they should be cut back to an inch in length, or they will be pressed together in the soil, and decay. Two rootlets or fibres never come in contact when growinir, and this condition should be accurately imitated in planting. Pear seedlings, which have not been root-pruned in the seed-bed, have long tap-roots, which should be shortened to six or eight inches. It has been recom- mended to lay out the tap-root in a horizontal direc- tion ; but the distorted position obstructs the Ilyqq flow of sap ; and the root receiving nutriment from only one direction, the tree will be distorted by growing mostly on the same side. The tops of stalks arc frequently allowed to remain ; PREPARATION OF STOCKS FOR PLANTING. 71 but they should be well pruned, in order to induce a new and large-leafed growth to prepare sap that on its return will strengthen and unite the bud to the stock. When all of the top is allowed to remain, the leaves will be small, and but little new wood formed. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. Fig 7. Fig. 5. A seedling of one yonr's growth. Fig. 6. The same at two years, after root pruning. Fig. 7. The same at two years, with pruning. while close pruning would induce large and vigorous leaves capable of preparing great quantities of well aerated sap. The contrast between Figs. 5 and G is not too Yti SEEDLING PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. strongly pictured, to rci^rcsent the real advantages derived from root and top pruning. The pruning of the top should always be done before planting, as the roots do not obtain sufficient hold of the soil to pre- vent their being disturbed and pulled out by the knife. INFLUENCE OF THE GKAFf UPON LONGEVITY. The increase of the number of trees of a given variety has for some years been considered as a simple exten- sion of the original tree of that variety. Grafts or buds taken from any variety of the Peai', when inserted into a pear stock, will entirely change its character- istics, and enforce the production of their own variety of fruit. Ilaving this power, it is not too much to believe, that they have that also of carrying with them whatever defect of constitution, orfeebleness of vitality, may infect the plant, and that trees produced from them would be feeble or strong, short or long-lived, in proportion to the possession or want of these qualities in the original. That the defects of a tree must limit the powers of all its descendants, is a well known physiological fact. But the difi'crent trees of a variety arc not descendants from an f»riginal of that variety, but only parts of it ; and starting from this basis, some pomologists have asserted, tliat as all tlie trees of any variety are but brandies from the original, and not the product of fecundated seed, tliey must be limited in their exist- ance by the life of the original. In this theory, however, sufficient allowance is not made for the increase of vitality, by alliance with INFLUENCE OF THE GRAFT UPON LONGEVITY. 73 a vigorous stock, whicli is the product of a seed ; and hence possesses the elements of independent life, and the power of infusing much of its own piinciple of longevity into the engrafted scions or buds. It would be more nearly correct to say, that the duration of a variety is limited more or less by that of its original, and that any inherent disease in it will be continued, in all its buds and grafts, although the superior vitality of the stock may mitigate its virulence, or protract its dormant period. Certainly, a settled conviction is obtaining anion o- pomologists, that some of our finest varieties, that have been in existence for but the short time of fifty to seventy years, have nearly reached the culmination — as they can now only be produced, in any degree of excellence, by the utmost care. The White Doyenne, the Chaumontel, and others, are notable instances of the justice of this conviction. Some localities still produce fruit of these varieties of great beauty and excellence ; but even there, the invis- ible hand of disease has stealthily touched their fruits, and the plague-spot is appearing upon their golden cheeks. The influence of the stock upon grafts is very marked. The fruits of early summer varieties are retarded in their ripening when grafted upon winter varieties ; and pears that should keep until Easter, will ripen in December, if the tree which produced them was grafted upon a summer variety. Similarity in growth and color of wood, and in style and color of leaf, between stock and graft, is importjint 4 74 SEEDLING rROPAOATION f>F VARIETIES. in attaining perfection, but impracticable on a large Bcalc. METHODS OF GRAFTING. Scions for grafting should be of one or two years' growth, that liave not yet produced fruit-buds. The shoots selected should be lirm-wooded and stocky, with buds close together, as a strong, healthy growth is characterized by these marks. Grafts taken from the upright shoots near the top of the tree are apt to make a vigorous and upright growth, but are more tardy in bearing. Taken from the lower part of the tree, they j)roduce a more widely- spread form, and fruit earlier. The trees from which tlie grafts or buds are taken should be healthy, and have produced a vigorous growth during the previous season, but such as have at any time exhibited symptoms of frozen sap-blight should especially be avoided. Yarieties whicli succeed but indiflferently on quince stocks, ought not to be propagated by scions from trees grown on quince. Indeed, it is a mooted ques- tion whether grafts should be taken at all from such a source ; but I see no reason for going to this extreme. The part of the graft used with the most success, is that at the junction of the spring and midsummer growth, which is marked by a somewhat fainter annu- lar swelling than tliat at the commencement of the spring growth. Tiic theory of grafting is, tliat the newer tissues of woody growth unite, when brought into contact, if their sap-vessels are not indurated by age. The ter- mini of the cellular tubes arc capable of exuding METHODS OF GEAFTING. 75 the albuminous deposit of the sap, which unites the graft to the new wood of the stock. It is not unfrequent tliat thrifty grafts of two or three years' growth are blown out of the cleft in the stock ; and it will always be found on examination that only the bark and extreme rind of sap-wood have united, wdiile on the remaining surfaces, w^oody matter has been dci^osited without adhesion. When grafts are procured from a distance, or it is necessary to keep them some time before use, they should be cut in winter, or early spring, before the A,.=^ buds have swollen, and packed away in moder- ately damp sand. If al lowed to be too wet, they will decay, and if exposed to evaporation, they will wither. The graft should be in a less advanced condition than the stock, as during the process of adhesion, evaporation from the bark goes on rapidly when the sap in the graft is active, and ^ death ensues, be- c', cause tlie supply can not be maintained. Grafting of the pear is usually performed only on large-sized stocks or upon bearing trees, except in • Fig. 8 represents a brnuch, exhibitiug wood-buds, in tho best condition for a graft. t Fig. 9 represents a branch with fruit-buds, nnfii for a graft. 70 SEEDLING — PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. niirsGiy stocks, Avhere buds set the previous season liave failed. On the smaller stocks, of one to four years of age, budding is by far the preferable method of propagation. Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 10. Cleft-grafting with single graft Fig. 11. Cleft-grafting with double grafts. "When the trees are large, only the younger and thriftier limbs should be grafted ; but when all the branches are old, and covered with rough bark, a sufficient number of them should be shortened, in order to induQc new growths, on which the grafting may be performed, as shown in Figs. 11 or 13. Thousands of pear trees, almost gigantic in their size, in all parts of our country, now l)cariiig only the most acrid fruit, could each be made m a few METHODS OF GEAFTING. 77 years to pvociuce almost a wagon-load of the finest pears. "When it is desirable to graft small stocks, it should be done by the process known as whip-grafting, as illustrated by Fig. 12. In rig. the cleft, which is a simple split, is exhibited open, as it would bo Fig. 12. Fig. 13. alter the insertion of the parts. Cleft-grafting is usually j)erformed on stocks of more than half an inch in thickness — as shown by Figs. 10 and 11. All of these operations can be performed during a month or six weeks subsequent to the first swelling of tiie bud, or from the fifteenth of ^Nfarch to the first of May. The exposed surfaces should be well covered 78 SEEDLING — PROPAGATION OF VAKIE-HES. with grafting-wax Crown-grafting, as shown in Figs. 14, 15 and 16, is performed by cutting the graft only Fig. 14 Fig. 10. /^■^ Figures 14, 15, and 16. Graft and Crown-grafting. iil5on one side, leaving a square shoulder, and pressing it down between the bark and the wood. More than one graft may be set in a large stock. The cleft in the sJ^ock, and the exposed surfaces, where the latter has been cut, should be well protected by grafting- wax. This is commonly made to be used when cold by melting three pounds of resin, to which three pounds of becs'-wax and two pounds of tallow are added. After stirring together, so as to incorporate the ingredients, the whole may be poured into a tub of cx)ld water, and worked with the hands. BUDDING. T9 Fig. IT.* B TT D D I N G. "While pear trees may be propagated with a measure of success by other methods, it is by bud- ding only that they can be raised in large numbers with economy and entire success. The constitution of the Pear especially fits it for this process. The firm, tough bark of the stock, and the abundant coating of mucus which lines the interior of both the bud and the stock, enable the operator to effect a clean separation of the bark from the wood, without injury to the texture of either. The ripe mucus sap secures an almost immediate union of the parts. In growing the Pear upon the Quince ; the superiority of this method of propagation is still more marked. Mr. Efv^ers says : [p^ " of twenty grafts set in quince-stocks, it not unfrequently haj^pens that nineteen will live, but nearly as often that nineteen will die." In my own experience with trees grafted upon quince-stock, they have proved to separate more easily at the junction than trees propagated by budding. It is ojily the bark, and the more recent formations of wood, whicli unite when brought into contact; and this union is effected by layers of wood, deposited around the junction, in the glutinous condition of lymph. • Fig. 17, represents a stick of buds, with loof-stolks for handling 80 SPnCDLING — I'KOPAGATION OF VAKIETIE8. These facts sliow that a bud, com- Fig. i8.' posed, as it is, only of bark, and of alburunm or half-formed wood, pre- senting a great surface of fresh material, will form a more rai)id and complete union with the stock than an ordinary graft. In this country, where thorough- ness in the performance of work is often sacrificed to rapidity, it is the general custom to leave a portion of wood with- in the section of bark connected with the bud, as seen in Fig. 18. This arises, in part, from the diiiiculty of separating the wood from the bark without disturbing the chit beneath the bud, the retaining of which is essential to success in bud- ding. This small kernel of coagulated albumen, as sliowui in Fig. 19, is the storcd-up material on which the bud feeds when quickened into life, and which connects its vitality with the wood beneath. To remove this deposit would insure the death of tho bud, or at least allow but a feeble growth. By care- lessly taking out the wood from the bud, the chit would adhere to it, and thus be displaced — as in Fig. 20. If the wood l)c left in the bark, as in Fig. IS, the edges of the bark of the bud would unite with the stock — tlie vital circulation being thus established. But this piece of wood is a foreign substance, and the union will be much more perfect when the whole interior surfiice of the bark of the bud is allowed to come in contact with the wood of the stock. From * Fig. 18 shows a cut bud wilh tlio wood romainlng, and figure of bud inserted. BUDDING. 81 my own experience, I heave learned to estimate trees produced by this metliod much more highly than those budded in the more common manner. They form a stronger union, and resist the pressure of heavy winds without cleaving apart at the junction of bud and stock. Several methods have been adopted for the rapid and efficient removal of the wood from buds, but none of them admit the possibility of the inser- tion by one man of 1200 to 2000 buds in a single day, as is claimed l)y some persons. An admirable plan is shown at Fig. 21. The pro- cess, consists in thrusting the tough, but not harsh Fig. 13. Fig. 20. Fix. 21. Fig. 19. A bud with the eye preserved. Fig. 20. A bud with the eye removed. Fig. 21. Quill as used in separating wood from the bud. edge, of a quill, under the upturned edge of wood, and pressing it lirmly and gently forward; the chit is cut smoothly from the wood, and remains in its proper place, attached to the bud. The thickened mucous sap which lines the bark, and covers the wood, when closely examined, will 4* 82 SEEDLDJG I'KOPAGATION OF VAEIETIE8. exhibit a cellular structure of albuminous materials attached to the chit, ready to extend themselves into the shoot, which the dormant bud will ultimately form. Fig. 22. Stick with bud at A, too high-shouldered for sotting. The operation of fitting the bud to the stock, after each IS cut, should be performed ahnost instant- aneously. This is equally necessary to prevent the drying, and the chemical change of the exposed sap, which almost immediately oxidizes, and turns brown — like the flesh and juice of an apple, when cut and ex- posed to the air. Fi-. 23. Fig. 23. Stick of bnds, selected properly. For budding, select young, vigorous shoots, of the present year's growth, with well-ripened buds, as shown at Fig. 23. Cut otf the leaves, allowing the foot-stalks to remain attached to the bud, serving as a handle when the bud is fitted into its place in tlie stock. Tleject tlie upper and unripe buds, selecting only the plump, well-ripened ones. Hold the larger end towards your body, inserting the knife-blade as far above the bud as you intend to leave the bark below it, and separate the bud, with a I'ather deep BUDDING. 83 cut into the wood, as shown at Fig. 2i. Hold the removed bud by the foot-stalk, and with the quill take away the woody portion. K you choose to leave Fig, 24. Fig- 25. Fig. 24. The proper cut to be made In separating the bud. Fig. 25. Quill prepared for separating bud from the wood. the wood, pare it down as thin as possible. If you are not expert in the manipulation, shield the bud from the air by placing it in the mouth, or in a vessel of water. Make the incision quickly in the bark of 84 SKEDLING I'ltOl'AGA'nON OF VAKIETIES. the stock, as iu Fig. 2G ; raise it from tlie wood, and push in the bud, by the leaf-stalk. You may now- cut otf the bark above the bud, so that it will exactly lit the cross incision, and tie the whole gently, but firmly, with strij)3 of bass matting, as at Fig. 27. The tics should be loosened in two or three weeks after the budding is finished, and entirely removed before M'inter sets in. Fi-. 26. fig. 27. Fig. 26. Bud witU wood removed, iinil stock cut for insertion. Fig. 27. Bud inserted and tied. Budding is occasionally pei-fonned in spring, but not to any extent in conunercial nurseries ; nor is it universally successful, although a convenient process, when buds which were inserted the previous summer have failed. The period for budding the Pear extends from the middle of July to the middle of September — the pre- BUDDING. 85 cise time aepending on various local circumstances whicli affect the growth of the tree. The season may be a late or early one, or a poor soil may have retarded, or a rich one stimulated the growth, so as materially to affect the period for budding. Dry summers and late spring planting of stocks will also retard the operation. The observation of the following points will assist in selecting the proper time for budding. The first or spring growth of leaves should be fully ripened, and the midsummer growth nearly com- pleted. At this time, an abundance of ripened or richly albuminous sap is thrown between the bark and wood, and when both the stock and the bud are in this condition, union is readily effected by the harden- ing of this sap into tissue. The stock should be cut three or four inches above the bud, as shown at Fig. 28, soon after the leaves start, although with very strong and well rooted plants, care must be observed not to deprive tlie plant of all its top, until the bud has put forth a shoot some inches in length. As soon as tlie latter has grown to nearly a foot in height, it should, if inclining from the perpendicular, be staked and tied. Occasionally, the stump of the stock will afford sufficient stay for the sup- port of the shoot without the use of ^^^^ a stake. • ^^^^^ Fig. 28.' * Fig. 23 represents the treatment of the budded plant daring the first sumnw PART in.— SELECTING, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION. SELECTING TEAK TKEES FROM TIIE NUESERY. Every fniit grower should either select his trees for himself, or obtain the services of a competent person. There are so many circumstances governing the suc- cess of nursery trees, so great a difference in their growth, and their roots, as well as in the manner in which they are taken from the ground, that the most careful attention is necessary to avoid the numerous chances of failure. The soil on which the nursery trees have grown is a subject of some consequence. It should be one well suited to iliQ ^ermayient growth and fruiting of the trees. Some nurserymen, in order to meet the quickened demand for large and hand- some pear trees, stimulate tlieir growth by profuse applications of manure. This practice will produce a succulent unripcned growth, and the trees, when planted in an inferior soil, are either killed by winter- blight, or languisli for several yeai'S. An instance is narrated of a nursery which was advertised as containing immense numbers of pear trees, which was said to have been manured at the rate of two hundred double wagon loads per acre. SELECTING PEAK TEEES FKOM NUESERT. 87 One large nursery of pear trees, which came under my observation, was located upon the bed of a drained mill-pond, the water still standing at two or three feet below the surface in the ditches, which were dug at such distances apart, that the water rose to the sur- face between them. On this alluvial soil, an enor- mous growth was obtained, but at the expense of the healthfulness of the trees. Of some fifteen hundred pear trees obtained by the author from this ground, nearly half perished by blight during the first year. Other nurseries may be seen located on imperfectly drained alluvial soils. Pear trees grown on such grounds are always deficient in fibrous roots, and con- sequently less able to bear transplanting. Disappointment, also, often attends the selection of trees transplanted from poor and neglected soils, ^particularly those that are light and sandy. The plants acquire a stinted habit of growth, from which they seldom or never thoroughly recover. The purchaser should observe if lice or other para- sitic insects have made a lodgment upon the trees, and guard against domesticating a pest which it will require years to exterminate. Trees infested by them in the nursery, are generally stunted, and their growth, for a longer or shorter time, retarded. In selecting plants for pyi'amid trees, choose those that have branches or branch-spurs within a foot of the ground, and fairly distributed along the stem. It will be impossible to find trees in any considerable number with the branches perfectly arranged, still those only should be selected for this purpose which approach the standard as nearly as possible. 88 SELECTING, PLAlsTDfGj AND CULTIVA'nON. Tlie stem or trunk of a healthy nursery tree will usually be twice the diameter near the groimd that it will be three feet above, and decrease with a reguhu" taper towards the top. Stems that are of tlie same size at the collar, and tliree, or as sometimes happens, even live feet above it, have been forced up in their growth by crowding in the rows, or by injudicious limning. Tlie height of trees should be a secondary object compared to other qualities. The bark should be clean, of a lustrous appearance, and free from ungainly scare from wounds made by the pruning knife. Nurserymen arc often forced, by the popular prefer- ence for tall trees, to prune them contrary to their judgment, so as to induce growth in that form: the lower part of the tree, deprived of its portion of the foliage, remains undeveloped, while the top is increas- ing at its expense. The purchaser should ascertain, if possible, how old the trees are, and how long they have stood in the nursery rows ^vithout being lifted, or root-pruned ; for a tree of any kind, and especially a pear tree, will not be well provided with librous roots within the circle dug in taking it up, after standing for three or four yeai*s, without root-pruning or transplanting ; nor will a pear tree form these librous roots, on which doj)cnd its vitality and fruitfulness, unless the stock, on which it was budded, has been properly treated for their formation. It is the practice in some of the French nurseries to cut off the tap-root of pear seed- lings when they are three or four inches high, to cause the growth of librous roots — just as wc pinch off the CAUSES OF TIIE FAILUKE OF NTKSEKr TKEE8. 89 terminal bud of the yearling shoot, to produce lateral brandies. "When taken from the seed-bed, the plants, instead of the single tap-root, ten or twelve inches long, will have three or four roots from four to eight inches in length. These roots are shortened, and the plants set in the nursery rows, when a mass of fibrous roots will be produced. If the trees remain in the nm-seiy for more than two years, the roots are again shortened. A healthy pear tree, three or four years old, twice transplanted, is worth fifty per cent more than one of the same age, though of much greater size, remain- ing where it was budded. "When the trees are lifted in the nursery, observe whether the roots are fibrous, and numerous ; and if they are not, but consist of long, naked roots, or of two or three straight forks, their chances of successful transplanting are very small. CAUSES OF THE FAILUIiE OF NURSERY TREES. The various causes of the failure of trees obtained from nurseries would require almost a lifetime to investigate, and a volume for their enumeration. A few that have fiillen under our observation will be simply narrated, without discussion. 1. Tlic too great crowding of the trees in tlie nui-s- ery rows, by which a fair supply of roots cannot be obtained. 2. The trees are dug witli too little care, and sent away with mangled and shortened roots. 3. Purchasers are not always sufficiently liberal to be willing to pay for the best trees, or for matting and packing them. 90 SELECTING, PLAIHTNG, AND CULTIVATION. 4. Tlie trees may be too old, or have stood too long without transplanting. 5. Bad pruning. 6. The practice of grafting on old stocks, to which the new wood has not the power of assimi- lating. 7. The practice of gathering seeds for stocks from any and every source, from diseased fruit, and from the fruit of diseased trees ; while the seed of small and wild pears only are fit for the purpose. 8. Tlie custom of using suckers from old pear-tree roots, which seldom attain a fair size or thrifty growth. 9. Tlie employment of the common and the Por- tugal Quinces for stock, instead of the large and rapidly growing Angers variety. PROfEK AGE FOR PLANTING. Tliis will depend much on the growth and treat- ment in the nursery. I am decidedly of the opinion, that when pear trees are to be left to struggle with the ordinary difficulties in an orchard, even when they are to have skillful attention and watchful care, they should not be planted less than four years old. This requirement, however, is not without exceptions. For instance: when they are to be planted not farther apart than twelve or fifteen feet, and have some of the advantages of good nui*sery treatment — in this case, even yearlings may be planted at once in the fruit ground; also, when they are to be planted at greater distances, and the grower will not begrudge the bestowment of so large a piece of ground to tho PROPER AGE FOR PLANTING. 91 cultivation of such small trees. The disadvantages of planting small trees are, tliat they are liable to be injured by the plow, and browsed by cattle, accident- ally or intentionally admitted, or by the animals used in tillage. Perhaps the most formidable objection is, that the o^vner will regret what he deems the waste of a valuable piece of ground for so many yeai-s ; and against his own judgment sow or plant an injurious crop among his trees. There is, however, a much better method of treat- ing young trees, than to subject them to the cliance of all these evils. If they have not been transplanted or root-pruned, select those of two or three years' growth, and prepare a piece of ground for the home nursery. For this a rich, deep, dry soil should be spaded and thoroughly pulverized, to the depth of two feet. In it plant the trees in rows four feet dis- tant, and three feet apart in the rows. Two huncb-ed trees would here occuj^y a space fifty feet square. The roots having been carefully examined, and, as before mentioned, the laterals pruned to six or eight inches, are spread out horizontally, and gently covered with earth. It will be seen that the labor of pinchiug, pruning, and cultivating, will be much less on so small a spot, than when the cultivator is obliged to travel over the three or four acres, upon which they ai-e ulti- mately to be planted. If at the end of two years it is still desirable to allow them to remain, a sharp spade should be thrust down around them, at a distance of fifteen or eigliteen inches, in order to cut the long straggling roots, and thus induce the formation of roots nearer home. This 02 SELECTINO, rLAOT-mo, AJTD CULTIVATION. will fit them for transj^lanting at an advanced stage of growth. In this case, if at the end of two or three years they arc removed at the proper season, and with care, they will sufler scarcely any check. By pursu- ing tliis plan they receive better care, grow faster, and are not liable to damage ; and as only good trees will in this case be set in the fruit grounds, none of those unseemly breaks in the rows, caused by the death or injury of a tree, need occur. Where, however, older trees, at least once trans- planted, can not be obtained, and it is desirable to set out the orchard at once, stout two-year-old trees are decidedly preferable. Such trees have not stood Bulliciently long to send their roots beyond a limit, whence they can be removed ; and with careful digging, removal, and planting, the purchaser need not fear a loss of more than two per cent. Quincorooted trees can be removed at any age. "When over ten years old, and twelve to fifteen feet high, they can be transplanted with as much safety as pear trees, grown on pear j-oots, at two years of age. Captain llichard- Bon, of Brooklyn, who sailed the " Duchess d'Orleans," a Havre packet, for many years, was induced by a French gentleman at that port to bring home in his vessel some large pear trees, grown on quince roots. These trees were nearly twenty feet high, with a main stem six or eight inches thick at the base, branched close to the ground, and each as perfectly conical as a Norway Spruce. They had been in bear- ing in France for nearly twenty years ; and are now, after thirteen years of gi'owth in a new soil, beautiful objects in shape and foliage ; and what is more, pro- PROPER AGE FOR PLANTING. 93 duce every year large crops of splendid fruit. Of the six thus brought three thousand miles, live are still living. Persons j)lanting large pear trees will, without doubt, obtain many advantages which they could not expect from smaller ones ; yet these are entirely con- ditional upon the treatment the trees have previously received. To repeat, pear trees upon quince roots, of ten or twelve years of age, may be removed with almost perfect certainty of success. But to insure safety with trees upon pear stocks, whose branches have not been shortened-in, they should be either pyramids or half standards, so that fibrous roots will have formed near the stem ; or they must have been root-pruned, or transplanted in the nursery. But in the case of stand- ards, whose growth has been unchecked, roots as long and numerous as the branches will have formed — which, of course cannot be retained in transplanting. Such trees can only be safely transplanted when root- pruned the previous year, by digging a trench around each, and cutting off all the roots which extend into the trencli. These trenches should be filled with good Boil, to induce the formation of fibrous roots. After much experience in planting large trees, I am convinced that the pear is the only species of fruit- tree capable of being readily transplanted at a large size ; and that when the foregoing directions are com- plied with, the pear culturist may obtain an advance in the fruiting of his orchard of five or six years. Instances of success in the planting and fruiting of large trees are numerous. In tlie spring of 1856, 94- SELECTTNO, I'LAJNTINO, AND CULTIVATION. Mr. L. Peck, of New Haven, removed to his garden a Flemish Beauty, twelve years old, which, in the fall of 1S5T, bore a buslicl of pears that averaged larger than Diichesse d'Angoulume, grown on the same grounds, A large number of trees of equal size, planted at the same time, proved nearly as successful. Mr. Wm. Howe, of Korth Salem, Westchester Co., planted a few yea^s since, some large trees from the pear ground of ^fr. Samuel Parsons, mentioned by Mr. Barry in his " Fruit Garden," and in two years obtained from it then the finest Vicar and Easter Beurre Pears exhib- ited at the Fair of the American Institute for that year. SEASON FOK KEMOVING AND PLANTING TREES. Our countiy possesses such a varied soil and climate that no general rule can be given for the time of planting ; indeed, the exact period must differ with almost every season. The removal of trees should take place while the vital powers are dormant, or nearly so. This is indicated by the ripening, and ulti- mately by the fall of the leaf, Avhich occurs, in the latitude of New York City, from the middle of Sep- tember until the first of Kovembcr. From the period at which the leaves rijicn until they form again in April or May, trees may be removed with safety whenever the state of the weather will permit, and the soil is sufficiently free from frost for their recep- tion. Large numbers of trees are removed from nur- series, and planted with success, immediately after the leaves have been killed by early frost — such as remain on the tree having been stripped off. The fibrous-rooted quince and root-pnined pear SEASON FOR KEMOVINO AND PLANTING. 95 trees are liable to be thrown out by the freezings and thawings of winter, if they are not planted sufficiently early to allow the settling of the soil about the roots before the ground freezes. When planted in autumn the trees should receive a heap of earth about their trunli and over the roots. If the trees to be planted can be obtained at a period in the fall when one may reasonably expect fine weather and warm rains to assist in settling the earth, before it is frozen, the hurry and uncertainty of a late spring should be avoided by autumn planting. Tlie season best adapted to the transplanting of the Pear is, that short period before the commencement of severe frosts when the leaves and wood are perfectly ripened, and the for- mer easily parts from the tree. At this period, the great flow of sap to the leaves has ceased, and every cut and bruised rootlet will receive a covering of healing tissue, through which, within a few days, root- lets will push out. During the fall and spring, when the ground is not frozen, these radicles are increasing, and are ready to commence their office when the first leaves begin to put forth. Not only do the wounded roots send forth fibres, but twigs of the pear-wood which have been properly layered in late summer will be well pr9vided with spongioles. Trees removed in early autumn, with cai-e, will scarcely show any check, and will often fruit as well the first season after planting as if tliey had not been disturbed. Trees received from France, which have been dug when wood and leaf were fully ripened, will, on their arrival here, exhibit on their pruned roots, and even 9G SELECnXG, PLAlsTTNG, AND CULTIVATION. on tlicir broken brandies, a thick coating of newlj- fornied (issue, and ol'ten many rootlets, an iiicli w luoro in length. The most skillt'ul English nurserymen and fruit cultivators select early autunm for tlie removal of their trees. If trees arrive in early spring, one should not hasten the planting so much as to be obliged to perform the work indifferently, by planting in shallow holes or poorly prepared soil. Lay the trees in by the heels, covering the roots deeply with loose, fine earth, and then plant them at leisure, removing them from the trench no faster than they are required. By occasion- ally moving the trees heeled-in, the period of planting may be delayed until the middle of May. It must not be forgotten, that the leaves should be fully ripe, and all growth completed, else the evaporation of sap through the still active leaves would go on too rapidly for the supply afforded by the maimed roots. KOOTS OF THE PEAR. As the Pear tree advances in age, the difficulty of successful removal increases. The reason is not always understood by those who seem to consider the roots as chiefly valuable for sustaining the tree in an upright position, and obtain with the tree the least number that will perform this office. Almost all pei-sons be- lieve that if, by dint of extra labor, they have secured a few long, naked canes of roots, that they have per- formed their work admirably; although by careless dJL'ging, or pulling the roots through the soil, they mav have destroyed all the hair-like fibres which alone give value to the main roots. The nourishment PKUKING BEFORE rLANTTNG. 97 of trees is received from the soil, tlirongli the agency of the hair-like rootlets which spread through it from the termini of the larger root. Iso matter how many large roots may be attached to the lifted tree, its removal will only be well performed when you have secured a large quantity of fibrous roots. As the tree increases in size, the roots near the body exhaust the soil of nutriment, and the absorbents, or fibrous spongioles, become hardened by age, and incapable of action. ISTew fibres push out from the termini of the rootlets into the newer and richer soil, and the office of those in the exhausted ground is at an end. Nature supports no useless members in her economy, and those radicles which have performed their office, and become incapable of afibrding further aid, are cast off. Thus, year after year, as the roots extend and throw off their fibres, the new spongioles supplied are found farther and farther from the trunk, and more and mor© labor must be exj)ended in the digging, to obtain a sufficient number of them to sustain the tree in its new position. No one need expect a tree to flourish, or indeed do more than barely survive transplanting, who is care- less about the kind of roots with which his trees are supplied. PRUNING AND KOOT-PKUNING BEFORE I'LAXTIXG. Although the Pear tree will endure more severe pruning, and yield more readily to modifications of its form, than other fruit-trees, yet this facility of man- agement may cause us to lose sight of the lact, that the 5 9S SELECTING, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION. restraint of its irregular growth can be better per- formed in its succulent condition by summer pinch- ing. But as the form of nursery trees is usually very imperfect, and will require severe pruning to reduce it to regularity, we should perform this labor in Fig. 80, such a manner as to need no repetition, and so that only the gentler restraints of summer pinching, and the pruning of young shoots, will be needed, to induce a handsome shape. The great difference between the effects of two methods of ])runing may be seen by reference to the figures. Fig. 30 repre- sents a maiden plant or tree of one year's growth from the bud, with a mark at A, to indicate the place at which it is frequently shortened in the fall pruning. PRUNING BEFOEE PLANTING. 99 It should have been shortened in at abont half on tiff J" r" '''"'' °" ^'S- '' ■■"•^■-'^ P'-- on he Innbs where the usual improper pAn.in.. -ould be performed. Both of these Figxles ol 1 .b>t incorrect modes of shortening, ^hieh will in- duce a growth that becomes very difficult to shape "to regulanty. To form a K-ramid of the tree shown at F,g. 30, its branches should be shortened to two or throe buds, and the young shoots formed from dr'tCl r °^ '^' '""^^ P^^' "^ J"™. '« in- duce the lower dormant buds to push out. But the rnethod most certain of producing the basis for a well! shaped pyramid ,s the summer pinching of the maiden plant as shown at F,g. 31, which is the form that the tree at F,g. 29 would have assumed in autumn if pmched during the preceding July. This last-me;' honed reewll now need to be shortened-in much below the mark at A, to induce lateral shoots in"he proper place to form a well-balanced pyramid To genera rule for pruning trees before planting would accurately meet the necessities of each case, but it w U be safe to recommend, that when branches or branch spurs have not formed low down upon the stem or when the tree is not stocky and vigorous, or who, the roots are much shortened in digginost mstances, trees are retarded for two or ,h ee years by pernntting too large a qunutitv of folia-^e to remam. Too n.any branches are den,anding a me°e l(M) SKLECTING, PLANTING, AlsD CULTIVATION. hubsistencc, avIich a fewer number would iind iiutri- UR-ut enough to insure a vigorous growth. When the jiyraniidal form is not desired, it is still necessary to preserve the balance between the roots ;;nd the top of the tree. Most horticulturists have stopped here in their in- structions relating to planting; but root-pruning will l>i' found fully as important in practice as the proper .-liaping of the top. Wounded roots must not only be j\'iiioved, and the ends of all the cut or broken ones .'■luoothly pared, but, in many cases, all the roots may l^e shortened with profit in the growth and fruiting of the tree. When large mass s of fibrous roots are formed, as on the quince and root-j)runcd ]iear stocks, they become so matted together as not easily to be separated from each otht-r by earth in planting. When roots are ]ilaced in contact in the soil, they will usu- ally become diseased, and lose their power of affording sustenance to the tree. Before the tree is planted, the fibres and succulent sjiongioles should be shortened to an inch in length, and thinned sufficiently to admit of being readily sep- arated by the earth distributed among them. It is now tlic received jtractice among horticultur- ists to ])lant the j)ear or (piince root so deep as to cover the place where the i)car-bud was inserted. By this method, as the quince stock lias been budded at K'ust four inclies above the ground, we add !rtion of the subsoil, to ftll the hole. If the eailh immediately around tlie roots of a tree is poor, the most skillful cultivator cannot remedy the defect without removal of the tree ; but when an inlertile soil is upon the surface, any ordinary laborer can improve it by manuring. The loose earth with which holes are filled in plant- ing trees, must not be pressed upon the roots by tread- ing, or other means, under the pretext of fixing the tree firmly in its place. Tlie more loose and porous the soil is left, in filling the hole, the more perfectly will the next rains wash it among and around tlie roots, and solidify the ground. If convenient, a few pails <»f water would imperfectly imitate the eftect of rain, and prove temporarily beneficial. To prevent the displacement of the tree by heavy winds, and the con- sequent racking and fracture of the roots, a mound of earth should be raised against the body, to remain through tlie winter, and for a montli or more in spring. VL.VS OF ARKANGIXG PEAR GROUNDS. By training all the trees of a plantation, whether on CULTIVATION. be pljuitcd at ten feet apart in the rows, the cross fur- rows must be plowed fiveieet distant from each other. Every alternate crossing will indicate the position of a tree, omitting the first crossing in each alternate row. If the trees arc planted quite uj) to the bound- ary line, this plan would give us live rows of twenty- two, and six rows of twenty-three trees each, or an aggregate of 24:8 trees upon a plot of the size as shown at Fig. 32, which represents half an acre of ground — although the addition to one side of this of an equal }»lot of ground would be capable of containing only 225 trees. If trained to branch near the ground, and properly pruned, 473 trees may be grown and fruited upon an acre,f(>r many years, without crowding. By this method — improperly termed quincunx — each tree Avoidd stand ten feet from its neighbore in the same row, and a trifle over twelve feet from the nearest in the adjacent rows. The true quincunx arrangement is formed by plac- ing the trees at equal distances from each other in every direction, and when the distance proposed is ten feet, it will be necessary that the rows 6hould*be laid out at eight feet eight inches apart, and the trees planted tcji feet apart in the rows, as rei>resented in Fig. 32. By this arrangement, each tree occupies the centre of a hexagon of equal sides, and is consequently equidistant from all the adjacent trees — exactly ten feet separating each tree in the plot from itt^ neighbors. l>y this method, 503 trees maybe planted on im acre, ju> we gain h[»acc for three additional rows. For a jH'aj- garden, 1 have foun«l ten feet to be an ample distance ; and for planting an acre, would recom- PLAN OF ARRANGING PEAIi GROUNDS. 109 mend that the eleven trees at eacli end of the ph>t, and one enth-e row of tM'enty-three trees, should be omitted in planting, and tliat the space occupied by the row be divided on eacli side of the plot, so as to leave ?, clear unoccupied space of iive feet around it. Five hundred trees will thus find ample room upon an acre ; and may yield their fruit to one generation before they will give evidence of being crowded. A plan very frequently adopted is, the planting in borders on either side of a path and around garden squares. The borders should be deeply tilled and rich, and the trees may be planted quite closely. A beautiful effect may be produced by prejDaring, on each side of a path, a border of not less than twenty-five feet wide, in which are to be planted fruit- trees, in a form to produce the cft'ect of the sides of an amphitheatre. In tlie side of the border furthest from the patli, are to be planted the most vigorous varieties of pear trees, on their own roots, Kext, and at a distance of not more six feet, should be planted a row of less thrifty kinds, on quince roots. Each succeeding row should be composed of varieties less vigorous in their growth than the preceding, until the front row is reached, which should be planted with dwarf apples. The outside row may be planted witli the Vicar of "Winkfield and St. Michael Archange — the second with Bartlctt on pear, and Urbanistc on quince stocks, the third with Duchcsse and Louise Bonne de Jei-sey on quince, and the fourth with Flemish Beauty and Winter Nelis on quince. 110 SELECTING, I'LANTIISG, AND CDLITVATION. DEPTH OF I'LAimNO. Ko part of fruit culture lias attracted more attention, and elicited more speculation, than this. In one point all are agreed, that, with few exceptions, fruit-trees should never be planted deeper than they grew in the nursery. The part of the tree called the collar, where the bark of the roots meets that of the trunk, the natural position of which is a little below the surface of the ground, nuirks the limit to which it should be usually buried. Although the earth may be temporarily heaped higher than this, around a tree just planted, yet it should generally be removed soon after growth commences. A Mr. Comstock created some sensation, not long since, by his claim to have discovered the grand secret of successful fruit culture. He ac(piired some money, and a sort of fame, by lectures upon what he termed the science of Terra-culture — or, cultivation with- out disturbing the rootlets which till the soil. His theory was, that a tree planted below its natural depth threw out a new stratum of roots, by which the equili]»rium was lost, and it became thenceforth a niaimed tree, incapable of producing its maximum of fruit. But his theory was only a repetition of the old story of human error — a i>art taken for the whole. In i)lanting in a dry and dcejily pulverized soil, the pear tree nuiy with safety be placed lower than its origiiuil jiusition. According to my own exjic- rience, it is ([uite essential to success, after removing a pear tree from a heavy to a liglit soil, that it be DEPTH OF PLANTING. Ill planted one or two inches deeper thun originally grown. But in wet or compact soils, or on those composed in great part of organic matter, like the Western prai- ries, a preferable plan is, to ridge np the soil six or eight inches fiigh, by backfurrowing, and in the em- bankment plant the trees. Some persons have prac- ticed with success, on wet or clay soils, a plan of plant- ing on the siirface of the ground, and covering the roots, by heaping up a mound of earth much wider than the space occupied by them. This may serve temporarily ; but the plan is a mere shift to escape the labor and expense of draining, and permanently im- proving tlie soil. But to the rule generally established for the depth of planting, there are two notable exceptions. First, while the Peach, Cherry, Plum, and Apple, cannot be planted much lower than the collar without injury, the Quince, the Grape, and the Pear on quince roots, are, from the structure of their bark and wood, capable of adapting themselves to a depth of planting much lower. Second, when the soils have been deeply trenched or subsoiled, their level is much higher than in their former state, and in compacting, they will sink away from the roots planted in them, leaving the upper ones exposed, unless the trees should be planted deeper than grown in the nursery. Yery fibrous- rooted trees obtain a better hold of the soil, and arc carried down with it. In ])lanting grounds deeply ])reparcd with pear trees, I have found tliose on the quivice stock, by their fibrous roots, able to main- tain their relative position in tlie soil, while in its 112 SELECTING, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION. compacting, the trees on pcnr stock alternating with the otlicrs, would be left two or three inches out of tlie ground. CULTIVATION OF THE PEAR ORCIIAED. A reputation for bad management, and perhaps a roeidence in a lunatic asylum, could not be more readily- obtained by a fanner, than to persistently practice the growing of weeds and grass in his potato and corn- fields, seeding down to grass the garden which he had just planted with vegetables, or turning his cattle to graze in his ripening grain. Yet, scarcely one in a hundred farmers but per- forms every one of tliese insane i)ractices upon his orcliard and fruit grounds. Until within a very few years, tlie orchard was quite as luucl^ relied upon for pasturage and grain crops as the meadow and fallow. Hundreds of tliousands of trees have been planted in ground cropped year after year with corn or wheat, that have made no more growth in five years than might have been produced in two. Nothing could be less economical, even where only profit Avas desired. N'o reason can be given why a field of corn and pota- toes should be cultivated with ])low and hoe, that is not an equally powerful argument in iavor of the same treatment of young trees ; and there are many reasons why the latter will not succeed M'itli grass and grain, when they would grow luxuriantly with root crops. One of the principal arguments in favor of the latter practice may suggest others to tliinking observ- ers. Vegetables grown for their roots derive the far greater portion of tlieii' nutriment from the atmosphere, CTJLTIVATION OF TIW PEAR OECHAED. 113 through their broad or luxuriant foliage, while grasses and gi-ains take more largely from tlie soil. The latter plants not only permeate the soil more completely with their roots, but by their taller and denser growth, prevent that free contact of the lower branches and leaves with the atmosphere necessary for the absorp- tion of nutritious gases, and the deposit of invigorat- ing dews. The experience of the best horticulturists confirms the opinion that tlie cultivation of the ground, equal to that usually bestowed upon corn and potatoes, coupled with the avoidance of any grain crop, will hasten the maturity and fruiting of the Pear, from six to ten years. If the ground is root-cropped, the cul- tivation for the roots will afford an excellent tillage for the trees, which, for a few years, will but little interfere with the growth of the former. The plowing must be managed with some skill to avoid wounding the trunk with the whiffletree, or cutting and exposing the roots with the share, and the distance of plow cultivation from the tree should be increased each year, to avoid injury to tlie growing roots. On this account, the surface near the tree should not be dis- turbed more than two or tliree inches deep, after the latter has acquired considerable size, and tliis opera- tion should be performed witli a digging-fork. Almost every cultivator of trees ha^ observed striking instances of the difference in their growth, when cultivated or neglected ; but the narrative of one may not be inaj)- propriate. A few yeai-s since, a gentleman, liaving planted a considerable number of j^oar and otlier fruit- trees, devoted a portion of the ground occupied by 114 SELECTING, TLAJmNO, AND CITT.TIVATION. them to liis vegetable garden, Avhile the rcmaiuder M'as retained as a h^wn. The trees growing in the trenched and cultivated garden are handsome pyra- mids, ten feet high, and in bearing, \vhile those in tlie lawn, although with a space of two feet around them cleared from grass, have not perceptibly increased for six years. MULCHING. !N"o process will more essentially aid in sustaining tlie life of a tree, enabling it to resist the rude shock of being torn from its native soil, and inducing vigor- ous growth, than mulching, or covering the soil with any waste or half-decayed vegetable material. The half-rotted straw of the bottoms of stacks, leaves gath- ered from the woods, the refuse clippings and tan-bark from leather factories, are all of value for this purpose. Covering the ground with these, three or four inches deep, around the newly-planted trees, has the effect of preserving a moist condition of the soil, and an even temperature during the great heat of summer. A most imjiortant element in the growth of plants is this pre- servation of an equable temperature, as may be seen in a cold vinery, where the range of the thermometer scarcely varies ten degrees during day and night. The mulching also protects the ground from excessive evaporation ; so that, during long periods of drought, the ground remains uniformly moist and light. To the Tear this treatment is peculiarly grateful, for there are few plants in which respiration goes on so rapidly, and wliich require such constant supplies of moisture. A curious and instructive experiment is narrated, A pear tree was grown in a large tub until MULCHmG. 115 it had obtained a vigorous condition, and when the soil was in a comparatively low state of humidity, the weight of the vessel with its earth and tree was ascertained. In a warm July day, a given weight of water was supplied, and the earth protected from surface evapor- ation by a cover. In forty hours, the whole was again weighed, when it was found that seven gallons of water had been thrown oif by the leaves of the tree or more than twice its own weight. Prof. Mapes narrates an experiment which ho performed upon a pyramidal pear tree three years planted, and seven feet high. A hole was dug beneath one of the largest roots, which remaining attached to the tree, and with all its spongioles as nearly entire as possible, was placed in a pail of water, and the whole carefully covered with a blanket. In twenty-four houi-s the tree was found to have appro- priated nearly two gallons of the water. 'No small bencht derived from mulching, is owing to the fact that trees so treated need no watering ; and the excuse for the barbarous practice of frequently drenching their delicate rootlets with cold water is removed. Poorly-rooted trees, or such as have been exposed before planting, or are quite withered and dry, or indeed all plants which survive transplanting with much difficulty, can in many instances be saved by mulching deeply for five or six feet about the tree. The loose texture of the mulch docs not prevent atmospheric contact with the soil, and being con- stantly damp, both the mulch and the earth absorb ammonia and carbonic acid vapoo-. Some varieties of IIG SELECTING, I'LANTING, AND CULTIVATION. poar of great excellence, which crack badly, may be ripened in perfection by mulching, as the cracking is in sonic degree due to an insufficient supply of sap. The mulch not only acts as an absorbent of fertilizing gases, but in time becomes itself a valuable manure. Tlicre are, however, some counterbalancing disad- vantages in mulching, -which will confine its practice to the single season of planting. Tlie immense in- crease of insects, which will propagate in its shelter — the ravages of mice that lind beneath it security from pursuit — and the late growth of shoots which it induces, liable to winter-blight, are some of the effects of its continuance. After much experiment, I am convinced that the best mulch for any other than newly-planted ti'ees is a soil often stirred with the dew upon it. CKOPPING TUE GKOUND FOR A MULCH. A very convenient substitute for litter, and one from which none of the evils noted will result, is an early crop of some of the broad-leaved vegetables. Turnips, beets, and potatoes, are valuable in the order they are mentioned for tliis purpose, and would in most cases repay the labor of cultivating the trees on them. Tiic lirst two have tlic additional advantage of penetrating and loosening the soil without bruising the roots of the trees; and by the superior coolness of their leaves to the night-air, condense the humidity in currents of atmospliere passing over them, in the shape of dew, which would liave fallen upon the plowed field or the dusty road ; and thus assist in nourishing the feebler foliage of the newly-planted SPECIAL MANURES AFTER PLANTING. 117 trees. JSTotwithstanding all these devices for pre- serving moisture in the earth, the golden rule of agri- culture should be remembered. Soils disturbed when dry, or during the heat of tlie day, loose their moisture ; but plowed or hoed in early morning, more moistui-e is acq[uired. SPECIAL MANURES FOR THE PEARS AFTER PLANTING. Tliat a Flemish Beauty or a IS'apoleon will be pro- duced in perfection in one soil, while, a mile distant, and in one of precisely similar appearance, they fail to be anything more than second rate, is a mystery that has hitherto mocked our investigation. It is unfortunate that nostrums, based upon some degree of knowledge of the necessities of the case, have been palmed off upon the community, deterring many persons from further investigation ; still, when we rocollect what science has done for human develop- ment, it may reasonably be expected to perform much for vegetation. If it is remembered, that it is a great thing in an ex-periment to have Nature ujpon one's side, the ana- lysis of the Pear will suggest the course our invest- igation should take. It is not unfrequent that trees exhibiting every quality requisite for fruiting fail for many years to produce a single pear, when the application of a bushel of lime, a dressing of wood-ashes, a small quantity of bone-meal, or of iron tilings, or refuse sand from the foundry, has brought them into immediate fruitfiilness. I have seen some very surprising effects of some of tliese materials, in the vigorous growth and fruiting 118 SELECTING, TLANTINO, AJSTD CDLTIVATIOK. of trees liitlicrto barren. It should be understood, that a tree can no more grow, and produce fruit, wJhcn oiw of its elements is lacking^ though all the others are present, than a house can be built, when all its materials, except the nails, have been obtained. Ml*. DoAVTfiNG was of the opinion, that bones finely ground and mixed with wood-ashes, would prevent tlie leaf-rust ; and several nurserymen who have used the compost seem to adopt the same belief. Mr. Barry verj tei*sely and happily remarks : "Bone-dust, blacksmiths' cinders, muck-lime, wood- ashes, and half a dozen other things, have been recom- mended to be compounded, in pecks and half-pecks, all with a view to remedy the rust, or leaf-blight, that no man can say originates in any defect of the soil." But the failure of specific manures to produce certain results, for which no rationale founded in natural science could be given, ought not to deter us from investigation in a j)liilosophical manner. Some simple facts illustrative of the value of scientific knowledge in the management of the Pear may be stated. On a plot of rich ground, where blight had year after year affected the Pear, its farther ravages were pre- vented by a large application of lime ; this Avas accounted for by the destructive action of the lime upon the excessive organic matter of the soil, thus inducing a more stocky and well rij^cned growth. Dr. X. 11. Tkft, of Onondaga, so changed the appear- ance, in shape and size, of the fruit borne on a Yir- galieu pear tree by a very large apjdication of leached ashes, that specimens of it received the premium from the American Institute as the host new table-pear. SPECIAL MANURES AFTER PLANTING. 119 Some remarkably fine Bartletts, and handsome specimens of other varieties, having attracted atten- tion, they were found to have been, raised by a black- smith of ISTewtown, Long Island, from trees that received the refuse of his for^e. At tlie Exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 1857, which was pronounced by Em-opeans superior in its show of peai-s to any which could be made in. Europe, the collection of Mr. Bacon was awarded the highest premium for the ten best varieties. These pears, the most beautiful in color, regular in shape, and the largest in size of their respective vari- eties, were gro^vn over a salt marsh which had been filled tlu-ee or four feet. I ascertained, on inquiry, that several other gardens, which occupied similar posi- tions, were remarkable for the fine pears grown upon them. Tlie Kapoleon, Soldat Laboureur, and other new varieties, that have generally proved but second- rate, have been produced of the very highest quality, when the trees had been liberally treated to super- phosphate of lime. Dr. LiNDLEY, author of a treatise on "Yegetable Physiology," and a nurseryman of great experience in England, strongly recommends the use of superplms- phate of lime for newly-planted trees, as it excites the rapid formation of fibrous roots, and thus provides for supi^lying the great waste of fluids, which is carried on with such rapidity from the leaves and branches. These facts, even if they teach us nothing positive, certanily indicate the direction in which om- invest- igations should be pursued. 120 SKLBcrmG, rLAinrNG, and cultr'aiion. DTVIOORATING OLD TREES. The cause of tlie want of vigor, slow growth, often of entire cessation of increase in pear trees of con- siderable size, is generally the exliaustion of the soil within the range of their roots ; the whole energy of the trees being devoted to sustaming the fruit buds and spui-s, no wood growth can be made while this exhaust- ive fruit production proceeds. Tliere is also an entire suspension of the absorptive and perspiratory func- tions of the bark caused by the incrustation of dead bark, moss, and fungi that cover the tree. The aged roots have lost their radicles, and do not possess the power to push out spongioles into new and unex- hausted soil. Tliese conditions suggest at once the remedy. A trench should be dug around the tree, at about as many feet distant from it as there are inches in tlie diameter of the trunk, though rarely farther than six or eight feet. Til is trench should be at least two or three feet wide, and as det^j) as the roots penetrate, the latter being pruned off with a smooth cut. The sods around the trees sliould be pai'ed off to the depth of four or live inches, and mixed with manure to till the trench, and a good generous compost of new earth and barn- yard manure should be put around the tree in place of the sods removed. Tlie old and feeble branches having only fruit spurs, should be shortened in such a manner as to form a handsome top. The rough fun- gus bark should be gently scraped away, care being taken not to expose the vital bark beneath, A better method is to wash with strong soap-suds or potash GKAJTrnG LARGE TEEES. 121 water ; the old Lark will be loosened and pushed off by the new formation of bark beneath. If the tree is of an inferior or wild variety, the smaller branches may be filled with grafts, of which a large number should be set, in order not to prune the tree too severely, and also to furnisli it as soon as pos- sible with new respiratory organs. GRAFTING LABGE TEEES. It .is a very common result of grafting large trees, that after producing an apparently vigorous growth for two or three years, they exhibit tokens of disease, and finally die. Tliere is little doubt that this is the result of too great an interference with the structure of the tree, by cutting away nearly all the top in a single season, for the purpose of grafting. The roots prepared by a vigorous top, with an abundance of rich condensed sap, are, in their turn, ready to offer a copious supply to the top, for elaboration, and oxygenizing by the leaves. Thrown back or suspended in the structure of the tree by this severe pruning, the sap becomes condensed by evaporation, and remains clogging and suffocating the vital energies of the tree, which makes strenuous efforts to supply itself with the organs of respiration. The true method of grafting trees more than five or six years old is, to remove not more than one-third to one-half of the top in one season, and set a very large number of grafts in the limbs, or to dig a trench about the tree, and thus shorten the roots to prevent too large a supply of sap. PAJIT IV.— THE PEAR UPON THE QUINCE STOCK. OFFICE OF THE QUINCE. The office of the Quince, in its association ■with the pear tree, does not seem to have been generally con- sidered. It is the only one of our fruit-trees which is readily propagated from layers or cuttings. Of one thousand cuttings of other species of fruit-trees, planted in the ordinary manner, but a very few would strike root, while of the same number of the Quince, but very few would fail to grow. The por- tion of quince on a quince-rooted pear tree, which has hitherto served as trunk, will, if covered with soil, in a few days, throw out rootlets, and tlienceforth per- form the office of root to the tree it supports. It seems therefore, incredible, that with these facts in view, intelligent cultivators should have failed to provide tlie conditions for the Quince to fulfill its office. By planting so deeply that the Quince is entirely beneath the ground, all the objections to its use in propagating the Pear arc overcome. The principal of these objections are : I^'irst, tliat the Pear grown on the Quince is short-lived. SeeonJ^ that the trees often break at the junction, from imperfect union. Thirds they are always of small size. Fourth, that the Peai ( 122 ) CAUSES OF FAILUBE. 123 outgrows the Quince, and produces a deformity. All these difficulties have been remedied, or avoided altogether, by planting so deeply that the Quince is entirely beneath the ground, for the office of the Quince is entirely as a root, and never as a trunk. CAUSES OF THE FAELUEE OF THE PEAR ON THE QUDfCE. The introduction of new plants, or of novel modes of cultivating old ones, is always attended with many failures, arising from insufficient knowledge of the conditions necessary to the success of the experiments. The value of the Quince as a stock for the Pear has been a subject of much dispute ; but candid observers, aiming only at the exact truth, have settled into the conviction, that its failure for this pm^pose has pro- ceeded in every instance from some neglect of the necessary conditions of its growth. The causes of failure may be summed up as follows : First — In the heat of the first demand for pear trees upon quince stocks, many thousands of the common or Portugal Quince were used, Tliis variety is entirely unfitted for this purpose, by its slow growth, and slight assimilation wnth the Pear, and the small size it attains. Second — All the varieties of pear were at first indis- criminately grown on the Quince, without regard to their fitness. But it is now well ascertained that only a limited number of our finer pears are entirely adapted to the Quince. Third — The office of the Quince in the double tree being wholly mistaken, it was phmted as it stood in *he nursery, often with the j miction of the two species 124 THE TEAU UrO.V TITE QTTINCE STOCK. from throe to eight inches above the soil ; and in ad- dition to this mischievous practice, the tree Avas not iinfrequently trimmed up as a standard. This method of pruning gave the top, when large, a great lever power at the ground ; and the trees, unable to resist the force of the wind, often parted at the junction of the bud with the stock. K tlie tree survived, it was often a monstrosity of growth, the pear swelling out to twice the diameter of the quince. ADVANTAGES OF THE QUINCE AS A STOCK. Tlie conditions and advantages of the use of quince stocks, have been so fairly and clearly set forth in a communication of Mk. Louis Berckmans to The Arjri' culturisty that I shall insert it here. Mr. Berckmans has devoted a life of great activitv and intelligence to experiments upon the Pear — enjoying the personal acquaintance of those gentlemen, both in Europe and America, whose names will always be associated with its culture. Ilis collection is large, and embraces selections from the best seedlings of Yan Mons, Es- TEREX, BivoRT, and others. His great experience entitles his testimony to the highest consideration. In answer to the vexed question — Will pears budded on tlie Quince succeed ? — Mr. Berckmans says : " I have no hesitation in saying : ' Yes, they will ;' and often better tliaii on pear stocks, and they are less suhjcct to h1i(jht. I know that I do not agree with the opinions of my late friends Yax ]\[ons and Espkrin, who never would admit a quince stock in their experimental gardens. I respect their memory, but cannot help considering their opinion as a prejudice. They had GROUP OF FINE SIMMKR, AITIMN AND WINTER PEARS. Selected arid Drairn Inj Mr. L. Berckmans. Nn'-^'n"^"'- .. No?,FrLTON. iNo. 0, 8t. Nicholas; or, Ducuesse d'Orlkaxs. No. 6, Rostikzkr. ADVAIJTAGES OF THE QUI2fCE AS A STOCK. 125 not found the good quince stock, and, j^erliaps, did not know liow to 23lant quince-grafted trees. Unless the proper quince stock be used, no good result need be expected. I have seen some singular mistakes in publications, for want of proper attention paid to the question, whether trees had leen ludded xijpon the An- gers, or uj)on the indigenous quince, the latter being very inferior, if not worthless. The quince stock for nurseries is produced from the twigs or branches heeled or laid in before winter, and planted early in the spring. This operation succeeds better in damp and cool climates, and in sandy soils, than in this part of the United States. Therefore, most of those plants are imported (chiefly from France), although they can be produced here, with proper care, in soils fitted for them. " At present, my best trees are on the Quince ; and my best fruit also. Those who would successfully cultivate the dwarfs must pay attention to the follow- ing rules : " 1. Have a good, substantial, rather deep soil, with porous or drained subsoil. 2. Select the good Angers or Orleans Quince for stock. " 3. Plant no other varieties than those wiiich suc- ceed on the Quince. " 4. Plant the trees deep cnougli, so that the j^lace where they have been budded sliall be at least three inches below the sm-face of the soil. In rolling ground, cover with stones, or damp mould, so as to prevent the washing away of the light soil. " 5. Keep the weeds down. 12G TlIE TEAK UPON THE QUINCE STOCK. " G. Keep tlic branches low, and make a pyramidal tree, by j lulicious praning once or twice a year. A tree with a heavy, higli top, must not be upon the Quince. Levels or gentle slopes are better than hills or rolling ground. " It is a fortunate circumstance that most of the best market varieties are also best suited to the quince stock. Yery often the grafted tree, when placed in silicious (sandy) soil or loam, forms its own roots just where it has been budded ; and then, with the steadi- ness of the pear stock, it retains the fertility of the Quince. " Much has been said about the short-limnrj of the quince stock. If properly planted in genial soil, which is not exhausted or impoverished by intervening field croj)s without a reasonable supply of manure, as most of our apple orchards arc ; if free from ill weeds and shrubs, and other drawbacks, the quince-grafted tree will thrive for fifty years or more. Some actual facts will prove what I state. Hon. M. P. AV^ilder has in his garden, in Dorchester, trees which he bought from the widow of Mr. Pakmentiek, Long Island, some twenty years ago. They liave yielded fine crops almost every year. Some have been regrafted with new varieties ; one of them with Beurre Clairgeau, which bore this year between one and two bushels of the finest and largest pears. These trees look healthy, despite all their mutilations, and there is no reason to anticipate a diminution of growth or crops. These trees are on the Quince^ but they have been planted by a man who knows how to manage trees. ADVAJilTAGES OF THE QUINC?: AS A STOCK. 127 " In the same garden are some fine Urbaniste trees— a part on the Pear, and a part on the Quince— pknted in the same spot, in the same year. Those on the pear roots are now beginning to bear fruit sparingly, while the others, on quince, have yielded bushel^of fruit for tlie last seven years, and are actually loaded with a splendid crop. All are equally healthy ; but, those on pear stocks, not having exhausted part of their vigor in the best marketable produce for years back, are rather more vigorous. By thinning the crop early, so as to make it moderate, those pyramids may be easily brought up to the full vigor of tlieir unpro- ductive neighbors. JSTow comes the important ques- tion : " ' Will quince roots do for orchards f Tor orchards, as we find them on most of our farms, a promenade ground for cattle, a dreary waste of ill weeds, badly cultivated and shallow soil, stagnant water, injudicious selection of varieties, and "more injudicious pruning with axes or dull chopping-laiives —no, sir! No fruit-tree of a refined class,''no tree of any value, will do in such conditions. One half of the trouble, manure, and labor, which a poor vine- yard requires in France, would make a thrifty pear orchard, and would certainly pay better. "Let us look at some fine nurseries (schools) or orchards where specimen trees are cultivated with care, and in proper soil and localities, and facts (tlioso stubborn) things will soon bring conviction in the place of doubts. " Messi-s. Elwanger & Berry, and others, in Roches- ter; Mr. Wilder and Mr. Hovey, near Boston ; Chas. 128 Till': I'KAu uroN the tiumcE stock. Downing, in Newbury ; Dr. Gkant, near Peekskill ; l\[r. Reid, Elizabethtowii, ]N. J. ; aud many others, cultivate the Pear on the quince stock with the best results. At Mr. Chas. Dow^'l^■G's, where every fruit and flower is cultivated in perfection, the surface of the ground in the dwarf orchards is covered with straw, refuse hay, tV:c., and no care nor cultivation is required; no weeds find their way through that carpet, renewed or supplied M'ith new straw or brush every two or three years. Mr. Downing seems to be perfectly satisfled with his system, and indeed he must be. " In conclusion, let me say, that when one expects to reap the fruit of industry, he needs to give the proper attention to it ; if he expects a fruit-tree to yield crops of the most refined fruit, and to grow as a niaple or a cedar in the woods, he is badly mistaken. The old saying, that " a tree must take care of itself," is non- sense, when ap^^lied to fruit-trees of improved kinds. It would do as well to plant dahlias oi' ])r air le rosea in a swamp, or among thistles and briars. " lie who wants large crops of pears, indifferent in size or quality, may plant all his trees on the pear stock, in deep soil ; but he has to wait from ten to fifteen years. If you want large, fine fruit, \vliich,in fact, pays better, with less trouble and expense, select your varieties on tlie Quince. These will often bear tlie first year, and always the tliird or fourtli iVoiii their planting. If I had thirty trees to plant, twenty should be on the Quince, the balance on pear stock. " Some varieties will nut grow upon the Quince, but even these do well double worked — that is, budded or grafted upon a variety worked already upon the ADYAlsfTAGES OF THE QUINCE AS A STOCK. 129 Quince and succeeding upon it. The French^call it intevTRediary grafting. " In planting orchards, tlie same care and the same digging is required for a standard as for a quince stock, but how different the result ? Ask Mr. Hoyey, and others around Boston, from which they derive their largest profits. They all agree that the quince root has paid the soil, the expenses, tree and all, long before ajpear stock has shown any sign of bearing. " Below is, according to my own and my fnends' experience, a list of varieties which will do for the market, till new and as good varieties can be added. "We must consider that tlie introduction of new varie- ties of fi'uit into the market is not an easy thing. Those named below are also the best adapted to the most of the States between thirty and forty degrees of north latitude. " I. — ^Varieties of Pears wnicn do well on tue pear stock, or when DOUBLE worked. " Those marked a do not succeed well on quince stocks. Those marked 5 do bear as early and as well as others on the Quince. They are arranged accord- ing to their value for general cultivation, market pm*- poscs, &c : b. Bartlctt — Sept. a. Lawrence (often good on Quince) b. Madeleine — Aug. — Nov., Dec. a. Scckle, (sometimes does well on a. Heatlicot— Sept. Quince.) a. Onondaga— Oct. b. Beun-e Clairgeau — Oct., Nov. a. Kingsessing — Sept. a. Columbia — Nov. a. Pratt — Sept. Oct. n. Dix— Dec. — Philadelphia — Sept. a. Doyenne Boussock— Sept. h. Bufium — Sept., Oct. And many others. The above are all good-looking- fruits, and of coui-se will sell readily. C* 130 TUE PEAK UPON THE QUINCE STOCK. "II. — Varieties adapted to the quince stock, wiucn also do wblIi ON TOE PEAR STOCK. Louise BoQDC dc Jersey — Sept., Oct. Duchcsse d'Angoulcmc — Oct., Nov. Bcurre Did — Oct., Nov. Vicar of Wink field — winter. Urbani.^ste — Oct. Nov. Bcurru Supeifin — Oct. Bciirrc Hardy (or Stcrckman) — Sept. Abbott — Sept. Hclle Epinc Dumas — Dec., Jan. Hcurro d'Anjou — Oct., Nov. Flcnii.f these trees was about fifty cents each, or $250. Mr. Austin is a merchant, and goes to the city every day, and the only holj) he has had, is the service of a man who takes care of his stables and grounds. He has, however, given them his personal attention, and good cultivation : but, 1 think, without further estima- tion of ' cost,^ we may reasonably conclude that these '■five hundred trees'* have ^honie successfully^ and paid cost.'' " AVe will then take a ride over to the Messrs. IIovEY, where we shall tind a much larger number of pear trees on the quince root. Their beautiful avenues are lined with them, sorao of which arc from fifteen to twenty years of age; but as it will occupy, perhaps, DWAKF PEARS. 135 too much time to examine all of them, Tve will take one walk as an example. How delighted Mr. S. must be to see 220 pear trees, 110 on eacli side, loaded with their luscious fruit, only eight or nine years planted, and all independently on the quince root. The pro- duct of those trees, in 1855, was twenty barrels — in 1856, twenty-five barrels. The highest price obtained was twenty dollars per barrel, the lowest eight dollars. Then we can call on Mr. Sticknet, and look at his ' divarf^ pear trees. "We shall see some magnificent sjDecimens of Urhanistes and Louise Bonne de Jerseys. The crop of the latter he sold the last season at ten dollars per bushel. Then we will go to Mr. Ma2h'- Isting's, who has some pear trees on the Quince of very large size, being from thirty to forty years old, and which ' still live,' and i)roduce annual crops. Then we will pursue our journey on, and call on Mr. Cabot, the President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Messrs. Bacox, Downek, Riciiakdson, John- son, and others, who have splendid collections of ' dwarfs pear trees which have been '' jjlanied Un years.'' " Mr. E.. BmsT, of Philadelphia, one of the most candid and reliable men, has published the following on DWARF teaks. " This term has led to the impression that all trees are dwarfs that are grafted on the quince stock ; we do not incline to this term, from the fact that we cul- tivated dwarf pears before we knew of the cfiocts of the Pear on the Quince, and also from the fact that we now have very line standard trees, witli stems six and l- 130 THE I'EAli UrON THE QUINCE STOCK. Beveii feet clear, that are on the quince stock. The Pear, Apple, Quince, Hawthorn, and Mountain Ash, all belong to the same class and order, and will grow if grafted on each other ; they do not all, however, assi- milate well with each other, for we lind that there are some Apples that will not grow on the Pear, and vice versa ^ there are also Pears, and not a few, that will not grow on the Quince ; others that grow well, but their fruits are inferior; wliilst again many are greatly improved on the Quince. "We now say that the Pear, to be successful on the quince stock, must be very highly cultivated with enriching manures of almost any description, incorporated with the surface-soil, and frequently stirred during the growing season, repeating the enriching material, and thorough culture, every season. They can be planted from ten to iifteen feet apart, and will, with such treatment, give a very abundant crop, even a bushel from a tree only a few years planted. This is not, however, the only atten- tion they require — they must have a summer pruning and a whiter pruning, which you shall have in another chapter. Again, the quince stock is a very general term ; there is a vast difference in the khid of Quince, and it is now very strange that all the pears on the Quince, whether worked thereon the past year or ten years, arc on what has recently been called to the peculiar benefit of some, the Angers Quince. Certain it is, that there is a variety aptly adapted to the vigor of the Pear, more generally known to the experienced eye by its growth as that variety; and we think it is the variety oiilv that demands particular notice. The * . DWAKF PEAKS. 137 growtli is clean and luxuriant, bark smooth and free, making shoots six feet high in a season, readily pro- j)agated from cuttings, and even budded the first season. Every cutting, therefore, of that variety, should be carefully planted, on which you may grow either dwarf or standards^ with this result that the sorts of Pear worked thereon will come into bearing in two or three years, and continue productive for many years, say half a century, and be more ivQafrom, Wight than if on the pear stocky which roots deep, descends into the cold ground perpendicularly, predisposes the tree to blight during summer, and if not blight, pro duces a redundancy of wood almost beyond practical management, and not at all adapted for gardens. Another point in favor of the quince stock I might refer to, is the certainty of its growth after being re- moved and conveyed to a distance, the many fibres close to the bole of the tree rendering its growth almost certain, «^ least ^forty-nine out of fifty. The Pear on its own stock makes few fibres, and is more precarious in removal and carriage ; this is again par- tially'under control by frequent removals in the nur- sery, when the trees are young, which checks their growth of wood, produces early fruiting properties, so that we hope to live to see dwarf fruiting pears on the pear stoch as eagerly sought for as those now on the Angers Quince — you will please make a note of this assertion." The following from Mr. IIovey, author of " Fruits of America," will be of interest to pomologists: '• The cultivation of the Pear on the Quij\ce is of such 138 Tni: I'EAii upon 'itie quinck stock. an ancient date, and has been so long and so snc* cessl'ully practiced in tliat great pear-growing country, France, that it appears somewhat absurd to see it attacked at this hite day, as it has been by individuals who, eitlier from want of experience or otlier causes, have not succeeded well in its cultivation on this stock, and lience would deny to a great portion of our community, for a series of yeare, so delicious a fruit as the Pear ; for in no way can it be obtained in any abundance, for half a generation after planting, except upon the Quince. An intelligent correspondent has shown the fal- lacy of the arguments made use of to disj^arage the quince stock, and it would be useless to go over the ground again. As he has truly said : " Let gentlemen botanists have their own way in disputing. On we shall go, reaping an abundance of fruit wliile tlicy are cavilling in regard to a fact long ago establislicd by the experience of men, not mere tyros in the work, but those who have made the question a study for life." RULES FOR GROWmO THE PEAR ON THE QUENCE. From these just and lucid statements of distin guished horticulturists, it is easy to learn that the requisites for successfully cultivating the Pear on the Quince arc : 1. Tliat tlie pear sliould be budded on the Angers Quince, a free-growing variety — a tree rather than a slirub, like the Portugal Quince. Several specimens of tliis vaiicty, on my grounds, have grown, in two seasons, seven feet in height, and one inch and a quai*ter in diameter. ROOTING OF THE I'EAU. 139 2. That only the right kinds of Pear should be grown on the Quince. 3. That the Quince should be considered in this compound tree, only as a root, and never as a trunk or stein ; and, therefore, sliould be planted entirely below the soil. 4. That the tree should be trained low, iii the pyramid shape. 5. That weeds and grass, and, of com-se, the grains, must not be permitted to grow among the trees — as they would interfere with the development of the lower limbs, and abstract the nourishment that should go to the tree. 6. That the soil should be kept in good condition, well manured, well cultivated, and dry. The violation of these rules has, without doubt, been the cause of all the failures of the Pear on the Quince. KOOTING OF THE TEAK ON QUINCE STOCKS. It is very difficult to induce the Pear to form roots from cuttings or layers, under the ordinary circum- stances attending such propagation. Most varieties of the Pear, however, when budded on the Quince, and planted with the junction from two to four inches below the surface, exhibit a great tendency to throw out roots from the pear wood above the junction. Mr. Wilder, and some other horticulturists, believe this to indicate a natural repugnance in those varieties to the Quince ; but my own experience docs not confirm this. Of a considerable number of Bartletts removed after being three years planted in the fruit-ground, 140 TUE I'EAIi UPON THE QUINCE STOCK. not more tliaii luili' ii dozen had rooted, and tlicso veiy feebly ; •\vliilc it is ■well known that this variety succeeds only indifferently npon the Quince. Other facts, however, do tend to confirni this theory. I have seldom found the Duchesse exhibiting any tendency to throw out roots. ^Hiile of several hundred of other varieties, five or six years old, removed at the same time with the Bartlctts above-mentioned, more than half had rooted from the pear wood, and the character of the roots was somewhat striking. AVhcn a wild or seedling pear is budded and planted in the fruit grounds, its tendency to form long, straggling roots, almost destitute of fibres, unless root-pruned or retran?planted, is well-known ; but every one of the roots from the pear wood above the rpiince stock of these trees, was provided with such masses of fibres, that it was nearly impossible to free them from the adhering soil. liemarkable as is this faculty of fibrous rooting of the Quince, it is much more surprising in the Pear, when grown on the quince stock. Many roots, tiiiee or four feet long will be found, fringed with fibres throughout their entire length, and in such masses as to render it necessary to greatly thin them, when reset in the ground, to allow them to be sepa- rated by particles of soil. In some cases, I have found the quince root entirely superseded and cast off. In others, the double root seemed to be in perfect har- mony, and both jtarts thrifty and vigorous. In most cases the ]K'ar root liad been formed on one side of the tree, and raj»idly radiating and swelliug at the junction, had usurped the entire ground, and held the tree firmly and strougly in the soil. To test the fact ROOTmO OF THE PEAR. 141 of the rooting of the Pear above the Quince, it is only necessary to seize the tree by the body three or foiii* feet above the ground, and shake it slowly, and if pear-rooted, the superior firmness will be readily per- ceived. The wood-growth and foliage of all trees, throwing out roots above the quince stock, will be found to be more vigorous, but the production of fruit will be considerably delayed. If a strong, vigorous shoot or sucker grows up from near the ground, or if the branches are much more strongly developed on one side, it is quite certain that the Pear has rooted. I am often asked, if the tree roots from the Pear, what advantage is gained by growing upon the Quince ? This query may be answered by a statement of the following facts : First. Many of the varieties budded on the Quince do not obtain pear roots sufficient to support the tree before the sixth or eighth year, and tlie trees, in the mean time, have borne fruit three or four years, while if budded on the pear stock, few of tliem would have yielded fruit in less than eight or twelve years. Second. Tlie greater vitality of the Quince root has preserved life in a large per-ccntage of the trees, which, imder ordinary care, would have perished if budded on pear roots. The ratio of loss by trans- planting healthy trees on quince roots, with but moderate care, is not more than one per cent, while that of pear trees on pear roots, is mucli greater. After tlie pear roots form above the Quince, tlie tree is (from causes which will be hereafter investigated) so much better furnished with fibres, that it will endure 142 THE PEAR UrON THE QUINCE STOCK. transplanting and root pruning better, and also con- tinue much longer its growth and fruiting. Hard. The quince root has so governed tlie growth of the tree, that it is much less diliieult to reduce it to pyramidal shape ; for it has been proved by expe- rience, that the character of the roots determines that of the top. Long, straggling roots, not provided witli fibres, are productive of long, vigorous, and unmanage- able shoots, destitute of lateral branches. A long tap-root sends up a vigorous leader, while tlie fibrous quince roots provide the tree with fruit-spurs and short, stout branches. The Pear on a pear stock ia not easily reduced to a pyramidal shape after the first year, without root pruning, for when the loader is pruned, the terminal bud shoots with great vigor, and another leader is formed while the lower branches continue weak and feeble. Fourth. Most of the varieties which are superior in size and flavor on the Quince, or which unite firmly "with it, and prove well adapted to it, as tlie Duclicsso d'Angouleme and Louise Eonne do Jersey, seldom throw out roots from the pear wood. In those varieties which throw out ])ear roots, it has been seen that the latter are more fibrous than upon seedlings. This is, doubtless, the result of the more rotined and cultivated condition of the grafted wood, wliich, instead of the rank cluiracteristic of a seedling, makes the clean, stocky shoots of a more highly developed tree. So the finer varieties of peai*s, instead of the long naked roots of the wildling, pro- vide themselves with fibrc»us radicles better fitted to furnish them their proper food. HOW TO rKODUCE PEAR KOOTING. 143 This fact has tended to confirm horticulturists in the belief in tlie necesity of an adaptation of the graft to the stock. If this theory is correct, what roots can he better adapted to the demands of the graft than those put forth by the graft itself. From tliese facts, it may be seen that if any pear-grower is deficient in faith in the durabiUty of quince stocks, he can insure the longevity of his trees by planting them sufficiently deep to produce pear roots. HOW TO PRODUCE PEAR ROOTING. When the leaves ripen in early September, the sap has assumed that albuminous and ripened condition which fits it for forming new spongioles and root- lets. If, prior to this condition, several incisions are made in the pear bark and wood, just at the swell- ing of the graft, by pushing a small gouge upwards, so as to form tongues or strips an inch long, hang- ing by their upper ends; the sap, checked in its downward flow, will soon cover tlie incision witli a soft, white, albuminous substance, which, if well covered with firmly packed earth, will soon form root- lets, that, before the ensuing winter, will be in a vigorous condition. It is well to place a small pebble between the tongue and trunk to prevent adhesion. The production of these roots is due to the same influ- ence which causes tlie union of the bud with tlie stock when inserted at the same season. Tlie sap, in its downward flow, depositing the mucus that would have hardened into bark and wood, is, by the check, diverted to the formation of rootlets and fibres wliich will, the next year, provide food for growth or fruit. 144: THE PEAR UPON THE QUINCE STOCK. It does not seem to have been considered by horticul- turists, that the absorbing powers are not retained by spongioles and rootlets much longer than a single season, and that they need constant renewal. When the hardening of these sjDongioles takes place, they are no longer capable of affording a supply of nutri- ment proportionate to the wants of tlie tree. Most tree culturists will have noticed that the fibres and spongioles are not found on the larger and older roots, but that, having fulfilled their oflice, they decay, as J^ature never supports useless organs. "What will be the effect of pear-rooting upon those varieties that are so much superior upon the Quince, must be determined by more experience than we possess at present. Tliere is but little doubt, however, that the pear-rooting of such varieties as are gritty or astringent on pear stocks is to be avoided. The Duchesse d'Angouleme, which is not often first- rate on pear roots, because of its hard lumpy flesh and gritty core, and the Louise Bonne de Jersey and Beurrd Diel, which are often astringent and bitter, on the same stock, can hardly be allowed to root from the pear wood. This may be prevented when necessary, by planting more shallow, leaving the pear-wood but little below the surface. DOUBLE WOKKING. It is often desirable to improve the texture and flavor of some varieties of peai-s, by growing them upon the Quince, although tliey have proved nnadupted to it. The desired effect is obtained by double work- ing— as it is the roots, tlie providers of nourishment, DOUBLE WOEKINO. 145 that govern to a great extent these characteristics in the fruit. Any free-growing varieties may be budded on the Quince, for the purpose of double working, although some care should be taken to obtain such as harmon- ize with the Quince. The Virgalieu and the Buffam are the best, although not the most vigorous growers ; yet most pears grow well, when propagated upon them. The Beurre d'Amalis and Soldat Laboiireur, are very vigorous growers, and make good stoclis for double working. There are such obvious advantages in double working, that it seems almost superfluous to mention them, yet that nothing may be omitted to secure success, w^e present them in a concise form : 1. Pears that refuse to grow, or grow but feebly, or are short-lived npon the Quince, but are coarse, gritty, or small sized, when grown upon the pear stock, like the Beurre d'Aremberg, often become first- rate by double working. 2. Varieties that are so tardy in bearing upon the pear stock as to exhaust the patience and faith of the grower, yet will not harmonize directly with the Quince, will, by double working, come early into bear- ing. The Dix and Seckel are examples of this. 3. Grafting, which cannot be practiced with suc- cess directly on the Quince, may be performed on the Pear portion of the stock. 4. Some varieties that bear quite early on the pear stock, but are of comparatively slow growth, are pro- duced in greater vigor upon the double stock, in con- sequence of the increased vigor acquired from the strong growing variety first worked upon the Quince. 7 14G TUE TEAK UPON TlIE QUINCE STOCK. VARIETIES FOR DOUBLE TVORKmO. Tlie following varieties, which have proved averse to the Quince, will, by double working, bear fruit improved in texture, size, and flavor : Beurre WAremherg — coarse, woody, and gritty, on pear roots, and a feeble, diseased gi-ower, directly on the Quince. ■• Napoleon — often scarred and spotted on the Pear, but frequently handsome and smooth upon a double- worked tree. Bartlett — although fine when grown on the pear stock, is much improved on the Quince. Bexirre Clairgeau — coarse on pear roots, somewhat averse to the Quince, but nearly fii*st-rate uj)on double- worked trees. The following varieties, that are tardy in bearing, are but moderately improved by the Quince in quality, and are propagated with difidculty upon that stock, but may be profitably grown by double working : Beurre Bosc, Dix, Seckel, Tyson, Andrews, Fulton, Lawrence, "Winter Nelis, Marie Louise, Beui-re Hance, St. Michael Archange, Columbia. PART Y.— PEUiSTN-Q. ADVANTAGES OF A PTEA^riDAL FOEil FOR PEAK TKEE8, BOTH ON QUINCE AND PEAR STOCKS. The advantages which seem to be gained by a pyramidal growth in the jDear tree, more especially, are: 1. There is no violent interference with the natural structure of the tree, but we rather aid it to attain this form more perfectly ; that is, we do not by crowding it in the nursery rows, or by cutting with the pruning-knife, deprive it of the natural formation of low brandies. To cut any portion of the wood, of more than one year old, is to interfere more or less seriously with the organism of the tree; and the occasion for it arises from neglect to prune at tlie proper time. To prevent malformation is hetter than to amputate ; and to form a tree properly, we must begin with the maiden plant. 2. Low-branched pyramids come into bearing much sooner than trees with long trunks. Tlie Pear'j' on its own stock, trained as a standard, varies with the kind, from eight to twenty years, in producing frnit ; but' trained as a pyramid, its period of fruit-bearinr. is lessened from four to twelve yeai-s. The Seckel and ( U7 ) 148 rRTTNING. Urbaniste, upon pear stock, and with naked trunks, of live or six feet, arc not unfrcr[uentlj fifteen years producing tlieir first fruit. "With low-trained pyra- mids, and a slight attention 'to summer pruning or pinching, this tedious and discouraging delay is most certainly shortened to six or eight years. The cause of this precocity is, that the sap, checked by the sum- mer pinching in its flow to the terminal bud, is dis tributed to the wood-buds below, and sufficient nutri meut is received to mature them into fruit-buds. A certain age of bark and cellular woody formation of a branch is necessary before it will cause the sap to flow slowly enough to concentrate into fruit-juice. Xow, if the earlier branches, formed near the ground, and then, in succession, those above, are cut away, until a naked trunk is formed, it is evident we pro- tract the fruit-bearing period. Besides, the pruning away of so much wood forces an over-abundance of sap to the terminal buds, and its energies are spent in wood-growth, at the expense of fruit-bud formation. "When, however, branches start from or near the ground, having the same age with the trunk, fruit- buds arc formed long before they could have been on long-trunk trees ; tlie sap is more evenly distributed, wood-growth is moderately checked, and the culti- vator's eye is early gladdened with golden fruit. 3. The size and quality of fruit is much increased by this method of training. It has long been known, that young trees produce larger fruit, but deficient in flavor ; old trees produce fruit of superior taste, but inferior in size. In the pyramid, we arc able to secure these excellences, and rid oui'selves of the faults. In PKimiNG. 149 the low, compact form, when aii excessive quantity of fruit has set, it becomes an easy task to tliin out the overplus, and concentrate the sa]^ in that number which can be perfectly matured. 4. A much larger number can be planted on a given area. Instead of forty pear trees, planted at forty feet apart, two hundred to four hundred may, for many years, occupy the same area, and yield their fruit to a whole generation without crowding. It is much easier to cut down a fruit tree that cost a few shillings, than it is to obtain it with fifteen years' ad- ditional growth for ten dollars. Many a man would hesitate to plant ten acres with four hundred pear trees, even when by pyramidal growth he could obtain a bushel from each, at six to eight years of age, who would gladly cover one acre with the same number, could he be assured that they would fruit equally well. 5. Pyramidal trees, by their comparatively low stature, are protected from high winds, and often pre- gerve their fruit when the tall tree has lost a large portion of the crop : their limbs are much less ex- posed to being broken by storms, or borne down by weight of fruit — whose power is nrach increased by growing at the end of a long branch, which acts as a lever. 6. Pp'amidal trees are less liable to wrenching from the perpendicular, turning over by the roots, or breaking off: having their widest diameter at or near the ground, they offer little resistance to the wind ; and never exhibit the distorted, leaning atti- tudes that characterize thousands of orcliards. 7. The trunk is protected by the foliage from tho 150 PKUNING. parching suu-rays, and the sap reaches its destination just in the condition Nature provided it in the roots, without travelling an unnecessary distance. PRUNING TO FORM PYKAMmS. It is with considerable difficulty that trees in the usual condition in which they arc received from the nursery are reduced to a pyramidal form, branching from near the ground. K two years old from the bud, FiS.i FiR. 84. and lateral branches should have formed, the ruthless knife of the nurseryman has pruned them away. Figs. 33 and 34 are specimens of trees where some feeble attempts have been made for the production of ii }»yramid. Tlie lower cross lines in Fig. 34 indi- cate the vicious pruning such a tree would usually PEUNING TO FORM FYRAMTDS. 151 receive. The other lines show the points at which the limbs and trunk should be shortened. Having shortened the tree shown in Fig. 33, at A, the next effort of I^ature is to effect an aeration of the sap produced in the roots, and as there are but few buds to expand into leaves, a large amount of sap is thrown upon these few. The diflBculties in forming pyramids from such trees are numerous. Unless the tree has been root- pruned, or recently transplanted, an effect of this severe shortening, called by horticulturists suffocation, ensues, and a sickly growth of small shoots is tlie result, l^ot unfrequently, several shoots start from near the amputation in a bushy cluster, or a gour- mand or two obstinately shoots up, absorbing all the sap. It will now become more and more difficult to draw out the buds below, and, after the bark is two years old, almost impossible. Under this treatment, we must thus commence our pyramid with a raw amputation, that will exhibit for years an ungainly scar, but there is nothing less severe to be done until we have better-formed nursery trees, and can remedy some of these evils, by commencing the process in the first season, as shown at Fig. 35, which has been already explained on page 99. If the tree shown at Fig. 33 is planted in the same season of its shortening, but little growth, of course, will be produced during the first year, but if per- fectly successful in avoiding all the mishaps noted, it will, at the end of the second year, exhibit somewhat the appearance of Fig. 36. If more shoots should have been produced than necessary, they must bo 152 TKUNINO. thinned so as to leave the remaining ones well hal- auced around the stem. Select one for a leader, that Fig. 85. Fig. 8C. as nearly as possible occupies the centre of the group, and starts near the top. All tlie shoots ought now to he shortened in such a manner as to induce a cone shape to the tree. To clfect this, the lower ones should be cut back to six or eight inches, the next reduced two inches more, and the next still more, until, as we ai)i)roach the leader, the side shoots must be shortened to two or three buds. From this time, with proper attention to summer jjinching, pruning might be almost entirely dispensed with; but as few l^'rsons will or can bestow the requisite labor, wo shall still adapt the instructions to the ordinary con- dition of trees. PKTINING TO FORM PYKAMLDS. 153 Bj attention to former suggestions, the tree, at the end of the third summer, may be expected to appear as in Fig. 37, and from this time, the progress of the tree in growth and shape is much more rapid. The trees exhibited at Figs. 37 and 38 are often exceeded In size bj such as have been planted a year less, but they are much oftener not equalled in this respect by trees planted four or five years. rig. 3T. Fig, 83. 154 W]ien the pyra- midal sha2)e has bo- come establislied, as in Fig. 38, the prun- ing is performed more directly with tlie intention of in- ducing the forma- tion of fruit-buds, but the preservation of the shape must still be kejDt in view. The line AB in Fig- ure 38 indicates the place at which the branches should be shortened. Fig. 39 is a well- balanced pyramidal Urbaniste, ten or twelve years old. The characteristic growth of this vari- ety may be observed in its too numerous branches. It can- not, however, be thinned to the ex- tent needed by other varieties without de- layiiig its fruiting, on account of its great tendency to wood-growth. PKUNING. Fig. S9. PKUNINQ TO FORM PYKAMID8. 155 Although, the pyramidal form has become estab lished, this tree would soon grow out of balance if neglected. It will require annual pinching and sum- mer checking of the leading shoots not only for the purpose of restraining them, but to preserve the development of the lower branches. From neglect or bad pruning, it is not unfrequent that trees acquire a growth similar to Fig. 40, which is a j)ortrait of a tree in my own grounds. In its first pruning, the stem was left too high, and, in conse- quence, a long space has occurred at A and B, free from radial branches. After some subsequent prun- ing, a gourmand, indicated by C, has pushed out from near the collar. Another error in pruning is shown at D, where a cut was made too far above the bud, or the branch. The highest shoot in tliis tree has abdicated the leadership, and a strong rival has pushed up from below it. Some of the methods of remedying the numerous evils in the condition of tliis tree, without shortening it back so severely as to lose three or four years in its fruiting, will be noticed. To cover the naked space on the stem, the shoots A and B, Fig. 40, may be ingrafted by cutting them to a wedge shajje, at A and B, and fitting them into a notch in the stem, made with a chisel, or by removing small sections of bark from both the stem and the shoot, and binding the two firmly in contact. The gourmand may be used for ingrafting upon the trunk, at G, but when not used as a graft, it should be cut at F, in order to conceal the trunk with foliage. The branch and part of the stem, atD, should be entirely removed, in ordci 156 PRUNING. to allow E to become the leader. All the branches should be shortened, the Tipper to three or four inclics, and the lower to six or eight, and tlie leader to ten or twelve. Fig. 41, represents, at A and B, the incisions which are made above a weak bud, or shoot, to check Fig. 40. Fig.4L the flow of sap, and force it to tlicir development, C is the incision made below a strong shoot to check its grow til. It is important in ])ruiiiiigj to cut so near a bud that PKTTNING TO FORM PTEAMIDS. 157 the wound will be within the influence of the Bap, elaborated by the leaves formed from that bud. If cut as in Fig. 42, the wood above the bud being beyond the flow of sap, usually dies, and produces a bad effect. The cut in Fig, 43 is made so low as to endanger the life of the bud, and effect the same bad result, as in cutting too high. The true rule for cutting a bud is, to make the slope reach no lower than the bottom of the bud, and high enough on the side of the shoot nearest the bud to clear the top of the latter. Fig 44 represents the true cut. Fig. 42. An irregular form of trees growing on quince roots, and resulting from overfruiting, is exhibited by Fig. 45. Tlie check to wood-growth, caused by the early fruitfulness of the tree, resulted in the change of most of the buds to fruit-buds. When a period of rest from fruiting occurred, and the tree had acquired strength for further growth, this was all produced at the top of the tree, and thus its balance destroyed. To remedy this, the tree niay be eitlier shortened at the point indicated by the long lines, or the limbs pruned at the small cross lines, and the lower part kept from fruiting for a year or two. Combined with summer 158 rKUNENG. Fig. 45. })incliing of the t->p shoots, this hist method will restore tiie shape without losing the growth of two or three years. I am often pained at hcins: obliofcd to cut away half a dozen luxu- riant shoots, three to live feet in length, the growth of the preceding sum- mer, upon a tree, which, by their production, was thrown entirely out of balance. Uut most two- year-old trees, if previ- ously neglected, prove too obstinate in their ac- quired habit of growth, to form easily into pyr- amidal sliapc. The bark has become too old for buds to break from,with- out cutting so low down that one may almost as well begin witli Ijud- ding the stock, thus go- ing back to tlie very foundation of nursery treatment. As the fruit-raiser may save several years' labor and delay by selecting large trees, it will be seen that it is of considerable importance to obtain those that have received pntjicr care in the proper time. When well-shaped trees, two to four years old, cannot be procured, it is bettor to select maiden SUMMEE PINCHING. 159 plants, or those of a single season's growth, as shown in Fig. 29. SUMMEK PINCHING. This process consists in checking the growing shoot during summer, either by the thumb and linger or the knife. Sometimes the soft terminal tuft of leaves is pinched entirely off, sometimes a considerable por- tion of the shoot is cut away, and occasionally they are simply fractured, and left hanging. This labor may be performed from the first break- ing of the bud to the middle of July, the time for its performance being governed by the need for shaping the tree. As before stated, the perfect formation of a pyramid is commenced in the nursery. The plant budded the previous year should stand at sufficient distance from its fellows to allow its branches to radiate from the ground, for a foot on either side, without interference from them. N'ear the middle of July, the terminal bud should be pinched ofl" as at Fig. 35. The wood, now in its succulent condition, heals over at once, and no scar remains. By the loss of the terminal bud, the sap is dis- tributed to the lower buds, and if, as usually occurs, radial shoots do not push out, the former are strength- ened sufficiently to form strong shoots during the next season. The tree, if well grown, is, at the end of the first season, fully equal, for forming a pyramid, to the one exhibited at Fig. 36. By a regular system of summer pinching to restrain undue vigor of some of the shoots, no great interference with its organism need occur to preserve the pyramidal shape through IGO PKCNING. all its future growth. I have often seen a dilfercnce of two years' growth in favor of summer-treated trees over those whose pruning was delayed until the wood ripened. To induce the formation of fruit-buds, summer pinching is successfully resorted to. Fig. 46 exhibits a twig with wood-buds at A and B, and the soft summer growth beyond. If in July this is pinched off or only broken to remain hanging, as in Fig. 47, the small weak buds at A B will be strongly devel- oped, and appear as in this last-mentioned Figure. At the swelling of the buds in the next spring, these will appear as shown in Fig. 48. In all these Fig- ures, the shoot is represented as broken too closely to the buds. Fig. 46. T\g. 47. Fig. 43. Suuimcr pruning must not, howq»'er, be continued SUMMER PINCIIING. 161 60 late in the season as to induce an iinripened growth. When several small shoots have formed from the upper buds after pinching, they should be removed in the subsequent spring, as they would tend to form a tuft of branches on the end of the shoot. The treatment of fruit-spurs upon bearing trees forms no unimportant part of their management. The excrescence remaining at the base of the stem of a fruit of the Duchesse d'Angouleme is shown at Fig. 49. When this is cut at A, the small buds appearing at the base are developed in another year into the condition represented by Fig. 50. These fruit-spurs will now, if not displaced or crushed in gathering the fruit, become permanent, and afford a security for fruitful- ness in the tree. Fig. 51 exhibits a cluster of fruit- buds on a spur, that has borne several times. Fig. 49. Fig. 50. Fig. 61. The rules foi' summer pruning and pinching may bo condensed as follows. 1. To develop wood-buds on the lower part of the tree, prune all the branches closely in spring, and pinch the upper shoots during summer. If the upper 162 PKUNINO. shoots pusli too strongly, deprive them partially of leaves, but allow the lower ones in the vicinity of the weak buds to grow. 2. Allow no useless shoots to absorb the vigor and sap of the tree — for every pound of them cut away miglit liave been diverted to its proper growth. 3. To develop a weak branch, cut it back to two or three buds in spring, provided the rest of the tree bo closely pruned and summer pniched, but the weak shoot must be allowed to grow unchecked during summer. 4. To check exuberant shoots, they must not be cut back severely at the winter-pruning, but summer- pinched and partially deprived of leaves. 5. Allow the strong branches to bear all their fruit, but deprive the weak parts of the tree entirely of fruit. FORilS OF TRAINING. Almost every variety of pear tree exhibits a distinct and characteristic growth. This inclination to a par- ticular form modifies our control over the tree to such an extent as to render it impossible to mold some varieties into any of the 6hai)C3 exhibited in the figures. Other varieties acquire the pyramidal sliapo 80 readily as scarcely to need the restraints of pruning. Most of the leading varieties of pear trees can be recognized by tlicir cliaracteristic firms and color of the ])ark, almost as readily as by tlu'ir fruit. The light yellow bark and open growth of the Bartlett and Duchesse, and the gray, densely-growing shoots of the Urbaniste, distinguish each of them as perfectly as the fonns and colors of their fruits. rOKMS OF TRAINING. 163 Fig. 52 is from a photograph of a Vicar of Winkfield, four years planted, which was only pruned at the time of its remoyal from the nursery. Fig. 62. The Urbaniste and Flemish Beauty assume the pyramidal shape without shortening, but still difler widely in their natural structure. 16i PRUNING. Fig. 53 represents a tree, the lower part of wliicli has ceased to grow, in consequence of over-fruiting. To reduce this to a pyramidal shape, without pruning away a very considerable portion of the tree, requires judicious pruning. Cut the lower, unnourished branches back to three or four inches. Leave the remainder until the next spring, when the branches extending beyond the lines in the Figure are to be cut off; but during the summer, the upper and more vigor ous branches are to be checked by j^inching, and par- tially depriving of leaves, in order to throw the sap into the lower ones. This is the true Quenonille. Fig. 54 represents a pear tree trained as a column — one of those eccentric forms attempted by French gardeners, which cannot be recommended. ESPALTER AND Q0ENOUILLE TRAINING. Happily for fruit-growers of this country, they are not compelled to resort to the laborious, artificial means practiced in other countries for the production of fruit ; but as it may be desirable at some time to employ these methods for ornament or local conven- ience, they are here given. In Espalier training we should commence with the first summer's growth from the bud. The terminal bud is pinched out in the latter part of June, and when lateral shoots push forth, they are cut oif on two opposite sides, leaving those on the two other sides. If tliese i)ush out regnlarly, two or three puirs are allowed to remain, and the stem cut back to them. These arc trained to the lattice or wall, and fastened in the fall. The next year another pair or two are ESPALIER AND QUKNOUILLE TRAINING. Fig. 54. 165 160 rRUNING. produced at the proper distances, and fastened as before, guarding, however, against allowing horizontal Bhoots to be produced more rapidly than a strong, vigorous growth will permit. Tlie term Quenouille is misapplied in fruit-books. It is now applied in France only to trees of the form represented in Fig. 53. Ai'ched training, as shown in Fig. 55, is nearly abandoned in France and Belgium. It is generally confessed to have produced the most ugly and ill- shapen trees imaginable, besides requiring immense labor and unremitting care. It consisted in tying down the ends of shoots to pegs on the ground, until a drooping habit had been produced, or the check of Bap by the compressure has induced fruit-bearing. EULES FOR PRUNING. 1. Cut near a wood-bud when pruning to perfect the shape. 2. Prune severely in the spring those branches that are desired to grow vigorously. 3. Pinch in summer and partially deprive of leaves those branches that grow too vigorously and absorb too much sap. 4. Thin, weakly shoots should either be pruned close, or left entire with a terminal bud : the more vigorous ones being, at the same time, stopped by pinching. 5. Let the severest pruning be performed on the tree when young. 6. To develop fruit-buds, break, pinch, or twist tho shoots above the buds intended to bo developed. ESPALIEK AND AKCH TRAININa. Fig. 56. 167 1 OS PRUNINO. 7. Pninc wlien the sap is active, that the wound may heal quickly. 8. "When trees are tardy in coming into bearing, prune severely in spring, pinch constantly in summer, and root-prune in early autumn. 0. When a tree has been removed, prune off the branches in proportion to the lose of roots. SEASON FOE PRUNING. Mr. Downing recommended winter and fall pruning of fruit-trees, without regard to kinds. Tliis is the general practice ; but as relates to the Pear, it is beginning to be thought erroneous by the best pomologists. Wounds made in winter pruning can- not heal over until the sap shall deposit the matter that ripens into bark and wood. In the meanwhile, the raw cut becomes dry and checked, the end of the branch usually dies down for some distance, and requires a new cut in the spring. The best season for pruning the Pear is after the buds begin to swell in April, imtil the new leaves are half formed. All tlic wood that requires removal should be pruned at this season, to economize the sap before it has been wasted in wood growth, that will need to be pruned away. Pruning, however, beyond the 1st of July should bo avoided, as it induces a late suc- culent growth, that remaining unripened, is subject to blight. EOOT-PKUNINO, AND ITS KFKECT ON SHAPE AND FIIUITINO. It has long been known, that an obstinate variety growing on the pear stock, might be hastened in its ROOT-PKUNING, AND ITS EFFECTS. IGO fruiting, by separating some of the roots, thus cutting off the ubiindant supply of miti-inient that increased the Avood-grijwtli at the expense of fruit formation. The first object of this process is, to produce fibrous roots, instead of the long, naked ones which support the tree ; for fibrous roots alone provide the proper sap for forming or sustaining fruit-buds. Wlien a root is smoothly separated in the last of August or first of September, with a sloping cut from the under to the upper surface of the root, the return- ing sap forms upon the edges of the cut innumerable fibres and rootlets. The tendency to form roots at this season from every abrasion beneath the surface is so great, that even the young slioots of the Pear will form roots, if half cut through and layered. The effect of root-pruning is to render the pear tree more manageable ; its growth being more equally distributed around the tree, instead of assuming the rampant form of the gourmand. Most varieties, tardy in bearing upon the pear stock, may be hastened six or eight years in fruit-bearing, by root-pruning. The Dix^ Seckel, Beurre, Bosc, and others, that are averse to the Quince, by root-pruning may be fruited in four or five years. Peai* trees, several times root-pruned, may be removed with almost absolute certainty of success, at almost any age or size ; so that the favorite trees of a tenant may be removed from the premises he quits, with his fuiTiiture, and the regret at leaving objects of care and skill may be entirely avoided. Upon this subject, nothing can be said of so much interest, and worthy of so much attention as tlie fol- lowing from Mr. Kivers, of Sawbridgeport, England. 8 170 ntUNiNG. Mr. R,, it should be said, coniiues his remarks entirely to the Pear upon the quince stock, while instructions for root-pruning generally refers to the Pear on pear roots. Mr. Ilivers says : " I must premise, that handsome and fertile pj-ramids, more particu- larly of some free-bearing varieties, may be reared without this annual, biennial, or triennial operation. I have a large plantation of pear trees on Quince, which bids fair to make handsome and fertile pyramids, yet they have not been root-pruned, neither do I intend to root^prune them. But I wish to impress upon my readers tliat my principal object is to make trees fit for small gardens, and to instruct those who are not blessed with a large garden how to keep their trees perfectly under control ; and this can best be done by annual, or at least, biennial at- tention to their roots ; for if a tree be suffered to grow three or more years, and then root-pruned, it will receive a check if the spring be dry, and the crop of fruit for one season will be jeopardied. Therefore, those who are disinchncd to the annual operation, and yet wish to confine the growth of their trees within limited grounds, by root-pruning — say once in three years — should only operate upon one-third of their trees in one season. They will thus save two-thirds in an unchecked leafing state ; and those who have ample room and space may pinch their pyramids in summer, and suffer them to grow to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, without pruning their roots. I have seen avenues of such trees, in Belgium, quite imposing. Pyramidal trees on the quince stock (and we would add, on the pear stock also), when the fruit-garden is small, and the real gardening artist feels a pleasure in keeping them in a healthy and fruitful stato, by perfect control over the roots, should be operated upon as follows: A trench should be dug around the tree, about eighteen inches from the stem, every autumn, just after the fruit is gathered, if the soil be sufficiently moist — if not, it will be better to wait till the usual autumnal rains arefallen, and the roots carefully examined, those inclined to perpendicular growth, cut with a spade, which must be introduced quite under the tree on all sides, so that no root can pcssibly escape amputation, and all the horizontal roots except those that arc small and fibrous, shortened with a knife, to within a circle eighteen inches from the stnm (if they have not spread out to thi.s extent, they need not be pruned, but merely brought near the surface and spread out), and all brought near the surface as po.s.ening of many of the leaves. The growth is checked for a time, and if the attack is long- INSECl^BLIGUT LE AF-BLIG IIT.' 177 continued, or wide-spread, the fruit is lessened in size, and sometimes refuses to ripen. It is only serious, when ap2)earing upon Pear seedlings, as it checks tlieir growth, and prevents their being budded during the season of its attack. It is very probable that the winter-killing of seed- lings results in great measure from the previous feeble growth, as the roots produced are in exact proportion to the quantity of leaves, and the active vitality of the leaves being destroyed, the roots are too feebly devel- oped to retain their hold in the soil. A curious fact in the history of this disease is, its confining its attacks almost entirely to seedlings and wild pears. A graft or bud of the finer varieties, of the greatest luxuriance of foliage, may not exhibit a single symptom of this disease, while the leaves of the stock will be entirely blackened. Its approach may be looked for, when- ever warm and abundant rains are succeeded by hot, bleaching sunshine. Tlie leaves of pear seedlings being very succulent, and in such a season as just described, accustomed to a moist atmosphere and a shaded sky, are not prepared for the great change, and consequently are scorched and blackened. AVlien occurring in the seed-bed, I do not doubt that the close planting of the young trees occasions this result. PART VII.— INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PEAR. The ScoJyhis pyri-, already mentioned, is a very minute beetle, not much larger than a flea. It punc- tures the young wood of the pear shoots, and deposits there its eggs. It is the larva of this insect that accomplishes the mischief. It is thus described by Downing : "The beetle is a deep brown, with legs of a paler color ; its tliorax is short, convex, rough in front, and covered with erect bristles. Tlic wing covers are marked with rows of punctured points, between which are also rows of bristles, and they appear cut off very obliquely behind." The larva completes its change bv June or July, and gnaws its way through the bark, leaving a small round punc- ture. THE SCALE INSECT. This abominable and prolific nuisance is insignificant in appearance, but formidable in mischief. Ti'ees of clean, smooth bark, sometimes in the single month of September, become so foul witli this insect as to appear covered with bran-scales. These scales are not the insects, but cover small reddish coccuU, that when crushed with the finger-nail leave a spot of blood. Tliey feed upon the more sluggish juices of the trunk and limbs. In a short time the tree becomes ( 178 ) THE SCALE-INSECT. 179 60 infested with them, that the most vigorous efforts must be exerted to clear it of the enemj. Some of my trees had, bj neglect, become so badly affected, that I saw no remedy would preserve them, and was compelled to cut them down. When the cocci are washed away, the bark appears rough and blotched, and presents a diseased appearance. Wasues.---A solution of soda, or potash in water, not stronger than one pound of soda to one gallon of water, or one pound of potash to two gallons of water, is efficacious. But washes of this strength must not be applied to trees in foliage. Whale-oil soap, dissolved at the rate of one pound to three or four gallons of water, is a most effective wash, and the efficiency is increased when the soap is dissolved in a decoction of refuse tobacco. Camphor is sometimes added ; but this gum is somewhat costly. The wasli of whale-oil soap may be used stronger, if applied when the leaves have fallen. For the following, I am indebted to the pen and pencil of Mr. A. O. Mooke. "If in the month of October the vigilant cultivator scrutinizes his young pear trees, he may be surprised at finding many of them strangely covered, on trunk and limbs, with a white substance, which at first may seem to be a mold or mildew, such as would be engendered by a damp situation. Upon attempting to scrape this off.^a claret- colored liquid will smear the stem as if with blood. A close examina- tion will show that this white substance is composed of small paper- like scales. If a scale is removed carefully so as to expose the under surface, it will at this season be foimd to cover a minute dark-red object, surrounded by yet smaller dust-like atoms. This is as fur in our investigation as the unaided vision will carry us. A good microscopic lens wUl, however, reveal a family composed of a mother (as eeen at 180 INSECTS INJUKIOUS TO THE I'EAE. Fig. 67) with her numerous unhatched progcnv, consisting of from twenty to lifty opgs — the breaking of which latter furnished the red fluid before noticed. After the eggs have been deposited, tijc body of Fig. 56. ^^^- Fig. 56 represonta • Pear branch attacked by the Bark-Loaso. The insect be'ng Eorccali'ihcs soon after ; and even if carefully managed, and fruit-thinned, it rarely attains to a vigorous condition. The natural growth of the Bartlett, unchecked by fruit-bearing, is strong and vigorous ; the shoots exhibit a peculiar equality of size throughout their entire length, ending abruptly and bluntly. As a market pear, it has no superior, taking into consideration all its qualities — its early bearing, its great productiveness, and regularity, the fair size and bright lemon tint of its fruit, its melt- ing, buttery flavor, and its universal popularity. The fruit pos- sesses a peculiar mu.«ky aroma, which somewhat affects the taste. The pears exhibit a remarkable uniformity of excellence. There is not that inequality in the product of a tree, that is found in some varieties — a part very good and a part very poor. The fruit may bo picked when quite green and hard, trans- ported long distances without injury, and still ripen with perfect flavor and high color. The Bartlett has, however, some defects. It is more subject to blight than most other varieties — a consequence of its strong, succulent, protracted growth. It cannot be grown on the Quince with success. Its fruit ripens when o.hcr fruit is most abundant; all the late summer and early autumn fruits dis- puting the market with it. Hut it has the advantage of producing goml crops every year. Tlic French make it succeetl much better than others on the Quince, and they propagate it on that stock largely. Having a large number grown on the Quince sent me one spring from France, by mistake, I planted one hundred and fifty — then ordinary-sized FOE MARKET CULTIVATION ON PEAR. 193 nursery trees— closely together, and allowed them to fruit the next year. They produced thirteen bushels of handsome fruit, which I thought compensated lor thy death of half of the trees th« next season. Belle Epine Dumas. Epine Dumas. Duin.os. Du liachoifl. Dnmaa de Eochefort. " de Limoges. " de Koche'clionalt GOTO B EE. Fig. 67. 104 VAUIETIES. This pear, when more fully known, must attain a very great popularity. Its great beauty is only equalled by its excellence. The tree is vigorous, hardy, and productive^ and has the remark- able peculiarity of producing its fruit in the centre around the body, seldom bearing on wood less than three years old. The fruit is of medium size, obovale pyriform, very smooth- Bki lined, and free from stain or rust, ripening to a light, but rich greenish yellow, and full of a sparkling, champagne-flavored juice, melting, but not quite buttery. The number of its synonyms is indicative of its wide-spread reputation in Europe, and we believe it will excel in this country, as it is one of the very few varieties that have improved by im- migration. On the Quince, it is a stocky, vigorous grower, but forms the weakest union of all the varieties, not excepting the Barllelt. The pear-Slock is decidedly preferable for this variety. I have not been able to detect any great change in the flavor produced by growing on Quince, but it thus comes earlier to bearing^ and is more productive while young. Beli.e Llcrativk. ^ Bergamotte Luc Bonrrfe Luc. Bergamotte Fieviie. Seigneur d'Esporin. FomLinte d'Automn<). Groseilliiirc. OOTOBEB. A prolific variety, of great beauty, and of such excellence of flavor as to obtain the highest praise from all pomologisls. The beauty of the fruit, well exposed to the sun, excites extravagant admiration. The rich gold ground is irregularly mottled and striped with red and purplish shades. The fruit, somewhat vari- able, has a mean size, about equal to the Virgalicu : its shape is uniformly roundish obovate. quite broad at base in proportion to its height. The calyx is rather small, set in a broad, shallow ba.ortcd from France by Wm. Kknkick in 1841, has attained a high rank, and promises to fill, in some incasmc, the gap caused by the failure of the Vergalicu. It is a strong and healthy grower, but not one of the most vigor- ous. It is, however, a most constant bearer, and very productive. It succeeds well on the (iuinec : but its flavor is not much improved by it, as far as my experience extends ; and as it is an curly bearer OD the Pear, it is not of great advantage to grow it on the former. The fruit resembles the Vcrgalieu in form and color, acquiring a FOK SIAKKET CULTIVATION ON PEAR. 201 bright lemon yellow, often with a fine blush. It is considerably larger than the Vergalieu. The f-kin is somewhat rough, occasionally, and the form often slightly irregular, like the Duchesse. Flesh, buttery, very juicy, and of high flavor ; texture sometimes a little coarse. Flemish Beauty. Fondante dcs Bois. Beurr(5 des Bois. BeuirC Spence. Belle de Flanders. Bergamotte de Flanders. Imperatrice do France. LATE 6ZPTEMBEU TO MIDDLZ OCTOBEK, Fig. 73. 202 VAKIETIE8. The merits of this variety arc : a strong, luxuriant growth, beautiful shape, forming a perfect, but rather open, pyramid, with but little shortening in ; fruit of large size and fine shape, beau- tiful color, melting texture, rich honeyed flavor, perfumed aroma, and great abundance of juice — thus being one of the most luscious and agreeable of fruits. It decays, however, soon after ripening, and cannot be left on the tree as long as most others. It requires to be gathered before the stem will readily cleave from the spur, and while quite taste less and hard. The fruit is very regularly obovatc ; skin, a dark green, chang- ing to pale yellow on one side, with often a crimson blush, and to rich russet on the other. Stem slender, about one inch long, set in very regular but .shallow cavity. This variety requires a good and deep soil, without which it is apt to be inferior, and shy of bearing. Contrary to the experience of some, I have found this variity grows well on tlie Quince, and I have none that excels it m luxuriance and in beauty of shape without pruning. It has not, however, reached an age to suflicicntly prove its productiveness. This Pear is a great favorite with pomologists. It occupies a preeminent place at most horticultural exhibitions. Specimens arc often exhibited measuring thirteen to fifteen inches in circum- ference, weighing a pound and upwards, of great beauty of form and color. The shape of this Pear varies less than any other variety. Dr. Guant. an eminent horticulturist, gathered from a tree, eight years planted, 400 pears, which sold for S30. At the Exhibition for 1857, of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the specimens of Flemish llcauty shown would average larger than tho.sc exhibited of the Duchessc d'Angouleme. Lawrence. E O p. M D B S. This is n native variety, and ranks high with almost all culti- vators. It oriuinatrd on the Lawrence Farm, Flushing, L. I., and is conBidcred a hybrid of the St. Germain and Vergalieu. The tree is hardy, tolerably vigorous, iiandsomely shajicd, and with a FOE MAKKET CULTIVATKJX OX PEAK. 203 little pains in pruning, acquires a very regular conica. form. A characteristic of its growth is, that the branches grow nearly at No. 74 right angles to the stem, and often nearly opposite to each other, giving an open head and regular shape. Tlie wood is not stout, nor yet slender ; it is of a pale brown with a slight yellowish shade, occasionally armed with imperfect thorns. This variety is remark- ably freo from diseases and defects. I have never known an in- stance of blight or of cracking of the bark, or of that obstinate refusal to bear sometimes met with in other kinds. The fruit nuich resembles the Vergalieu in size, and in appear- ance when ripe, though not quite so golden; but its rich, juicy, 204 VAEIETIES. aromatic flavor, melting and buttery texture, rival that famous pear in its perfection. It is peculiarly adapted cither to late keeping or early ripening, according as it is diflerently treated — being capable of being brought to perfection any time between Nov. 1st and March let. This much iucrea.scs its value as a market pear. It brings the highest prices, and is much sought for by fruit dealers. Mr. John D. Wolfe and Mr. John H. Fkrris, of Xhrog's Neck, cultivate it in large <. and groat perfection, equaling the best Vergalieus in size, and some speci- mens much excelling them. S E c K K I- , IBFTEMBEB TO FIBST ROTEMBEB. No. T5. This variety Ills won and retained the highest popularity, in spite of the inferior size of its fruit, its slow growth, and its tardi- ness in coining into bearing. It is the smallest of the pears that hold any place in popular esteem, and the trees on pear- Ktocks, without extra treatment, are often fifteen years in pro- ducing their first fruit. This variety originated near Philadelphia, and was a chance seedling. Some Eu- ropean Pomologists have pro- nounced it the most highly flavored of all pears, in which opinion I by no means concur. Its flavor is so sweet as to be sickening to many, and it lacks the highest essentials of sparkling, sprightly juice. The tree is hardy, and every where free from blight, even where all others arc aflectcd. It is trained to a I)yraiiiidal form easily, witli- out iinicii pruning'. Vhc w()olc, Uuorre tie Trois Tours, licurre MeluQdo do Kops, Celeste, Dillon, Kloriinond, DorotLio ItoyaL Dk-1, Gros Dillon. rig. 73. y VAEIETIES. 211 This noble Pear is one of the few hardy and proStable varieties produced by artificial cultivation or design. It is a seedling of Van MoNs, named in honor of his friend. Dr. Diet- ; and will preserve the memory of the latter longer than any act of his own busy and hon- orable life. It is one of the most vigorous varieties in its growth, and is perfectly successful on the Quince : and like the Duchesse, its flavor is greatly improved by that stock. On pear-roots, or when grown on cold soils, or while the trees are very young, the fruit is apt to be astringent and coarse ; and I have known excellent cultivators, unaware of its demands, to regraft the Diel trees with inferior varieties. While young, it is a shy bearer ; and when in full bearing, the fruit is so regularly distributed through the tree that thinning is seldom necessary. The fruit is abundant in juice, of rich sub- acid flavor, half-melting, somev/hat coarse-grained near the core. The skin is thick, and somewhat astringent, and should be removed before the fruit is eaten. It is obtuse pyriform in shape, of a russet lemon yellow; stem a little more than an inch long. Its period of ripening may be prolonged from 1st October to December by picking early, and packing in close boxes in dry, cool rooms. It needs more care in ripening than some others. The shoots are a dark brown, tinged with gi"ay ; inclined to twist with abrupt curves. Vigorous pruning is necessary to produce well-shaped pyramids. In the grounds of Mr. Winchestek, of New Haven, trees of this variety, six or seven years old, which were models of beauty in shape, produced a crop of fruit in 1856, of which very few speci- mens weighed Ics.s than fourteen ounces, and a considerable num- ber more than a- pound. At one of the Massachusetts HorlicuKural Exhibitions, twelve Beurro Diel Pears were shown which weighed fourteen pounds j and Mr. Barry exhibited four of the same variety, raised in Iowa, which weiglicd nearly five pounds. 212 FOli MAIJKET CULTIVATION — ON QUINCE. DucnEssE d'Angouleme. Dos Eparrunals. | Rczcnos. riBST OCTOBER TO FIFTEENTn KOYEMDEB. This peerless fruit must be crowned as The Queen of Pears. Like its patroness, the daughter of the unfortunate Louis XVL, it was by narrow chances it escaped the axe. Near Augers. Mons. Le Baron one morning discovered his tenant engaged in digging around a fine thrifty pear tree — a chance seedling in a hedge — and on questioning, the Baron found it was for the purpose of exterminating it, root and branch. " This tree, Mons. Lc Bauon, for twenty years bears no fruit." " No matter," replied JNlous., '• it is a good thing, to have cut those roots there ; it will now bear fruit ; fill up the trench, and we shall see." This rough root- pruning fulfilled the wise Baron's prophecy, and the succeeding summer saw it loaded with that queen of fruits. But though royal, the beautiful Pear was still uncro^wned. One day. the daughter of Louis XVI., was to pass through Lyons, and its inhabitants deputed a Committee, of which our friend Mons. Le Roy was one, lo receive her appropriately. Nine fair maidens presented the Duchesse with golden salvers, on which lay heaped the more precious fruit, and begged her to bestow upon it her name — and the pear now recognized as the crowning glory of all fruits, was thenceforward known a.s the Duchesse d'Angouleme. There are some who think the pear the more royal of the two. It is by far the largest of table-fruits; of rich, aromatic flavor; melting, though tending to a coarse fibre, near the core, when badly grown and ripened. Very juicy, and keeping long after being suiricienlly ripe to eat. The tree is somewhat tender in very cold winters where the thermometer sinks to 20° or more below zero; but hardy and strong wooded, and very thrifty, stocky growth on soils of moderate fertility, and prefers a rich, sandy loam to produce its highc.>-t excellence. The fruit is often coarse and ta.stt'les8 on the pcar- btock : but both tree and fruit seem the most completely fitted for DCCllESSE D'ANGOULEME. VARIETfES. 213 the quince-stock of all pears. Grown on this, the size is vastly increased, the flavor and texture improved, and the low structure prevents these great fruits from being blown off, while the bud unites with the quince-stock with so great firmness, that few trees of this variety ever fracture at the graft, and all seem to grow with as much vigor as on the pear stock. It must be said, how- ever, that, like other royal personages, it does not produce great numbers of fruit, at least when young, though I have often seen on rich soils, trees loaded as heavily as any other variety. The fruit must be well thinned, the tree severely pruned, and the soil rich. The wood is of a light yellow, tending to a reddish bloom on the sunny side of the young growth. The tree is not very regular in its shape, but endures severe pruning well. Specimens of this Pear, weighing two pounds and a half, have been produced in California; and one which weighed two and a quarter pounds was raised by Dr. Ward, of Newark, N. J. It is one of the most profitable market varieties, the largest fruits selling from two shillings to a dollar each, in the shops of Broadway. I have picked Duchcsse weighing twenty-one ounces, from trees received from France in the preceding spring, or seven months Breviously. 214 lOR MAEKET CULTIVATION — ON QUINCE. Easter Becure. DovcnnO d'llivcr, Bc-fle d'lxfllos, Uerg. Jo la Penticote, Beurrd d'Austerlitz. JIAECH AND APEIL. Doyenne do Prititciupi, Beigmeur d'Hlvcr, "V\'intur Bourru', Fig. 79. This late keeping, but rather inconstant fruit, lias of late years received extraordinary attention. It is imported in con.ciderablo quantities every spring by the fruit-sellers, who obtain in March and April enormous prices for it. It has thus far proved quilo VAEIETIES. 215 HBcertaiii in this country, but as far as i can learn, its failure is the result of neglect of thinning and improper treatment in ripen- ing. The French greatly excel us in both these processes, and the imported pears of this variety are almost invariably fine. It should be understood and remembered that winter pears must acquire a stock of more concentrated juice than the autumn ol summer varieties ; the sap must be riclier in the sugar-producing principle, and if more fruit is left on the tree than the roots and leaves can supply with the necessary elements, the consequence is apparent. Second, that all the juice contained in the fruit at the time of picking, is necessary to complete the chemical change of ripening, so that, in proportion as the fruit loses its water, its dry elements lose their power of uniting and producing a high flavor. From these facts, it will be perceived, that unless all the juice of a winter pear is preserved by artificial means, it will be impossibhi to ripen it with any degree of excellence, although the fruit is medium sized, seldom reaching ten ounces. It has been sold in New York as high as twelve dollars a dozen ; but the more ordi- nary price for good specimens is three dollars per dozen. Its flesh is white, and very juicy, buttery, and melting, when well ripened. It is obtuse pyriform, often a little flattened, dark green, sometimes reddened on the cheek, and acquiring but a faint yellow in ripen- ing. It requires a longer season than that of the Eastern States to come to highest perfection. Its season is March and April j occasionally May and June. The tree is a hardy, vigorous grower ; bark, a peculiar reddish brown ; shoots, stocky, tending to upright growth. It is well adapted to the Quince, on which it makes a strong growth, with much improved fruit. My recent experience is, that the Doyenne d'AIenfon and Beurrc d'Hiver Nouveau will prove greatly superior to this for general cultivation. But it is too early to .'ipeak decisively. 210 FOR MARKET CULTIVATION ON QUINCE. Gl.OUT MORCEAU. Olout Morcoau, Colmar d'Hiver, Reiirre d'llardcnpont, Beurre d'Arcmbcrg (urronoouslyX DECEMBER TO JANUABT. Fig. 80. This excellent pear is of Flemish origin, its name signifying " greedy morsel," and though plain and unattractive in appear- VARIETIES. 217 aiice, its nobler qualities make it a favorite whenever grown. Its reputation has sometimes suffered by being confounded with the Beurre d'Arembcrg, a very inferior and dissimilar variety. I have often received it from France under the latter name. The d'Arembcrg is feeble and tender in growth; shoots starting at acute angles from the stem, growing upright, of a light reddish tinge, and on the Quince, the growth is still poorer, and the union imperfect and feeble. Its fruit is of pyramidal shape, stem short, stout, fleshy, a little curved, size seldom half that of the Glout Morceau. Color quite yellow, even while hard and on the tree. But the Glout Morceau is in every particular dissimilar, but in no respect more so than in the growth and vigor of the tree, which is a very vigorous grower, making a handsome pyramid : and though said to be somewhat subject to the blight, has not proved so on the quince stock. The wood is of a light bro\Ani, clouded with a gray- ish tinge. It is not very prolific, while young, but quite so, when more advanced, the fruit being uniformly of good size. It is pecu- liarly adapted to the Quince, the growth being equal to that on the Pear, and the fruit much improved. The fruit is of a deep pea-green, until it matures, when it becomes of a greenish yellow, with patches of brown russet. The fruit has a rich, sugary per- fumed flavor, is melting and buttery, and keeps late, flesh colorless and fine-grained. In the fall of 1857, I saw in the garden of Mr. Van Dine, at Cambridge, Mass., a tree of this variety, on which, it was estimated, were growing from eighty to one hundred dozen of fine pears, such as Mr. Van Dine had for several years sold in Boston for two and three dollars per dozen. The tree is very tardy in bearing; and is, therefore, one of those varieties for which the quince-stock is peculiarly valuable. 10 218 FOR MARKET CULTIVATION ON QUINCE. Louise Bonne de Jersey. Louise Bonne d'Arranchcs^^ I Bonne Loniso d'Arranches. William the Fourth. Fig. 81. VARIETIES. 219 Some discrepancy of the authorities in regard to the names of this variety*, have produced a little embarrassment. M. Cappe pronounces the Louise Bonne d'Avranches quite distinct, in which decision Mr. Downing, in an account of his visit to Paris, coin- cided ; but in his fruit-book he gives the names as synonyms. It is a native of the Isle of Jersey, where it is produced in higher excellence than elsewhere. It has an upright habit of growth, is easily distinguished by its dark purplish shoots, a little flecked with light grayish spots. On the Quince, it is an abundant and early bearer, and its flavor is much improved on that stock. When, however, the trees of this variety on the pear-stock have attained considerable age, there does not seem to be much difference in quality between the fruits grown on both stocks. When it is allowed to fruit too heavily, or when grown on very young trees on pear-stocks, tliere is"a ten- dency to astringency, especially in the skin. On the Quince, it does not readily take the pyramid form, its prolific nature crowd- ing the wood-buds into fruit-buds, causing a deficiency of branches. To fill out the cone, it must be more heavily cut back than other kinds, to force the dormant buds to push, and form radial branches. The fruit should be very much thinned, as much more will set than can be perfected. The fruit should be picked as soon as the stem will cleave with- out breaking, as its astringency is increased by ripening on the tree. This pear is the mo.st abundant in sprightly, subacid, cham- pagne-flavored juice, of all pears. Its thick skin materially serves to retain this juice, retarding evaporation : and although considered by some an objection, it is essential in preserving the excellence of the fruit. The fruit is often of a beautiful crimson color on the .sunny side. 220 FOR istARKirr cultivation — on quince. VlCAK OF WiNKFIELD. Curo, Monsieur le Curfe. Bcllo do Bcrri, Comico lie Toulon, Belle Atlrienne, Bcllo lluloisc Clion. DECEMBEB. "While this fruit has few of the high qualities that amalcura now require from a pear, lo place it in the first rank, it has t-till such valuable properties that it must receive attention. As a market fruit, there is none which, I think, when all its qualifica- tions are taken into consideration, will have a higher value. The tree is very hardy, and probably the most vigorous grower of all pears, making very stout, curving, and stocky shoots. It comes quite early into bearing, and has the uncommon fault of maturing twice the number of fruits which the tree should bear, without much lessening the quantity borne in succeeding years, or checking entirely its growth. When the fruit is thinned to one-fourth, or one-half, the pears reach a very large size, and are much improved in flavor; but when small, the fruit is astringent, hard, and seldom ripening so as to be eatable. The first requisites in the treatment of this fruit are. thinning to the number wliich will become full grown, and continuing it upon the tree as late as safety from frosts will allow. Mr. Samuel Walker and Col. Wilder esteem this fruit so highly, that they were heard to say, many years ago, that should they be confined in their choice to a singlcvariety, they would strongly incline to select the Vicar ; and at the last Pomological Con- vention, stated that their more recent experience confirmed their earlier belief. Its hardiness, great vigor, early prolific, and con- stant bearing — its large size, fine shape, rich color, and late keeping, overcome the serious objections to it which would condemn any other fruit. It is never melting, nor high flavored, though richly perfumed, is often astringent when not well grown, and when eaten too ripe, is mealy and dry. But when just ripe, it is crisp and tender, with an over-abundance of juice, of a pleasant acid flavor, which i.s particularly grateful, as being enjoyed during the BCdSon when autumn fruits arc long gone, and winter fruits not yet ripened. But it is absolutely necessary that the following 221 222 F(»i: MAUKin' cultivation — on qulnck. cpiiditions must be fulfilled. Largo size must be obtained by tliinniiiz. to couccnlrate the saccharine matter of the tree into few fruits: tlie pears should be allowed to hang late on the tree; Fhould be at once removed to a cool room; should be brought out but few at once to ripen, and should always be eaten before becom- ing sulliciently soft to be easily indented by the thumb and finger. Mr. William Howe, of Westchester County, has excelled most others in the production of this pear. I received from him, in the Fall of 185G. Vicars weighing seventeen ounces, and of beautiful shape and color. But these were far excelled by a specimen received from Oregon, which weighed twenty-eight ounces. A tree of this variety, five years planted, from the nursery row, grown by Prof. Mapes, was exhibited at the American Institute Fair, bearing one hundred and seventy fair-sized pears, lar too many to arrive at the highest perfection. The fruit is large, curved pyriform, with neck much elongated, and continued up upon the stem, which is curved, and has flesh around its base. When placed in the sun, a day or two before ripening, it acquires a rich golden or Icmon-ycllow color. It is greatly improved by growing on tho Quince, on which it makes a strong, vigorous growth, and a firm union, and proving most perfectly adapted to it in every respect. On deep alluvial, or rich and damp clay soils, it is somewhat subject to blight. Urbaniste. Rciirrfe PIqnory, I Bonn* Dmpler, Louisa dX'rli-a'ns, I Count Colonna, St Mark. OOTOBEIl — NOTEUnKB. This excellent and beaut ilul pear is a fiivoritc wherever it ha.s Iruited : but the tree is so tardy in bearing, tiiat comparatively few have proved its excellence. The natural beauty of tho tree is unequalled, a-s it takes a stout pyramidal shape with scarcely any pnniing, the cone being rapidly filled out with numerous branches that describe a graceful curve. Tho hardiness and tardy bearing of tho tree givo promi.so to it of great longevity. The fruit is but little above tho medium size; but its great ctccUeucc and freedom VARIE'HES. 223 from disease or blemish entitle it to the highest rank. It is so tardy in bearing upon the pear-stock, that it would be a misfortune if it had proved unfitted for the Quince. It makes a firm union and vigorous growth upon that stock, and bears eight or ten years earlier than on pear-roots. Fig. 83. Col. Wii.nr.R .'^ayy, that he has trees of this variety ou both Blocks, twenty feet in height, planted twenty years; and that while those ou quince-roots have borne twelve years, those on 224 FOU MAUKKl- crLTlVATloN VS yULXCE. pcar-stock liavc hcarccly produced a specimen fruit. From each of thos-e on quince, two or three bushcLs of pears have been gathered iu a single season. The fruit is delicious in flavor, highly perfumed, mclling, and without any of thc^e serious faults possc.«scd by some varieties, such as rotting at the core, cracking, or cankering. The pear is very .smooth, often glossy, ripening to a pale, greenish yellow, Nvith light russet npots ; form obovate, with slightly hollowing sides near the neck. It is very broad at the calyx cud in proporliou. witli a wide, deep basing, stem long, and set in a deep hollow. The wood is of a peculiar light grayi.>;h color, without the shading or tinting of other varieties on the suiuiy side. White Dovf.nxe. Pt MichaoL I Poire de Simon | Beuirt Blsnc. ISiittcr I'car. l;. r-:il... Willi.' r.ftirri". Yiliow ISuiti-r. Povoiini; Vlrgalleu. Deatifi. Common I'jyciinfe. t«iii(v, Pear. ] Kn^-MTbrine. I'lni- •'••.ir. ' Huttorbrine. Polro Miinsli'Ur. I While Aiitiinin I5ourre. Vnlciuiri. I Wiirwiok Ui rpninot. Doyenne BUnc. I Poiro de Sclgnour. It is with some hesitation I admit this in the list ; but its great excellence, abundant e.ops, and the Imrdincss of the tree, compel me to allow it a place, but with the sad qualification that it can- not be fruited in perfection, with any tolerable certainty, any where on the Atlantic Coast. It was Mr. Dow.mno's opinion, that its failure was the result of the exhaustion of the alkaline salts of the .>-oil. But this does not prove lo be true, for the soil best Bupplieil with these elements will no more proiluce perfect Vergalieus than tho poorest soil. The tree grows vigorously, often loaded with fruit, which soon cankers, covered with a crust like burnt leather, crackiiii; into irregular fis8ure.s, becoming lotally unfit to cat. On the liuince, however, it is often obtained of great excellence. Hut it has not been suflicicntly tcitcd to pronounce with certainty on its uniform success; and the tide of opinion latterly seems entirely opi>oscd to it. The disoa.HC manifests itself principally in the region of iargo bodi-s of water — the ocean and great lakes. VAKIETUCS. WuiTK Doyenne. Fig.&L 221 This fruit scarcely needs a description — it is of medium size oblong obovatc, bccomini? golden yellow in ripening, ^Yith a ncli blusli on one check. It is the very type by which all other Pears are compared in its melting, .buttery texture, and abundant spiced and high-flavored juice. The tree is vigorous, of rather upright gro^^ih : the yearling shoots of a ycUowi.sh cast, with a pale blush on sunny sido° the older wood, of a slight reddish glow. There are many seedlings of this variety that approach it in excellence. 10» 22t) VAlilLTIES. ADDITIONAL LIST. Tbis second selection of pears is intended to include those hav- ing most of the properties requisite for the first list, but which are deficient in some important particular. Some are too new to be pronounced upon ; some are equal to those of the first list in certain localities, but not in all; and generally, they possess too great excellence of flavor, size, and beauty, to be passed over. They are all necessary to a complete amateur collection, and the market-fruit raiser should have at least specimens of every kind, to test their fitness for his locality. Any of these varieties may be pronounced best, when the cultivator has the soil and climate which bring them to their highest perfection, and they suffer no disparagement by being placed in this list ; for they may, in localities adapted to them, prove superior to any in the first list. Ii must be remembered that this selection is made more according to a marketman's calculations of profit and loss, than an amateur's enthusiastic admiration. Varieties proved to be adapted to the Quince, will be noted in the descriptions. Where nothing is stated in regard to the stock, it may be under.-^tood that the pear-slock is best for that variety, or that it is not Bufficicntly tested on the Quince. ANnuEWS. 8 K I' T K M n E R. An excellent variety, as far as I have seen, proving a most hardy tre<", a regular and early bearer. Tho fruit is said to rot occasionally at the core ; I have never found it to do so. According to Mr. DoWNi.No, it never suffers from blight, and I believe docs not on most soils. A large number received by me from a nursery located on a low, alluvial soil — in fact, a drained mill-pond bed — blighted badly. Some of my friends who have planted it, are (isappointed in itN flavor and general character. The fruit is long ADDrnONAL Lisr. 227 pyriforra, shaped somewhat like the Bartlett, but smaller ; ^^'ith a yellowish green and reddish tinge on the cheek. Very juicy, melt- ing, with a delicious sparkling flavor. Ananas d'Ete. 8EPTEMBEE AND OCTOBER. Fruit excellent, fine grained, buttery, mel- ting, from medium size to large ; abun- dant sugary juice, of rich flavor, and perfumed when per- fect. Skin rough, coarse, — yellowish green, with large rus- set roughness flecked over it. Shape py- riform, tapering quite regularly to the stem, which is set without depression, is straight, and is of medium length. The fruit is very variable, and sometimes quite poor. Ripens in September and October, though termed by the French Summer Pincnpple. Fig. 85. 228 VAlilETLES. Beurre Gris n"lIivER Nouveau. Beurr^ gris de Lucon, I Beurrfc pris Snpferienr, ** " d'niver, I lieurre do Fontcnay. DECEMBF. p. TO FF. BEl'AnT. This pear will be higlily apprecialcd wlicii belter known, being one of the most su- gary, juicy, melt- ^'S- ^• ing, and buttery of winter pears ; — much resembles the Winter Nelis in tex- ture and flavor, but is more sparkling and juicy. Fruit from medium size to large, obovate, slightly depressed on one side, an 1 hollow on the other. Stem stout and thick, skin, rough golden russet, often with a handsome blush, dotted with russet spots. This pear is the largest and handsomest of the russets. Tree moderately vigorous, very productive, with dark brown, almost reddish wood ; promises well on the Quince. lis late keeping — December to February — its ripening without the constant variability of the Easter Bcurrc, and other winter varie- ties, will give il a high reputation. DITIONAL LIST. 229 Beurre St. Nicholas. Duchesse d'Orleans. | St. Nicholas. DEOEMBEB TO JANVABY. Is placed in the highest rank by all who have fruited it. Very juicy, melting, with a high, and rather aromatic flavor. Obo- vate pyrifornij swollen at the centre, medium size to large, light yellowish green, and occasionally a blush dotted with brown. Stem long, stoutish. curved, with_ fleshy insertion. It has grown well with me on the Quince, and makes a handsome py- ramid. Ripens in Sep- tember and early No- vember. Fig. 8T. \ 230 VAltlETIKS. Bkdrre d'Akembero. Due d'Areinborg. L'Oriiheline. Deacnanips. OrphcUno d'Encheen. IK-iirre d'Orfthclinea. Coluiar Dcschaiups. FEBKUABT. I intended to place the Beurrc d'Arcmbcrg upon tno list of rejected varieties, but in deference to the American Poinological Society, I give it here a description. This name has been often erroneously applied to the Glout Morceau. The high claims made by the friends of this variety have not proved well founded : it Fig. 68. ADDITIONAL LIST. 231 beiug short-lived, cankerous, and unwholesome on the Quince, very difficult to ripen, often woody and astringent ; fruits early, of fair size and color, keeps like a black walnut, and tastes like one eaten — husk and all. Stem thick, irregular, fleshy, declined. Fruit obovate. short pyriforni ; said by some to be " good,"'" even "best." But it cannot be recomendcd for general culture. Beurre d'Amalis. Fig. 89. OCTOBER. Large, productive, fine flavored, often as good as the Bartlett. Tree a prodigious rampant grower, difficult of re- straint. The fruit has the defect of never attaining more than a dun, dusky yellowish green, sometimes with a faint blush, and is far from attractive in ap- pearance. Flesh yellowish, often somewhat coarse, must be eaten im- mediately on rip- ening, soon beco- ming mealy and insipid. Shape, short obovate, in- clined to irregular turbinate. Stem long, oblique, ca- lyx open, basin shallow 0"0 VAEIETIES. Beurre Bosc. Bosc's nuscbenbirne. ^OVEMUKR. Fig. 90. A most beautiful, tapering pyriform fruit, with a thin, long neck, and long curved stem. It is of the hijjhcst excellence, the best of the Van Mous Seedlings ; but it is feeble in growth and constitution, especially when young. Shoots dark brown, thin and long. The fruit is borne somewhat thinly over the tree, never in clusters, is a rich russet brown, but- tery, melt- ing, of most dcliciousfla- vor, white flesh, pecu- liar shape, which once seen, cannot be mistaken, ADDITIONAL LIST. 233 Beurre Langelier. SKOEMBEC AND JAKCAET. Fif?. 91. A new variety, which I Lave not thorouglily tested ; but so esteemed by the older pomolosists, that it must receive a place in this list. Fruit medium size, somewhat irregular obovate pyri- form, tending to turbinate, coulracliny near the nock like Nouveau 234 VARIETIES. I'oitcau. Stem stout, rather long, set without deprcssiou ou the obtuse end of the pear. Baiiin often furrowed; calyx set deep in it. Color lively green, changing to pale yellow in ripening, with reddish blush, and russet dots. Flcsli yellowish white, and when well ripened, melting with abundant, rich, sprightly, subacid juice Good on Pear, somewhat better on Quince. Tree vigorous and productive. Season during December and January. Bkirrk C.-\PIAL'.M0ST. CupiauiiioiiU I Aurora Beurrt. This pear deserves a place in this list, not so much from the quality of its fruit as from the great hardiness, productiveness, and beauty of the tree. It is a vigorous grower. Fruit medium size, very regular, long turbinate, tapering insensibly into the stem, which is long, thin, and curved. Quito sweet, melting, buttery, fine-grained and high flavored, but often astringent, its quality being quite variable. Skin smooth, clear yellow, with russet red cheek. Beurre Clairgeau. ROVEMnER TO J A N U A B T . This most noble and beautiful pear disappointed the too sanguine expectations that attended its first introduction; but the reaction will turn in its favor, and it will be fairly appreciated. The fruit IS rather coarse in texture, and not always of high flavor; flesh yellowish, and, when quite in i)erfection, buttery, juicy, with a pleasant, perfumed flavor, and rather granular texture. It is large, pyrilbrm, obtuse, one-sided, keeps well; is good on Quince, and will certainly prove a valuable market fruit. Tree bears as early as the Hartlett ; wood mueli resembling it. It is certainly one of the most gorgeous of fruits, coloring with a peculiar gold bronze tint, shaiii small and shallow. It has often, even when quite melting, t-oarsc particles in the flesh : but it is so rich, juiey, and sweet, high-Uavored, or occasionally perfumed, that it must rank best. The flavor is best on the Quince. St. Michael Archange. OOTO B EB. The tree of this variety is of unsurpassed elegance. Fruit, long p>Tiform, large, greenish yellow, dotted with rus- set. Stem not long, quite fleshy at base, set with- out cavity. Flesh melting, some- what granular, full of rich, aro- matic juice, and when in perfec- tion, excelled by few. Excellent on quince or pear, and very produc- tive. This pear has had the fortune of many other fruits, to acquire a reputation for mediocrity, be- cause it was judged from fruit taken from young trcci. Fig. iia. ADDITIONAL LIST. 250 Tyson. LATE IN AIJOXrST. A native of the vicinity of Hiiladclphia, known before the pre- sent century. It has • Fiz. 113. never come into gene- ° al cultivation, though recommended by the American Pomologi- cal Society. A vigor- ous and upright grow- er, young shoots red- dish brown; a very tardy, but abundant bearer. Fruit, small to medium, pyriform, tapering to the stem, which is long, curved, and set with a fleshy junction,usuallyswol- len on one side ; dull yellow, with russet red blush on the check, often with dark, al- most black, spots. Flesh white, melting, and juicy, with rich, sugary, aromatic 11a- vor. For most local- ities, perhaps, fully equal to the Blood- good. Shoukl be grown on the Quince on account of its tar- diness 260 VAKIETIES. Waterloo. Fondanto Charmcusc, Dcsin'o Vnn Muns, Excclli-ntissiino, Beurre C'harmeuse, BcUo Excc'ilent, Di-'liccs dc8 Chnrmoiisea, Beurre do AVaterlo, Due do Brabant. OCTOBER A>I) .NOVEMBEE. A beautiful, cx- ccllcut Belgian Pear, more com- monly known as Fondaute Cliar- meuse. It is vig- orous and produc- tive, and promises ■well for general cultivation. Fruit large, pyriform, vk-ith uneven sides; calyx large; basin rather deep and irregular; stem long and curved, set in flesh rising (0 meet it ; flesh vcrybuttcry. melt- ing with abund- ant rich, vinous juice; skin green- ish, with deep crimson blush. Fig. 114. PAET IX.— GATHEEIXG, MAKKETING, AND FKUIT-EOOMS. SOILS AS AFFECTING QUALITY OF PEAES. There is nothing more striking in the cultivation of this fruit than the variation of flavor and texture in the same varieties, on different soils. This causes the vexatious contradictions respect- ing the value of any and every variety. To one, the Louise Bonne de Jersey seems to deserve all the execration, and to another all the adulation, which words can express. The color of any variety also varies on different soils, so that the fruit almost defies identification. But this change is as often the result of cultivation. The Louise Bonne de Jersey and the Beurre Diel are particularly noted for their superiority on sandy loams, while the Onondaga and Virgalieu are best on strong clay soils. The adaptation of soils to different varieties can only be a.scer taincd by individual experiment. THINNENG FKUIT. Good soils, fine cultivation, healthy and vigorous trees, and all the other requisites of pear-growing, will often fail of producing fine fruit, if all that sets is allowed to remain on the tree. The fruit of the Bartlett, Dearborn's Seedling, the Louise Bonne de Jersey, and many other varieties, will set in such quantities, that if thinning is neglected, not one half will reach full size, or acquire their true flavor. Besides, these varieties yield fruit so early, that the trees would be ruined by this precocious fruitfulncss. Two years after planting, these varieties will commence bearing, and not more than from two to a dozen specimens should be allowed to ripen annually on each tree, until the fiftli vear. The period ( '-201 ) 262 0ATUERIN.5, MAKKETING, AND FUUIT-R00M9. for thinning is, -when the pears arc from a half to three quartern of an inch in diameter ; for, as many fall soon after forming, it is not until then the healthy and perfect ones can be distinguished. Not more than one-half of the thinning should be done at once, and the others may be allowed to remain until we can ascertain the imperfect fruit to bo removed. GATHERING. There are but few of the finer varieties that are not improved by gathering before they are fully ripe. Not a few have been discarded as unworthy of cultivation, which, by early picking, im- prove so as to rank among the first in excellence. Several varie- ties rot at the core when left upon the tree till fully ripe, which will keep for weeks when picked earlier. Among these are, the Flemish Beauty, Beurro Diel, and sometimes the Louise Bonne do Jersey. The true test of the proper condition for gathering is. the cleav- jng of the stem from the spur, without breaking, when slightly raised. Some varieties, indeed, should not be left so long even as this ; the fruit should not be picked in a wet and cloudy day, or in early morning when the dew is upon it, as its flavor is much affected by the moisture, and its keeping properties much injured. When it is necessary to gather it under such circumstances, it /should be expo.sed to the light and air until completely dry. Pears picked in the middle of a sunny day arc much superior in flavor, and keep better; early gathering is only nccc^isary for the summer and autumn varieties. On the other hand, the late-keeping and winter kinds should be picked as late in the season as the frost will allow. Some of them, such as the Easter Beurrc, require a long season to mature. A dry and moderately cool apartment should be appropriated to the storage and ripening of summer fruits, and to no other pur- pose at the same time. Tiiere is no doubt, that under certain conditions of heat and moisture, ab.sorption as well as evaporation goes on throush the skin of the pear. If vegetables are stored in one part of the room, harnesses and lumber in another, and decaying apples and MAEKETING PEAKS. 263 peaches, and perhaps the rubbish and debris of last year's opera- tions remain in a third, feculent exhalations are absorbed by the skin of the fruit in sufficient quantities to change its flavor. Mr. Wm. Reed, of Elizabeth, whose nursery is almost the per- fection of taste and skill, after having expiissed strong disapproval of the quality of the Vicar, at the meeting of the Poraological Society, writes, with characteristic frankness, to the President: " I must withdraw my observations against the Vicar, for since our meeting I have ripened mine in a new fruit-room, and found the fruit perfectly melting— more than good— nearly first-rate," MAEKETING PEAKS. A number of pear cultivators have experienced great disappoint- ment in the marketing of fine fruit, from the indifferent prices offered. This has always been entirely due to improper gathering and ripening. Marketmen will not buy fruit already ripe, to be kept for several days for sale to the retailers, who, in turn^ must keep it as long for sale to the consumers ; nor will the retailers buy pears entirely green, as few of them are sufficiently acquainted with the varieties, to be certain how they will ripen up in color and ill flavor. Some of the fruits should ripen in the hands of the large dealers, that they may be exhibited as samples, being put in their hands when green and hard. The great mistake usually made by pear- growers is, to send the fruit to market after ripening, in such a condition that it will not bear transportation, and often reaches its destination badly jammed, if not a mass of rottenness. The second error is, for the grower to endeavor to market his own fruit. Few retailers yriU, in such cases, offer more than one- third or one-half of the price they expect to pay when their trade demands an immediate supply. Bruising in the gathering is not unfrequently the cause of a low price. Bruised fruit will not bring one quarter of the current rate. The rules which should guide a fruit-grower in marketing his fruit are thc'^e . 1. Summer and autumn varieties must be picked, and sent to market when green and hard, must bo packed tight in barrels or 2C4 GATHERING, MARKETING, AND FRCIT-ROOM8. cases, with coarse matting around the sides, top, and bottom, so that they cannot shake about. 2. They must be directed plainly to some reputable commission salesman, whose entire business is the sale of fruit, giving him instructions to keep them, until, in his judgment, they would sell to the best advantage. The price thus obtained will usually far exceed that which the grower could procure for himself. 3. The price of pears is governed by their color and size, as well as by their flavor. The Scckel is the only exception to the rule, that none but yellow pears will command the highest price. COLORING AND RIPENING OF SUMMER AND AUTUMN PEARS. While many varieties will ripen upon the tree with rich golden or crimson colors, like the Bartlctt and Scckel. all varieties of pears will attain a richer tint as well as higher flavor by a little attention. For the attainment of the best result, darkness, warmth, and masses of fruit arc necessary. The fruit picked green should be exposed long enough to become perfectly dry, and is then packed in cloth-lined barrels and cases. The following, from a report of a Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. exhibit.t the results of attention to minute particulars : " Mr. Jons Gordon, of Brighton, Mass., cultivates between throo and four acre?, the most part of which is trenched and under-drained, and alnio.st entirely covered with pear trcc.o, thickly planted, two-thirds of which are on quince stocks. Mr. G. raises but few varieties, and those such aa he finds sell most readily in the market, and make the most profitable return. All his fruit is carefully picked by hand ; and some five or six days before designing it for market, it is carefully packed away in boxes twenty inches sqtiare, and six or eight in depth, with a woollen doth lining at the bottom, on which is placed one layer of pears ; that is covered with woollen cloth, and another layer of pears; . when the box i.s covered more thickly with woollen clotli, and placed away for what he calls the sweating process, which pives the fruit a rich coloring, and ripens it for market. Mr. Gorpon states that cotton does not produce the same effect, nor ripen the fruit so fast. And that tl:c result of this care is best seen in the prices obtained in marketing ; for while his Bartlctts were yielding him ten dollars a bushel in Boston, RIPENING OF WIXTEE I'EAKS. 265 other ^vago^s by the side of his contained pears of that variety whicl. crditTon ""' ' ' *^''' '^'"''' ' ''"'^'^' "" ''''"°' "^ '^''' ^^"P^°<^^ KIPENmG OF WINTER PEAE8. Mucli chagrin has been experienced by those who, for the first time, have attempted to ripen winter pears. Many varieties pro- claimed by the books as ripening from December to April obsti- nately persist in becoming: melting and luscious in November and early December. The Winter Nelis, the Lawrence, the Beurre d'Hiver, and others attain this delicious maturity in the early part of December in, stead of keeping sound and hard till February. But the most disheartening and vexatious pha.se of the matter is, the witherin-^ shrivelling, and premature rotting of the pears, to which a still later matimty has been attributed. The Easter Beurre, Glout Morceau, Doyenne d'Alenpon, lose a great quantity of their juice by evaporation, and resemble a potato kept one year, quite as much as a pear. ■' ) i The Pear, unlike the Apple, has little or no oleaginous matter deposited upon the skin, to prevent the rapid evaporation of its juice, and preserve it from shrivelling, so that the porous and un- protected skin of the Pear readily allows its juice to escape. In all efforts to preserve it, therefore, we must keep in view this defect. Some attempts to form an artificial covering by varnishes &e have been made, but they have all been conducted .without reference to the conditions necessary for ripening, being only in- tended for the preservation of the fruit. The law which governs these conditions may be stated as fol- ows : As zt ts only by contact xcith the atmosphere t/urt pears can be ripened, and as that very atmosphere abstracts th. vital fluids of tie fruit, It becomes a necessity that the pear should not he in con- tactwithfree or moving atmosphere until the period ofripeninn- has arrived. j r o The Pear, like the Apple, i.s composed of the proximate elemen.. starch, sugar, and albumen, with water and malic acid. The ripen' ing of the fruit is the completion of that chemical process by which >tarch IS changed into sugar, and is always the first step towards 12 2CC GATHERING, MAUKETINO, AND FEUIT-KOOM8. decay. Fruit has reached the point of highest cxcclJcncc when il contains the greatest quantity of sugar, and the sugar iu contact with the albumen has not commenced the putrid or acetous fcr mentation. By protecting tliem from free atmo.'jpherc iii close cases, and by preservation in a cool apartment, we arc enabled to delay the ripen- ing and prevent the withering of pears. There is, however, a fixed limit to this preservation. The inherent tendency to decay, which pervades all organized matter, prevents us from more than temporarily pot^tponing it. The Duchcsse d'Angouleme, which may, by skillful management, be kept till Christmas, can by no means be preserved as Ion? as the Easter Bcurre. After a pear has become somewhat withered, it can never ripen fairly, as sufficient water is not present to perfect the change. It will be seen at once, that all the elaborate instruction for shelving an apartment, and laboriously placing the fruit in single layers thereon, so as not to touch, arc in entire contradiction to the rules above noted. It has confounded many an amateur, to find his plain and unscientific neighbor with an abundance of pears at Christma.«, while his own had all long before decayed. A gentleman who had but lialf a bushel of Glout Morceau Pears, preserved them till late in January, bj jcrving winter pears to be: late gathering; packing away carefully none but sound fruit, in close barrels, leaving them in an open shed, only protected from rain and direct rays of the sun, as long as the temperature is above the freezing-point. The practical dilTiculties in the use of fruit-rooms seem to have been overcome by Mr. Sciiooley. Tlic accompanying plan of his Preservatory has appeared in the Country Gcnllcmtm, and Ameri- can Agriculturist. From the latter, the description of its con- struction, and the rationale of its cirect is extracted. Our illublration represents one-half of a building, supposed to hv. divided Uiroiigh llic middle, liom tlie ridge-pole to the ground, in order to better sliow the interior arrangements. This structure may be a large one, twenty or thirty feet each way, or only a small room of but a few feet in size. The side-walls, w. ir, and the lower and upper floors, /and «, arc made double, being filled in with saw-dust. The upper floor, however, consists of a single layer of boards, nailed upon the under side of the joists, with the saw-dust piled on loosely, a foot or more in thickness. Above this, is an open space or garret, under the FRUIT-TIOOMS. 2C0 /h ■' rMliiiilii'Mn r' ! iE^-i VI n\ rafters or roof, ■vvilh holes in each gable-end to admit a free circu lation of air. The main room is divided into two compartments — the fruvt-room and ice-room — by the partition d. The partition d unites with the walls on both front and rear, but a small opcnius of a few inches is left both above and below it — that is, between the whole length of the lower and upper edges and the floor ana the ceiling. The ice, a.s represented, is piled up in a compact mass in the right division, and covered in the usual manner with straw. A small vacant space, v. is left between the ice and the division- 270 GATIIEKINO, MARKIimNG, AXD FKUIT-ROOMS. wall, tliough this is not necessary', unless the entire body of ice is 60 compact and frozen together as to prevent the air from circulat- ing tliroui;li It. The floor, under the ice, descends to the right from /, so as to carry any -waste water out at o. There is an ingenious arrangement in tlie waste-pipe to prevent the access of air or vermin. It will readily be seen, that before the water rises high enough to overflow the right projection, or gate, the upper or left-hand gate dips down into it, so that the opening is always closed \\-ith water. The air around and among the ice will always be kept cool. It will, consequently, settle downward, and flow along under the division- wall, d, and into the lower part of the fruit-room. At the same time, the warmer air will flow into the ice-room through the opening over the division-wall. The arrows show the direction t)f the currents of air. This motion will always be kept up so long as the air in the fruit-room is in the slightest degree warmer than that in the ice-room. We see, then, that by such an arrange- ment the fruit-room is practically kept nearly a.s cool as if actually filled with ice. There is another important end secured by this arrangement. viz., that the air in the fruit-room is kept very dry, or free from moisture. The air always contains more or less of invisible water floating in it. The amount of water in the air depends upon its temperature. The warmer air of the fruit-room takes up moist- ure from the articles there ; but when it passes over to the ice, being there cooled, it gives up a portion of this moisture to the ice, flows back below in a drier condition, to take up more moisture as it is warmed again. This change goes on unceasingly. At e is seen the entrance to the store-room, in which may be kept all kinds of food, vegetables, fruit, &c. Should the air need changing at any tims, to get rid of odors, it is done thus: Ju.st under the ceiling is seen a flat slide. Moving this to the left, two holes through it will be brougiit under the two ventilators, one leading into the open air above, the other into the garret. When this is done, the fresh air from the garret will settle into the ice. room, while the warm air in the fruit-room will ascend through the larger ventilator, and pass ofl^. CATALOGUE OF TEAES. 271 ft o o a, tT S "S Ul^ tlO a- H -;h Ph3 o Q ^ W^ (O > - H ^ 1 H^ a'' 2 <^3 ^^ i o r i^ s ^^ w ;3" 0^ I w i nn c^ 1 n (^ m P &* o rh o ol - i» E-> S'S«o-^dEH ^ ,:: p^ /^ <:; 5 o i S — 'o o ■- o si "5 "5 J- * • t> 5 o • !* > S ? r ^ '3 ? i; ? t;^ -;? :^^ 5: --S & i o •'r-'t^O!-'::;>H:;;> >• JJ nl ■: il'jT I j '|Sg-,S5.S-||g-s|sS-|J§- ■ sJ ts fes fe» C» Ca ta ti , :*--4^go- H W Cj • * a : -^ aj • O . ^ ^ '■ § »; g -; o a M t o ;.- £ ^ o a !«; s J w ■, :^— cc:>, >.i3 = ?=.= ? (^>'>">">*<";;>r-3 ■=2 T T-f= «-a * -J 2J >■ ^ >■ ■St; ? 3; I I S.= t &i 3 I o o r r <">">>"0>';; « so ai 3 O a an O :-e«iS 5~.-S ^5;---~~S.M'fte-E-EeE£— ESS 5 g ^ '>^ s = i = = f ol^ii -5? ■f. u at 2 1 i'' -J 3 ;iC ==-5 '• « u 3 «5 ?3 3e£ '< u << fc si * " -. 2 J e- y.-S 2 £ :S "• K a a a c o CATALOGUE OF TEAKS. 273 a 4 P. g = !;,o a ; m:;h^ ^ ^ . —^ J 3 5 O O 3 co^ o o^ >j332— "■- " ~ ;^ <; o o o ?H o o ►i; M p^ < « H pi KC c ^ KC OC OC ::Hai. i. r- — — C C — — c a 3 • • : ; :-^ '•'0 '. ', 41; '0 ■ ^ ^ ■3 1 is-C'^Ka.ii^oi .s. 5 "S sii S Ji!, ^ ^ 1 0 ;J 0 ??2 = JoJ^iS'SjI'fS^'f'l ,aj3-a T" =rjaj3 . 0 — c •CD) •^•^-rt^'^^, ^ — '^>»»-«'^^-" — ''•t.-^^t-^^">^ ^.2.2 . 1 I.2.2-5 1'^=:S ^^^ =^ = » = 3^ — — — c ►">^>->i!^Ot^ 3 — !^ ^ • r-io^i^- — >-c;:i:^ — i^^sCw — >';;^><>'>'>"''-c>< 1 1 tb : 3 • < : 1 0. 1 1^ : . 0 . :S^ : "^ ! • • 000 '5 : "S • tt u -1* 0.0, > > 6b"S,4. §•§"0 0 p g-t 1 to !> itStfM^tfl-rt =-?-|llt itm-t 2 - — ^' cr a. ;^ ;«i <: K c ft OK cr w 1^ :^ • C Oa: T. /C Oqc mC ■/3CC bU,^C -/j C c« ai c p,y,TL o Ssni . ?i,fe,?i .>«•<,. is> . .. fejts ?>!&?>, 5s>^u:u: w C *: o 1-i' 274 CATAXOGLK Ol" I'EARS- (3 i < O CO H W w o o o ■t H c: k o ? .£ "^ = ^ S = GO z, Z = = = 3 o - ^ = = = o S.'e i " ~ - ''~ ^ 5 5 ti> > = = e £^ c o t ti Is : I tt :« > ti >« » rl <; Si, ?!;<;'? 55 y;»<1 o u : = >;£: = ■ 3 u «i gJS= i^V-a I .2 :■? I "S^ I .1 . h is >;t; '^■s ^ * == - j= c 2 ■* S: if Is >; o • 3 ©.is- TT j: sssis^rry o 3 O o o i 3 J Z U< as 03 ii /^ E^6^e"-'"-"SE^ -•iSS«*6'<-^'»-' - — i; b '^■^ K : o o a ' ^— c5 ^ ^ t. c^ '/J sig: ^ -ji ?.S; <. ^ ?.?%?. ;^ ?; J% ?. . c c . .. ^.^.*', '- - _ ^ ^r rv? f?^ :a 5 K ? « a V5 U 1j ■'• "^ J > U3 O*.* .* " r" V5S = ■§11-3 '«'u: y. « U! f. i /•. Q ^ y. « < 1 U ■< U s . _-1 . 5 K i O S <£ U ^ u •} u >• o u u ■< CATALOGUE OF I'KAllS. 275 3 ? =' ->2 -::>.& 'S ^ — < .^? O = M «s o-S § t?-=-- G - " - ^ I-: c c c o "C — - ■— ' :■-:>.. -= .• 5 ■ r :r ,t 5 £: ji ^ 3 5 :£ :5 i""-^ ■^ M ? :i : "Z, • ^ 1) ■g m " 2 • r.:^ • ■ ta . Lri . 'A -y> o|S I 1 ; c . C3 - : 3 N^i •S • V ^ » ■s » ^- ^ c* ■*-> "f ^ ^ "^ « -2 *-> : « = >^ a 5 J3 OT ''■H ^ J ■'? I ^ 1 ''^ g^ -• .2^-£-^^^"S i^1^l'|^« 5 = 22 V T V e : ?1 °1 1 ill sliltJ: D s: £« :-•? j:3 =■? Mi : 1 • Jf ii J -5 J t"^-' •' T •' ■' t-^ e -a 'f ?« i fc^SrS ; ^~ ^i: [ o_o o S c ;_o J — — — ^ £^— -ii — ^'— - o i> o ,5 "3 • o - __^l>lK-l5>^ :k-'C :i>-i :>->hs;<^;;>'>-;->->-'^>>-;^>- >-:_>-;;:;>ii>":0" s' • i^ V tc : J 1 ■ ■ '^"ys S ' o :!2i M • 1 1 0 1 f -"f • • ; :^'=' .4 CS. i: U ip ?5 _• 1; 5-^^ ib £ o « 5^ 03 = •5— ?^ « p:;^ u a. £• o o •< 2.- a?^.-" : S " ^ < S H H »• J -^ §r: 2: ^ u ^ - '/■. Oi;>-;s?? ^ ^ it S> > ii i: i- t- a - - < < P-P-'^'fi-^ti.ii OF V^VRIETIES OF PE.UIS OF FOREIGN ORIGIN, 11777/ TUEIR SYKOyYMS I2f ITALICS. Abbe MonRcln. Anccllqnc do Bordeaux. Belle Fondantc. Abbe KdouunL Ariiaiid Hlvort. Belle et Bunne. ARjithe 'r yj'Mjv. Aiiibrett"'. Ih /it I'llu/t. JargonntlU qf Va Epineiue. I'll ineiit lA'i/enne. French. Aniirc .loliaiinct. l!.irb;inoini't. Sahine d'Ete. Stiint-Jtan. llaronne de Melo. Suprtme. Ananas. AtUlg lie .S'lint-Certti. Ber;raniot Buffo. Ant'i-liqiie do Itordcaux. Ib:iii jiresont d'.Vrtoi.'*. I'm Jill uil. An^'oliqiio A'>ii'. or Aiigunt. i; n.etly Ogiiilet. Ati;a t:,;h..Unu,u-t. M ;:.,,. .1 ;., n.„rriert. JUiirrf BUinf. . tjjtitt du I^DiJuiir. , 1 ,. .1 ;. Ainl'^ttU K/dntiuM. Bvi^iuauui L>U68art. ( 270 ) CATALOG Uli: OF I'EAliS. 277 Bcrganioto ile lleiinbourg. Bergarnotu K.-|)(M'on. UiTtrarnolt'/ (Jariscls. Jii-ocax Be.rijdnwt, Jveii' Biiiiiaiiwt. 8t(iu7iUin. Bound Rouge. Gurlefs Beiirre. IHamant. Bergamotto trEspcrin. Bci-franiottc Gaiidry. Bcr^aiiiotte Le.selle. Borganiolte An Millepicds. lieio>iern6 d'lliver, Soldat. Bfi'gainot, Lafjerct. Betrainot, Suisse. Suyiss Bergamot. Berijainot, Aiiluiiiu. English Bergamot. Common Bergamot. York Bergamot, Engtia/i Autumn Berg- amot. Bergamot, Early. Bergamot, Suiiiincr. Ber^ramot, llaiiipdeu's. Summer Bergamot. Bergamot d'Anjleterre. Fingal'M. Bergamotte d'Ete. Srotch Bergamot. EllanHovh. Bergamotte de Maline.4. Bergamotte de I'arthcnaj-. Poirea u. Bergamotte, Rose. Beurro Antoine. Saint Germain fondant. Beurro Antniiii'tte. Beurre Aniu'iiiore. Beurre Haeholier. Beurro Hoaui-hamp. Beurro Heiioist. BeiUHt^. Beurre Auguntti Uenoit. Bcnrre Berekmans, JJeurre Biemont. Beurre blaiic de Nantes. Beurre de Ni. Beurre Nantaiis. Beurre Bosc. Bosch T/uischerlirne. Beurre, Easter. Bergamotte de la Pent- ecote. Beurre de la Pentecote. Beurre d'lliver deBrux- elles. Doyenne d'llirer. Doyenne du Printemps, Beurre Roupe. DuPatre. Biurre de Paques. Phillipe de Paques. Bezi Chaumontel tres gros. Chaumontel tresgros. Canning, Seigneur d'lliver. Beurre Oris d'lliver Nou- veau. Beurre Oris d'JTiTer. Beurre Griade Lucon. Be urre Grix Superie ure Beurre de Fonienay. Beurre d'Anjou. KePln.-i Meuris. Nee PluH Jleuris. Beurre Diel. Diets Buiterhirne. Diel. Dorethee Royale. Gros Dorethee. Celeste. Des tres Tours. Dillon, or Gros Dillon. Sylvanche vert d'JIicer. Beurre Royale. Mahille. Beurre d'Yelie. De Melon. Melin de Kops. Royal. Dry-toren. Florimt'ud. Beurre In comparahle. Beurre Magniji-ine. Beurre Storkiiiaus. Doyenne Sterkmans. Bell Alliance. Beurre Navez. Col mar Kiire:;. Beurre Itieheliou. Beurre d'Aroiiilierg. Orjh'ieline d'Enghien. Due d'Areiiiberg. De-ii/iamn.i. Colniar Desrliamp:^. D'Aremherg par/ait. l.'Orpheiine. Beurre dcs Orp/uiinc Bearrc Speiiee. Beurro Amande. Almond Pear. No^isetle. Beurre Jades. Beurre d Anglcterre. Longue de Narkouts. Monkorothy Beurre Eougierrc. Beurre Beaulicu. Bearre AVintcr. Beurre Beunert. Beurre Six. Beurre Drapiez. Beurre Soulange. Beurre de MoutL'oroii. New Frederick I'j Wir. temberg. Beurre de Qucnast. Beurre Scheidweiler. Beurre Citron. Beurre d"Elberjr. Beurre Dubaume. Beurre de Brignais. Des Konnes'. Poire des Nones. Beurre Leon le Clcrc Beurre Brown. Beurre Gris. Gray Beurre. Beurre d'Amhoise. Beurre Dore. Beurre IxamberU Beurre Rouge. Red Beurre. Beurre. G old e 71 Beurre. Beurre if Or. Beurre d'Ambleuj^e. Bcnrre Vert. Beurre du Roi. Jsambert le B'-n. ineor. Bt urre d'.lnjou Beurre d'Ainaulis Beurre (fAmanliJ*. Beurre d'Amalis. Wilheinmine. Beurre d"Amaulis, var. Beurro Coliii.i!-. Col mar . Beurre Mil \\ MMefsi, r.i. VlOllt<.'. Beurre Kanoo. Beurre de Ran::. Beurre de Flandrc. Beymonte. Bon Chrttien de I!,in f. Beurre Naircfmin. Ilardenpont de I'rin. temps. Beurre Epine. Beurro liioumonL Beymonte. Bourro do MortfoiiUiino. Beurre Le/ecr, . 278 CATALOGUE OF PEAKS. neiirrc lIo^^funol, iii'iirre ilo (ionimcry. Keurrv ile llainpttcunc. iSeurrc I'recorf, Hfurrc Van <1l> Tutte. Bciirrc (te KfuuniouU Jifsi \'(let. IJfurre Scutin. JJfurrf Ki-nrick. Iti'iirre Knox. JJi-urrc llrt'tonncau. J!i-urre IJronzc. Ui-urre liroujrliain. Bcurre Itriineau. &iiiit Ilerbliiin. Crantiitnne Bruneaxi. Beurre IJurnicq. Beiirre Capiaiiuiont. Ciijiidiitont. A II rare. Bcurre (rAnflcterre. Archiiluc Charles. B(i- d'Oie. Beiirrc- d'Avoino. Biiirre 's-i;ili. Bcurre l-aiiu"U!r. Iteurrc l.oi>f|. Hcurre .Millet. Beurre Moiro. Beurre Mondelle. Beurre Nuloetle. Bcnrro Oudlnot IJcurrc Paycn. Bcurro Pblllppc DclfosM. beurre Bomaln. Bcurre Haint I-miis. Beurre Haiut Nlrlmlas. Puchmxe il'Orleatm. Beurre Scrintrc. Doyeii neJbndanU ISeurre Pupcrtln. llcurrc 'Wcttcrcn. Bc^l LIboutton. Bc-i du CaissoyorQucssoy. Boviwette d'A njou. Bcztj QufuKoij d'kte. Bc.-i de Clia.'^cry. /-(•^>/<« hihA. Bon Chrellrn d'Ele. Oracioli. Heed's Seedling. Bon Chretien d'HIver. Bon Chretien d'An- goinHC. Bon Chretien d'Angolese — variieatrd. BIflhop'* Thumb. Black Wurcosler. Black Pear vf H'orc** ttr. Parkinstm's Warden. Bols Napoleon. Bon Parent, lionne EmillH. Blanquet Alexis. Blaiiquet a Lone Qneuo. Blanquet de ^^alntonge. Blanauct le Gron. Bvl louis. Blanquet le Petit BUtnijxiel n la Perle. Blanche Fleur. Oire Blanquet Precoco. Boucqula. Beurre Boiicquia. Bonrgeniester. Bourier Bourgtmehler. Broucham. Brandea. Saint Germain Bran- des. Brialeinnnt Broom Park Sohden Court. Cadet de Vaux. Call lot Rocat, Calebasse Bojc. Caleliasse de Bavay. Calcbatso Dchigne. Calcbiisse d'Kie. Calcba^se .Musk. Calcbasf-c Tou^ard. Calebafso Verle. ('aletiasse Green. CalebaKse. Caleliasse Donhle Ex(r,t Calebas>.e d'//ollii),i/c. Beurre de J'ayevci-. Caen de France. Cainerlyn. Ca.'-sante de Mars. Catinka. Charles Van Iloughten. Charles SmiL Charles Frederick. Charlotte de Brower. Colniai n'Aloft Count Lellcur. Compie of I'arl.*. V 'Hipte of Flanderi<. oselller de la Cour Jfarechal de la Cvur Cttleba.»!'c Gro.ve. Calrhiisse Mututre Carafuu Poire Cara/our. BoutfVe. TYi4>tiijihf de Xonl Trioni/ihe de /Jii„t, t Cunipte de Lnmy. Beitrre CurtL Dingier. CATALOGUE OF PEAKS. 279 Jfdfie Louiie Nord. Marie Li/uine the aS'co- ConseilltT llanwf z. Conaeiller de lianwese. Coter. Crassane d'Uiver. Caperon du Mons. Caiiucio Van Mons. Cent Ciiiiroiines. Chair a D.iino. Cherroise. Choice of an Amateur. Coluiar. Maunne. De Maune. lacompanihle. Winter Virgnlieu. Ci)lmar Artoisenet. Colmar d'Aretuberg. UartofeU. Colmar d'Automne Non- vcau. Colmar de Silly. Colmar dos Invalldes. Viree Cornelia. Cor/ielis. Do Tongres. Dnndas. Elliot Dundns. liousselet Jam in. Diller. Doyenne Bnhin. Beurre Hohin. Doyen Dillon. beacon Dillon,. Doyenne Gnubult. Doyenne Defuis. Doyenne Downing. Doctor Lentier. Duchesse d'Orlean.s Beurre Saint Jt'icho- las. Saint yicholas. Duchesse de Kerry d'Ete. Duchesse oyentte liour. Jhiyenne Curert. IMye n e d' Autumn. Ped Beurre. Beurre llouije. Doyenne Gris. Doyenne White. Virgalieu. St. Michael Doyenne Blanc. Doyenne. Yeiloir Butter, Bergaloe. White Beurre. Warwick BergantoL Deans. Bonne Ente. Jt'eige Idanche. Sirnf. A'li.'ier d A utumn. Bnlterhirne. your, lie iFOit^. D'rh-intxbime. VaUncUt. l>Si) CATALOaUK OF I'EARS Kinile «llj,'ue. J-'oiiiliiiite ilusqut, tkttin Vert. Ksperlno. Kvfwootl. Elijuibith Manning's. Eitstnor C'asllo, EchasscTV. Echaxxerif. JUzi il' Ki-hitxHery. Jtizi .'\s. Fifjiio d'AleiicoD. Verte J-ongitf de In Mityenne. Figue dUivcr. Gabrourelia Seedling. Geant. General de Lanioric.l ire. Gi-neral Dullllewo. Golden Beurre of 15 11 \ . Gloirc de Caiiitirnul. Gracioll de .Icrttcy. Jersey (JracioU. Grodin I'rincess. Gro8 Lativeaii. Gansjls jieckel. Gansel's Lale liergaL vjt/ \. Gil u Gil. Oiirile d'Eisossc. Diigchert. Olacod'lliver. Grand Salomon. Louix I'hdijipe: Gros Lucas. Garnlor. Qirardln. Gloward. Got GrasUn. Grand boliul. Gris de Cliin. Gros Coiclttin. Gustavo de Bourgognc. Oen'-ral Bo«(|Uet. General Canrobert. General orv BeuTi e Napoleon.. Bon Chretien Xapoleon. Captive of St. Helena. Charles X. Charles d'Austria,ijici>o Gues. PiolX. Poire d'Albret Poire (lAbi'Dilance. Poire cIhs Chasseurs. Puire (le Lcploe. De Lepine. JJel-ejtin«. Paul Ambre. Prevobt. I'oire Pretost. Prince Albert. Patllean. Pitt's I'roliQc. Pitt'n Surpntxe Jfarie. iSur/>(Hi>i« Mdrie LoiiUe, Incorrect. Princess Marie. Princess Charlotte. Princess of Orange. Princ«J*» Conquettt. Pain ct Vin. Chnumnntel Anglaise. Cfi^ne Vert. Chene Vin. Parfuiu «VAout Parfuin J'lllver. Paul Thiens. Pomnno. Prod II. Professor Pubrenil. Preslilent I'arigot. Prince Imperial. Princess llelene d'Orleans, Qaeen of the Low Conn- trio*. Quttn of XetherlitntU. lieint (/e-» Piiy» Bun. Qailette. Heine IEU. KoiiKiteU't variegated. KouKA«let I'erdreaii. Kuiuaulot do Mooster. I Ferdinand de MMtUr. SurpiiSHt JfturicA. ' Kou»seline. I lt'>usse|oii. I IJovale d'Kte. liubine. ncyal d'HIver. Uoiissvlet llatifl £ga*let. Saint Vincent de Paul. Saint Uorethee. A'oyiil,: Xou Telle, Saint Denli Sanguinole. Se lienizheim. Fondant e Churneuse.. Angora. Bonne de lienizheim. Fondunle des Char J'ound Pear. Vir2aliiu.' icholas 229 Beurre d"Areniberg 230 Beurre d'Auialis 231 Beurre Rose 232 Beurre Langelier 233 Beurre Capianiont 234 Beurre Clairgoau 231 Beurre Giflord 235 Beurre Brown 23S Beurre ILardy 233 Bai'.ky on Kipening Winter Pears... 26S Blight Insect 176 Blight, "Winter, or Frozen-Sap 173 Cause of. 173 Eetnedy and Means of Prevent ing... 174 Signs of Approach 1 15 Blight, Leaf 176 Cause of 177 Immunity of Improved Varie- ties from 1 J7 Compost 31 Cultivation of the IV.ir Orchard 112 Causes of Failure of Nursery Trees . S9 Causes of Failure of Pear on Quince 123 Caterpillar Cankerworm, &c 1S6 Moans of Destroying 1ST Conditions which affect the Quality of Pears 1^3 Columbia 19S CLarch 231) ( 285 PAGK Coloring and Eipening of Summer and Autumn Pears 264 Mr. Gokdon"3 Method of. 264 Catalogue of Native Vakieties OF Excellence 271 CATALoorE, Gesekal, of Native Varieties 272 CATALOorE OF FoEEiGN Vabieties. 276 Dedication iii Draining IS Rigging'lloles 3:} Diirging Trees 84 Double Working 144 Varieties for 145 Doyenne Bossouch 200 Dearborn's Seedling 237 Delices d'Hardenpont 23S Dix 239 Doyenne Sieulle 240 Duchcsse d'Angouleme 212 Dovenne d'Alcncon 241 Easter Beurre 214 Espalier Trees 164 Forms of Training 162 Fruit-Rooms ^ 267 Mr. Sciiooley's 263 Engraving of do 269 Frederick of Wirtcmberg 242 Fulton 243 Flemish Beauty 201 Fruit Spurs and Treatment 161 Grafting by Approach to improve Shape 156 Graft, Intluence of, on Longevity. . . 72 Oral"tins, Methods of 74 Clelt 76 Whip 71 Crown 73 Grafting Largo Trees 121 Glout M-.rcoau 216 Golden Beurre 244 Grav Doyenne 245 GoKDON," Mr., Method of Bipening lV.ir 2M G.itherlng Pears 263 ) 2SG INDEX. rACE Hybridizing 55 Ilowel •24C, lloiilin;;; in Iii3 Introduction 13 Invigonitins Old Trees. 120 Insict Ulitrbt 170 ln\prov(d Varieties, immunity fronn Leaf-blight 177 Leaf-blight of Seedlings 63 Lawrence 20'2 Louise Bonne de Jersey 213! Manure for Tear Trees 27 ' Manuring 26 Manures for Xursery Stocks 07 ] Special do. for Pear Trees 117 Mulchins 114, Cropping for do 110 1 MoouE, A. O., Article on Scale In- j sect 179 , Moore A. O., Article on Pear Slug. . 182 \ Madeleine 247 I Marie Louise 243 I Marketing Pears . .• 263 Napoleon 249i Nouveau Poiteau 2v) Onondaga '-^51 Oswego Bcurre 25'2 Old Trees, Invigorating 120 I Part 1 17 Part II 45 Part III 86 Part IV 122 Part V 147 Part VI 1T3 , Part VII 17«i Part VIII isi \ Part IX 201 | PREFArr. V I Preparation of tho Soil 17 | Plowing and Cropjiing the (Jroiind. 20 I Prop.iiation by Layers and Cuttings 59 ] Planting Seed '. 4S ' Planting Stock? 65 Cost of n 67 Preparation of Stocks for Planting. . 70 Planting Trees 104 Proper Age fur 90 Depth of." 110 Plan of Arranging Pear Orchard.. 106 Pruning and Root-pruning before Planting 97 Pyramidal Shape, Advantage of 147 Pruning to form Pyramids 150 Pruning; to a Bud ]^7 Prunins, Itules for 166 Season lOS Pruning Koots, Kflfect of, on Shape, Jtc 16S Mr. RiTERS on do 16S Parsonage 253 Paradise d'.Vntomne 254 Pnsso C^olmor 254 Pear Sins 182 Quince Storks 60 I'roiiagatioD of 61 PAoa Quince Stocks, ofllce of 12^ (Jiiince, Causes of Failure of Pear on 123 Quinci-.-^tock, Advantages of ..... .. 134 Bkeckmans' L. E., Article on... 1'>I "SViLDEi'., M. P., do 130 Do. do 132 BuiST. R. do 130 lIovEV, 0. do 137 Rules for growing Pear on l;J8 Rooting of the Pear above 139 How to produce it 1-13 Quenouillo Training 164 Qualities now required for Market Pears 189 Removing tho Wood «f Old Dwarfs. 153 Root-pruning, ifec. Effect on Shape and Fruiting 168 Rivers', Mr., Remarks on do.. . 170 Rostiezer 2.05 Ripeninz Winter Pears 265 Ditliculty of 206 Laws governing, do 265 Rooting of the Pear 96 Replanting the Pear to form Fibrous Roots 103 Scoly tus pyri 178 Scale Insect 17S Washes to destroy^ 179 A. O. Mooue'8 Article on 179 Slug, Pear 182 A. O. Moore's Article on 183 Season for Removing and Planting Trees 94 Sheldon 250 Soldat Laboureur 25T St. Michael Archanse 2.'>3 Seckel T 204 Soils affecting tliu Quality of Pears.. 261 Summer Pinchins 159 Season for Pruiiintr 103 Soils for the Piar.^ 88 Seedlings 45 Leaf-blight of 57 New Varieties of 51 Cultivation of 50 Vax Moxs' Theory of Improve- ment 52 Indications of good Varieties.. . . M Seed-planting 43 Thinning Fruit 261 Terms relating to Quality ISS Trenching 21 Cost of 23 Transporting 43 rrbanisto 223 Van Moss' Theory of Improving Seedlinirs 53 Vicar of Winklleld 220 Withered Trees. Treatment of. 103 Winter Pears, Ripening of 265 Difficulty of 206 Laws Governing do 205 Winter Nells 205 White Doyenne 224 DATE DUE ~7 nln fut'' ij ■'-C_3 , \/ r> 185757 nssp^ST' j^"^ i AGRILJLTURE LIBRARY