again, and wherever there are any natural spurs, the artificial ones must be cut out close, so as to give them room; and such of the older ones which have produced fruit reduced in length, by cutting off that part which produced the fruit to the next bud: this will keep the spurs close, and render them productive. Trained Pears, both as espaliers and against walls, through negligence and mismanagement, always abound with long naked spurs, not one in twenty of which produces fruit; and on those which do, it is small, ill-shaped, and worthless. When trees are found in this state, those spurs must be reduced by degrees, cutting some clean out where they have stood too close together, and shortening others. On the neck part of some of these long spurs, there will be frequently one or two good buds to be found; if so, the spurs must be cut back to those buds; and where there are none, they should be shortened to within one or two inches of the main branch. In the course of the following summer there will, in all probability, be buds formed at their base, where the old spurs should at the winter pruning be finally removed. In the course of two or three years, by following up this method, the trees in most cases may be reduced into a fruit-bearing state; if, however, they have been too long and too much neglected to be reduced in this manner, they must be headed down. Pears against Walls. The management of this description of wall trees scarcely differs from that of the espalier: they should be formed in the same manner, by having an upright stem furnishing horizontal branches on each side, and which require both in the winter and summer a similar treatment. The spurs on wall trees can only be allowed from the sides and front of the branches, as those produced from the back or near to it would, in the progress of their growth, not only derange in some measure the straight direction of the branch, but receive material injury by their pressure against the wall; such, therefore, should at all times be removed on their appearance, leaving those only which are either situated on the front, or so far from the wall as not to be injured by it, at any future stage of their growth. The spurs of Pears, indeed, require the principal part of the gardener's attention in the management of the tree, for on these depend the bulk and value of the crop: short spurs, at a moderately wide distance, produce fine fruit, whilst those on long ones in a crowded state are proportionately inferior; on the contrary, very vigorous sound spurs, at wide distances, produce fruit of the very largest size, and of the greatest excellence. This I have before noticed, when describing the Chaumontel Pear, as grown by the Jersey gardeners. Pear trees which have been too long neglected to be recovered by the reduction of their spurs, should be headed down in the following manner : In February or the beginning of March, with a thin fine-toothed saw, cut every branch back to within nine inches of the main stem from which it issued, making the cut in a sloping direction, and as little exposed to view in front as possible, smoothing it afterwards with a sharp knife, and particularly the bark round the edge, so that its lacerated parts may be effectually removed; at the same time every spur, whether good or bad, upon the remaining part of the tree should be cut off close and smooth, but not so close as to touch the ring of bark at its base, from beneath which the young shoots will make their appearance. After this operation is finished, the wounds should be covered with a small portion of well-beaten grafting clay, reduced into a paste with water, or with Mr. For- When the young shoots make their appearance, they If the branches headed down in the spring had been This being accomplished, the branches must be con- *The preparation and application of this composition will be given at the end of this work. |