117. Of new pears of any kind, our list is very scanty. The IVormsley bergamot has of late years been raised by Mr Knight, from the blossom of the autumn bergamot, stripped of its stamina, and dusted with the pollen of the St Germain. It is a good melting pear, and the tree grows freely in any common soil where other pear-trees thrive ; the blossom appears to possess the advantage of being very hardly; the fruit remains on the tree till the end of October, and is in perfection about three weeks afterwards. At this time, we have scarcely any winter keeping pears sufficient ly hardy to grow on standards. Mr. Knight, however, confidently predicts, that winter pears will, in the course of another generation, be obtained in the utmost abundance from standard trees ; that is, that new varieties, combin ing perhaps the hardiness of the swan-egg with the valua ble qualities of the colmart or chaumontel, will be pro 118. All the kinds of summer pears ripen, in ordinary seasons, on the different sorts of standards, or on espaliers ; the autumn pears, on dwarf standards or espaliers. Espa liers, however, are in both casts preferable to dwarf stand ards, as the tree may in the former way stand on a free stock, and yet have ample space allowed it. The finer French winter pears in general require a wall, with an east, south-east, or south-west aspect ; and in the northern parts of the island a full south aspect. Several of the kinds, however, answer on espalier-rails ; and as the fruit ripens more slowly and equably when hanging in the open air, than when assisted by the shelter and reflected heat of a wall, it is found to keep longer. While the espalier trees are in blossom, and till the fruit be fully they re quire some protection ; such as screens of reed or straw, or woollen nets.
A pear-tree, especially on a free-stock, cannot do with less than forty feet of wall. In many varieties the fruit buds are produced chiefly at the extremities of the new shoots : if the dimensions of the tree must be much cir cumscribed, therefore, it will often happen, in the ordinary way of training and pruning, that the fruit-buds will be cut away. One well-trained horizontal tree is, on this ac count, better than two or three upright or fan trees; and there is little danger of keeping the wall covered, how ever high it be. Miller mentions a summer bonchretien, which extended fifty feet in width, and filled a wall thirty six feet high, and was at the same time extremely fruitful. The object of the French gardeners, such as Quintinye, was to keep their pear trees within narrow bounds : hence their prolix and confused descriptions of the mode of training and pruning, forming a perfect contrast with the concise and perspicuous directions of Hitt and Miller.
119. For wall pear-trees horizontal training is now very generally preferred to the fan mode ; chiefly because, in this latter way, the nearly upright position of the branches encourages the throwing out of numerous strong shoots, in producing which the sap of the tree is exhausted ; these shoots are destined to be cut out in the winter pruning,and the middle part of the tree comes in this way to be barren.
In the horizontal mode, provision is made for having fruit bearing wood near the stem, as well as at the extremities of the branches; and it is estimated that, on an average, wall pear trees so trained afford a third more of good fruit than such as are trained in the fan way, or suffered to ramble on the well as chance may direct. It is a general rule, therefore, that the branches of pear-trees are not to be shortened, unless where wood is wanted to fill up a va cancy ; the only effect of shortening being, that in place of small fruitful spurs, rambling and unfruitful shoots are produced. During the summer, foreright and superfluous shoots are displaced with the finger. In this way, no wood buds are left to form shoots next season ; and if disbudding be carefully performed, there will be little to do at the winter pruning. It is a rule, that the fruit spurs, especially of the finer French pears, should at all times be kept as close as possible to the wall.
120. But the mode of managing wall pear-trees recom mended by Air Knight (in the London Horticultural Trans actions, vol. ii ) deserves here particular notice. It will be best understood by describing nearly in his own words, his mode of reclaiming an old St Germain pear-tree which had been trained in the fan form. The central branches, as asually happens in old trees thus trained, had long reach ed the top of the wall, and had become wholly unproduc tive. The other branches afforded very little fruit, and that little never acquired maturity. It was necessary there fore to change the variety, as well as to render the tree productive. To attain these purposes, every branch which did not want at least twenty degrees of being perpendicu lar, was taken out at its base ; and the spurs upon every other branch intended to be retained, were taken off close ly with the saw and chisel. Into these branches, at their subdivisions, grafts were inserted at different distances from the roots, and some so near the extremities of the branches, that the tree extended as widely in the autumn after it was grafted, as it did in the preceding year. The grafts were also so disposed, that every part of the space the tree previously covered, was equally well sup plied with young wood. As soon, in the succeeding sum mer, as the young shoots had attained sufficient length, they were trained almost perpendicularly downwards, be tween the larger branches and the wall, to which they were nailed. The most perpendicular remaining branch, upon each side, was grafted about four feet below the top of the wall ; and the shoots thus procured were trained inwards, and bent down to occupy the space from which the old central branches had been removed ; and therefore very little vacant space any where remained at the end of the first autumn. In the second year, and subsequently, the tree yielded abundant crops, the fruit being equally dispers ed over every part. Grafts of no fewer than eight different kinds of pears had been inserted, and all afforded fruit, and nearly in equal plenty.